Welcome one and all to the March edition of the Tour de Freaks blog hop!  If you are moving forward through the hop, you have arrived here from my friend Connie’s wonderful blog.  If you are just starting the hop know that we have a circle and you can start anywhere on the hop!  Our theme this month is ‘Spring’ so let’s see what I have in store for you…

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do this month.  It’s such a wide open theme sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start.  Since I’m going to be doing some stuff next month with stencils, I thought I’d do that for my post.  I just LOVE the SU stencils!  I wanted to show just a couple simple things using the same set of colors.  I don’t know why but when I think spring, I think pink.  They seem to go together in my mind so my color scheme for my cards are Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose and Sahara Sand (I just LOVE the Sahara Sand with the pinks!)  In my main card I start with the ‘normal’ way to use the stencil.  I used my foam brayer and inked Pretty in Pink over the stencil onto the Whisper White cardstock.  Then I sponged some Regal Rose in places to add some accents.  I removed the stencil and used my Regal Rose marker to add some lines.  I tied a ribbon around the card and layered it onto a piece of Sahara Sand then added dimensionals to the back and onto the Pretty in Pink cardstock.  I took some rhinestones from the Eggcellent Egg Kit and added a little bling.  I inked the greeting using Sahara Sand and Regal Rose markers and stamped on Whisper White Cardstock, punched out with the Large Oval Punch and layered onto a Sahara Sand Scallop oval.  This is added to the card front using dimensionals.

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So next I wanted to use all the same materials and layout but do the opposite.  Instead of adding the color INSIDE the stencil, I wanted to add it to the outside.  This was easy to do using the resist technique.  I layered my Whisper White cardstock behind the stencil and ‘smooshed’ my versamark pad over the stencil and into the openings.  I covered with clear embossing powder and then heat embossed.  Once this was done, I used a sponge to add first the Pretty in Pink and then Regal Rose ink over the embossed image to make it stand out.  Everything else is the same on this card as the other one…it’s just the ‘opposite’ for the image.  Now I will have to say…although I LOVE the look, the worse part is trying to get the versamark off the stencil!  Cleaning didn’t work and I ended up using an alcoholo swap.  If anyone has a good idea on how to get the versamark off the stencil PLEASE let me know!

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So here’s all the same set up again but the twist on this one is that I stenciled onto vellum.  I like to use the cardstock weight vellum…it just lays alot nicer than the paper.  I again used the foam brayer to add the Pretty in Pink ink and then Regal Rose accents using a sponge.  Now vellum is a ‘non-sucky’ paper so you need to set that puppy to the side for awhile to dry or it will smear.  I took the En Francias background stamp onto Whisper White cardstock using Sahara Sand ink.  I layered the stenciled vellum over the stamped Whisper White and tied a Rose 5/8” grosgrain ribbon around it.  This is layered onto the Sahara Sand and then onto the cardfront using dimensionals.  And do you know what?  All the other stuff is the same!  LOL!!!

So that’s little set of pink and sahara stencils cards.  I hope you enjoyed them!  I really enjoyed making them.  Now it’s time for you to hop on over to the ever talented (and extremely funny) Jan Tink.  You will just LOVE what she has in store for you.  Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing you again next month!  Click on the picture below to take you to Jan’s site…
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Mary