Friend to Friend ....

there is something about a cup of tea with a good friend hits the re-set button!

TECHNIQUESTENCILTUTORIAL

4/26/20233 min read

Would you like to play around with a design like this? You'll find a supply list below, including a link to the stencil I used from A Colorful Life Designs . Follow the link below and use discount code ChrisFan10 to save 10% on your entire order! (Master Creator Bundles are excluded as they already have a 20% discount built in.)

Card Base: 4.25 x 11, scored and folded at 5.5

Black Border: 4 x 5.25

Card Face: 3 7/8 x 5 1/8

Card Face:

I used a stencil to add the Sereni-tea down the left hand side of the card face , allowing the colour to fade out as I moved down.
I stamped and coloured the tea cup using Memento ink and alcohol markers. I grabbed a glaze pen to add the black polka dots. I used the matching die to cut it out, and then I cut a second one out with black card stock and glued them togeether, offsetting slightly as shown.
Using the diecut , I determined where I wanted the lady to be stamped on the card. (she is from a set called Beautiful You from Stampin' Up! . Retired, but I still love the 'artist's rendering' feel of the set.) I used a softer tone on her dress as I didn't want her to compete with the tea cup. (I actually used an ink that matched the alcohol marker, but I used second generation stamping to lighten the colour.)
I used a corner punch to round the top left and bottom right corners.
I lightly applied yellow ink to the edges of the card face, to soften them.

Technique:

Generational Stamping This is a very simple technique that allows you to get different looks from one ink pad.

Using a bold colour, apply ink to your stamp as you would normally - then experiment with stamping on a piece of paper repeatedly without re-inking. the second stamp is second generation, the third is third generation and so on. The ink quite naturally fades with each repeat, which can give a wonderful effect and allows more versatility from your ink. You can also do this with a more subtle colour, but it will fade more quickly. (the effect is similar to what you see with the word sereni-tea on the left of the card face, but because a stencil was used here rather than a stamp, this is a different technque. This was achieved by controlling the amount of ink on the brush as well as the pressure that was used.)

Other:

I stamped the front of the card base with a polka dot background stamp.

I prepared the tiny "friend to friend" sentiment by heat embossing the sentiment in black and using an oblong die to cut it out. I added a very fine black border to this with a marker, to make it more distinctive against the tea cup.

Assembly:

I glued the black border to the card base, centering to allow the polka dots to show.
I glued the card face to the black layer, again centering carefully.
I glued the tea cup in place, and then added the tiny sentiment in the middle of the cup.

Final Thoughts:

I am satisfied with this design, although it took a while to get to a stage where I could say that!

The original card was similar -but-different, and was completely done, when I decided that I wanted to outline one of of the stencilled words in black ... and completely ruined it as the effect was terrible. I didn't want to discard it as I had put a lot of time into the design ... how could I salvage it? hmmmm...... I managed to remove the tea cup without ruining it - phew! After that I was able to recreate the card face, (adapting a couple of things in the process) glue that on, and the card was saved. Never say quit!!!

Supplies:

stencil: Tea Affirmations, A Colorful Life Designs

Stamps: sadly, all retired, but this is a very adaptable design - grab something from your stash and have a play!

ink: Stampin' Up!

blending brushes, Amazon Scrapbook.com Simon Says Stamp

oblong die: Sizzix, Amazon

memento ink, Amazon, Simon Says Stamp

alcohol markers: Stampin' Blends, Stampin' Up!

clear embossing powder: Wow, Simon Says Stamp or Amazon

glaze pen:Sakura, Amazon or Simon Says Stamp

black card stock, Stampin' Up!

card base: Accent, 100 lb, Amazon