combining old & new with a TWIST...

 in an earlier post I shared that I've been using my archival reinkers to make archival sprays...

yesterday I added leaf green to the mix...

I filled the mister about 75% full of rubbing alcohol, then added about 

12 drops of the leaf green reinker...

now I have a leaf green spray!

I kept this spray fairly light, but you can vary the color to your liking...

for this card, I started with a 

piece of mixed media cardstock...

it's cut to 3 ½ x 4 ¼...

I misted it lightly with leaf green & sky blue, 

then I dried it...

I stamped the sentiment at the bottom, 

using jet black archival...

here's where it started...

I had an idea that I wanted to make a bouquet with the leaves from this stencil, but the stems weren't long enough...

so you'll see that I masked off the center portion with a tiny bit of masking tape...

washi tape would work just fine too...

I wanted it to look like I used 3 different stencils, so you'll see that I also masked off the lower 2 leaves on the left...

 turn the stencil over & check to make sure that the tape isn't blocking any portion of the open areas...

then stencil with leaf green archival...

the background gets another layer with 

the vintage text background stamp, 

after it was inked with sky blue...

when stamping random areas in the background, I like to use the stamp UNmounted for better placement control...

here's a little tip to prevent stamping an image upside down...

just use a Sharpie to add an arrow right on the cling...

I know that the arrow pointing up means right side up to me...

now there's subtle & random text in the background...

I like it...

I L O V E this 

new spring bouquet stamp-it stencil-it...

the most!

I like that there are several ways to use it & that I can use just portions of it too...

I had a scrap of clearly for art (aka CFA) that was covered with newsprint paper...

I inked the flower portion of the stamp with jet black & stamped just the large flower...

and cut it out...

I used sunflower to ink over the whole flower & gave it a quick dry...

the new distress crayons are great for adding shading over dry archival ink...

I like to use the moist detailer water brush and touch it to the tip of the crayon...

then just paint the area that I want to shade...

rusty hinge & festive berries look good with sunflower...

you'll see that at the end of the post...

now if you refer back to the title, 

TWIST is the key word...

I used sky blue to stencil the vintage quilt stencil over the card...

oops no photo...

I got excited...

I had an idea that I wanted to add another color to the stencil, to make it stand out a bit more...

the photo below shows that I cut a piece of clearly for art to 2 x 3 inches & used a 1/8th inch hole punch, toward the center of the piece...

mine is really old...but I found this one...

this size CFA was perfect, because now I can place the HOLE over the + stencil & add another ink color!

make sure that your CFA piece is large enough, so that you can use the mini blending tool & not worry about going off the edge with ink...

this makes it super quick...

you could also use stencil material or a sturdy plastic...

I like it to be clear, because then it's simple to position it exactly in the center of each +...

like this...

I added a dot to each + with fern green, using my new single dot stencil...

it totally changes up the vintage quilt stencil & makes it even more fun!

see the difference that little dot makes?

what took me so long to think of this?

I also stamped a flourish, using jet black...

now to remove some ink from the background...

my distress sprayer has alcohol in it...

and I have a clean foam on the blending tool...

I misted some alcohol onto the craft sheet & picked it up with the blending tool...

don't oversaturate the foam...

it just needs to be moist...

NOT soaking wet...

now I can rub away some background color, using the lots of dots stencil...

one advantage of a clean stencil is that you can see exactly where you're removing the color & avoid the leaves or your main image...

this next photo shows the results...

they're subtle dots, 

but it's another layer in the background...

I used the peeled paint marker to draw in some long stems...

and here's my finished card...

the flower is raised with black foam adhesive & I added these dots with 

the create a wreath stencil & sunflower archival ink...it's a GORGEOUS new color!

the bow was also stamped on a small scrap of  CFA/newsprint paper , inked with sunflower & then stenciled with red geranium archival ink & the new lots of dots stencil...

here's a better shot showing the shading on the flower...

archival inks and

 the distress crayons

work well together...

I adore the new mini hex fastener...

it's PERFECT for attaching the little bow...

can you see that

one little dot sure can make a big impact?

it freshens up the vintage quilt stencil & it takes very little time...

other ideas are brewing...

I can't wait to add the dot with embossing paste to create a raised center...

it could be translucent paste for a shiny clear dot or gold or silver paste for a really cool metallic accent...

or...

how about using a colored embossing powder after stenciling the whole stencil...

melt the powder...

then go back & add a center dot in a coordinating archival color or embossing paste?

it's so much fun to...

make art!

wendy