One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #28: Stencil

The June OLS Challenge is hosted by the amazing Karen, who is the master of cool inked backgrounds! Her challenge for the month is to use a stencil.

Now, I have exactly one stencil of the sort you might use to create a cool background, but we stampers are a creative lot, and we can always improvise. We can create our own stencils with dies and punches. See?

This Fiskars ShapeCutter template was a gift from my friend Leslie. Oh, how I miss her.

I used the oval to make a background in very pale blue as a ground for this awesome flower from Hero Arts. But this flower stamp just consists of the dark, Ancient Page henna image...the Hero Arts dark quartz background came from another homemade stencil, this one created with a 1 3/4" circle punch. I simply sponged the quartz ink into the circle stencil, then overstamped with the flower in henna. The two-toned look is amazing and really elevates this stamp above the ordinary.

To mask the flower and stamp the leaves, I just used the punched circle with a bit of temporary adhesive.

Now, if you look closely, you will notice some spots on the leaves that don't look quite perfect. Well, when you use temporary adhesive to secure stencils, you need to be sure to remove the residual adhesive from your cardstock. Just sayin'.

Grab your stencils (or your dies or punches) and click on over to the OLS28 Challenge to play along!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Ancient Page, Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey Ink white
accessories: Fiskars ShapeCutter template and cutter, copy paper, temporary adhesive, circle punch, sponges