Do you want to take your stencil use to the next level? Combine stencil techniques to add that extra special Ooh factor! Today I’m featuring the Hedgehog Hollow May 2019 Kit Floral Stencil which is the regular subscriber bonus item.

Happy Mother’s day to you all!!

This kit is amazing and it’s packed full of goodies: 3 stamp sets, 1 stencil, sentiment chipboard pieces, colored cardstock, card bases, envelopes, candy, coupons, and exclusive print by Sophia Caldwell.

Embossing Paste & Embossing Powder Technique Combo

If you’re looking for more dimension than standard embossing powder, pairing embossing paste with powder is the way to go! Embossing powder adheres to freshly applied paste beautifully and when the paste is heat set, it puffs up creating extra dimension.

This is my first time pairing these two techniques and I’m not sure if all embossing pastes react the same way, so you’ll have to test that out. For today’s card, I’m using Altenew Embossing Paste.

Choose a piece of colored cardstock from the kit or your stash. In this case, I used a piece of navy cardstock from my stash. Align the Hedgehog Hollow Floral Stencil on your cardstock and adhere with tape. Apply a thin coat of embossing paste with a palette knife.

Tip: placing your tape on the back of the cardstock and stencil will prevent it from obscuring your image.

Gently remove the stencil and clean the stencil and knife immediately or submerge in water until you have time to clean it. Generously apply embossing powder while the paste is still wet and set aside to dry. While the paste was drying I moved onto the next technique.

Dry Embossing & Ink Blending Technique Combo

I absolutely love dry embossing with stencils! In fact, it was the technique that made me fall in love with stencils. It’s a quick and easy way to add subtle tone on tone texture and interest to a card without any mess. But, sometimes I want a pop of color and that’s where this stencil technique combo comes in.

Start by dry embossing a 4.25 x 5.5-inch piece of white cardstock. A linear pattern adds a classy touch to florals. I’m using Altenew Watercolor Stripes Stencil. You’ll need to determine the appropriate sandwich for your die cutting machine.

For my Gemini Jr. the correct sandwich from bottom to top is:

• Cutting plate
• Metal shim
• Plastic shim
• Embossing pad
• Cardstock
• Stencil
• Cutting plate

NOTE: If it’s difficult to feed the sandwich through, STOP, and reverse. Forcing it could damage your machine. Remove a shim and try again. If there’s no resistance or the paper isn’t embossed, add a shim.

After you’ve ensured the cardstock is embossed, replace the stencil and tape it to the back of the cardstock. You should feel the stencil lock into place like a puzzle piece. Ink blend through your stencil as you normally would. In this case, the raised areas will be inked. As a side bonus, the raised areas help to keep the stencil in place.

I used Altenew Antique Gold Pigment Ink with make-up blending brushes. This ink blends well and wipes off the brush easily with a baby wipe.

Heat Set Embossing Paste & Powder

Now that the embossing paste is mostly dry, it’s time to heat set it and melt the powder. The best practice is to pre-heat your heat tool and keep it moving. If you leave the heat in one place for too long, it will burn the paste and powder. Check out the video for more details. Fussy cut the image after the embossing powder has cooled.

While I was playing around I used the Floral Stencil and embossing paste on a piece of vellum and embossing ink and embossing powder on vellum as well. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see projects with those pieces. 

Card Assembly

All that was left was to stamp a sentiment from Sophia Edges Stamp Set from the kit in navy ink and pop up the floral image on the ink blended and dry embossed panel.

I hope you enjoyed this project today and feel inspired to combine some of your favorite stencil techniques! Thanks so much for stopping by. I’ll be back in 2 weeks with more inspiration for the May kit and in the meantime, I’d love it if you followed me on the channels below.

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