StencilGirl + Emerald Creek = Magic

What do you get when you take 14 helpings of StencilGirl and mix that with 14 helpings of Emerald Creek? Well the answer is magic of course. And one major blog hop and giveaway.

Emerald Creek and StencilGirl are truly a match made in heaven. Both are small, family-owned and run companies. Each has taken a traditional craft product (embossing powder/stencils) and applied their own very special spin. 

So come celebrate this pairing by seeing the amazing artwork created by 14 talented artists.  Oh...and did I mention there is a giveaway (scroll down for info)?

Possibility

(sold. thank you)

My contribution to the hop was created using one of my all-time favorite stencils, Creative Halo designed by Pam Carriker. She has 4 stencils in her Halo series and by total synchronicity, my mini circle stencils fit inside the halos, given you many more creative options.

Working on a painted sheet of watercolor paper, I used a sponge to press adhesive from an embossing pad through both the halo portion of Pam's stencil and my Crossed stencil. 

My stencil was then embossed with Rocky Road Baked Texture and the squares in the halo were embossed with Deep Sea Baked Texture, Patina Oxide Baked Texture, Rocky Road Baked Texture and Hammered Metal Embossing Powder.

Collage and much mark making were then added to the surface. The word Possibility, from my new Impression Obsession Journal Jargon 5 stamp set was the finishing touch.

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Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive $50 in Gift Certificates to Emerald Creek and StencilGirl Products!

Enter to win by leaving a comment below.

Then be sure to visit the other blogs in the hope and comment to win.

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!

One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!

(One comment per blog please.)

You have until Tuesday, August 21st at 11:59pm Central Time to leave your comments. 

Winner will be announced on

StencilGirl Products Facebook page and Emerald Creek's Facebook page on Wednesday, August 22.

Blog Hop Order:

August 15

Mary Beth Shaw

Seth Apter (you are here)

Gwen Lafleur

Kim Evans

Eileen Hull

August 16

Mary C. Nassar

Tina Walker

Josefine Fourage

Jenny Marples

August 17

Debi Adams

Janet Joehlin

Emma Ivemey

Katelyn Grosart

Vicki Garrett

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What Goes Around...

Retreat Circle Stencil

My newest stencil from StencilGirl Products. Cause you can never have enough circles.

Journal pages from my talented class at the StencilGirl and Friends retreat at Ephemera Paducah.

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Four Stencil Techniques

Today I am guesting on StencilGirl Talk - the blog from StencilGirl Products. Rather than creating artwork, I decided to share four easy techniques to raise the bar on your stenciling:

Check out the post for additional directions and to find 2 helpful tips for each technique. And grab those stencils and pounce!

NEW Stencil Release

So very excited to share with you my newest release with StencilGirl Products. This collection, entitled Roundups, includes 8 new 4x4 inch stencils celebrating the circle. The designs were inspired by the symbolism of a circle and the concept of all things being united and inclusive.

Stained Glass

Crossed

3 Ring

Spinner

Splat

Excel

123

Swirl

These stencils are available for shipping now from my online shop or directly from StencilGirl. They will soon be found at many online and brick & mortar shops as well.

Emerald Creek + StencilGirl Hop and Giveaway

Every so often the stars collide and fireworks ensue. Today is one of those days. Two of my absolute favorite companies - StencilGirl Products and Emerald Creek Craft Supplies are combining forces to bring you a stellar blog hop and giveaway.  Twelve artists are participating and the event starts today (12/13) and runs through 12/15. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to see how you can enter the two giveaways and to find the links to all the participating artists.

DISCOVERY

Two of my favorite products to use are stencils and embossing powder. And I absolutely love using them together. My method...easy. 

Simply position the stencil on your surface, press a craft sponge into the surface of an embossing pad, and pounce the sponge through the opening in your stencil. Remove the stencil, tap off any excess powder and heat with a heat gun. Final step...watch the magic happen.

For this piece, I started with an 8x8 inch cradled wood panel and added layer after layer after layer of gesso, paint, collage and ink.

And of course, stencils and embossing powders. For the background, I used an embossing pad, a background stamp (Splattered from Impression Obsession), and two of my favorite flavors of embossing powder from Emerald Creek:

Burnt Copper Leaves 

Charred Gold 

The main focal feature of this piece is a series of words.

To add the text detail, I once again used Emerald Creek Charred Gold Embossing Powder through a series of words (Discovery, Explore, Destiny) from two of my StencilGirl stencils: 

Discovery

Explore

The piece was finished off using collage material, hand made marks, and some of my stamp sets from Impression Obsession (RPMs, Planetarium, Pathways).

If you are completely new to using embossing powders, check out my video tutorial from an episode of Make it Artsy. You may discover a new technique even if you are an embossing pro.

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BLOG HOP

Be sure to visit all the participating artists 

December 13

Seth Apter (you are here)

Mary Beth Shaw

Kim Evans

Vicki Evans

December 14

Gwen Lafleur

Mary C. Nasser

Julie Chupik

Claudia Neubacher

December 15

Janet Joehlin

Tina Walker

Diana Hetherington

Karen Bearse

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Giveaway #1
(now closed - congrats to Barbara Bytwerk)

I will be giving Discovery, the artwork in this post, to one lucky person. Simply leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, 12/19 at 11:59PM Central Time to be eligible. Make sure I have a way to reach you if the random number table picks your name. And yes...of course Internationals are eligible too.

Giveaway #2

One lucky winner will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products 
AND a $25 Gift Certificate to Emerald Creek! 
Enter to win by leaving a comment below.
Then be sure to visit the other blogs in the hop and comment to win.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!
(One comment per blog please.)
You have until Tuesday, December 19th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Winner will be announced on
StencilGirl's Facebook page on Wednesday, December 20th.

Have fun and good luck!

Join the Club

I am excited to be the designer for the month of December for StencilGirl StencilClub.

I have designed 3 stencils in a new series called Borderlines. Part stencil and part mask - and all about creating textural elements - these stencils are available exclusively to members of the Club. Have a look at the reveal in this video:

The only way to get these stencils is to join the Club. Every month that you are a member, you receive 3 exclusive stencils (9x12, 6x6, 4x4 inches) designed by a StencilGirl artist that are not available to anybody else. In addition, you receive a private instructional video and detailed PDF from the artist. You are invited to a private Facebook group for members only. And every month that you remain a member, you receive a one-time-use 20% off coupon good on any stencils on the StencilGirl website. 

Once you join, you are able to purchase any of the previously released club stencils as well, including my contribution from November 2015.

You can click here to see my entire collection of 27 stencils available now at StencilGirl.

Stenciling 5 Ways

In the video below, Kim Dellow uses my Alpha Drips and Number Drips stencils from StencilGirl Products to create a layered journal page.

Alpha Drips

Number Drips

In the video, she demonstrates 5 stenciling techniques: stencil printing, sponge application, gel medium resist, spray through and draw through.

Have a look and feel free to share your favorite stenciling techniques in the comments.

Click here to see Kim's YouTube channel where she generously shares weekly technique videos on all things art and craft. 

It's a Revolution

Happy to be the guest artist today on StencilGirl Talk -- the blog for StencilGirl Products.

Sharing there my process for using stencils to build layers.

Start with my Outsiders stencils - five edgy frames in the shape of a circle, square, star, tag and bar.

Continue with my Insiders stencils - the same five shapes designed to fit perfectly inside the Outsider frames.

Add them together to get mixed media magic. 

And who said math couldn't be fun?!?!

Check out my guest post here.