Beginner friendly ideas with a stencil

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This sweet lil' card is one I would send to book lovers or journalers, etc. The card itself includes the black border. I chose the black border and central image for novelty; but I also saw that stenciling a lavender color over a yellow ombre background produced a sort or lavender/gray. And gray tone lent itself more to black. 

Below, you can clearly see the subtle color shifts from light yellow to orange. This was achieved by inking my card with four different shades in the same color family - from lightest to darkest. You can also see how crisp my white ink looks with the help of Altenew's Stampwheel 2.0 (for a You Tube review of the Stampwheel as well as an explanation of how I stenciled this card, see my video here.)

Supplies
  1. First, cut A2 sizes (4.25"X5.5") of black and white cardstock. This is in addition to your blank A2 folded paper for the card base. 

  2. Select the four colors of ink and gently use your blending tool to make four bands of color. I chose an ombre gradation. Ink slowly as you want the colors to seamlessly blend into each other.
  3. Stamp the book image in white ink onto your black cardstock. Ink the hearts with your gold ink.
  4. Use your die cutting machine to cut out the book and hearts.
  5. Center the stenciled background and book image and glue down. Glue on the hearts.
This background stencil can be used in a variety of ways. With my first Halloween card of 2025, I texturized the card, creating a literally tangible weave. Instead of inking the ombre background first and then stenciling, I reversed the order. 

First I applied a texture paste by spreading it in a thin, flat coat over the stencil. Then, I let that dry overnight. Then I inked the card. I ratcheted up the spooky drama with black cut outs and a glitter moon and ghoulish critters.

Stay tuned, for more ideas on how to use your staple art supplies in clever ways.

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