CAS-ual Fridays, a Homemade Stencil, and Some Foil

I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Blog and today I'm showing you how I used some CAS-ual Fridays dies to create a stencil and a cool foiled background.

I started by using the Jumping Jacks Fri-dies to create a stencil with some paper.  You may notice I haven't cut the dies apart.  Sometimes with smaller dies like this I'll choose to keep them together.  I feel like it's easier to keep track of them and I'm less likely to lose the smaller ones.  And because they're small, if I cut a few extras.. no worries!

 I turned the dies in various ways to create a random pattern for my stencil.  If you choose to use paper for your stencil, I suggest using something without a whole lot of fibers.  My first one was created with a red fibrous cardstock I thought would be good because it was heavy, but the fibers ended up sticking when I lifted it up.  So the next try I used some glossy paper and that worked much better...just old photo paper for the Inkjet I don't have any longer.  You could also use something like acetate or vinyl if you wanted to use it over and over.  You may have to play with your die cut machine... shims and all of that depending on the material.

Once my stencil was done, I placed it over my cardstock base and used some washi tape to hold down the corners.  Then I used a spatula and some Deco Foil transfer gel and scraped the gel over the stencil.  I did get some underneath my cuts, but I don't mind.  If you prefer a crisp and clean look you'll want to be a little more careful or maybe even use some temporary adhesive on your stencil.  As for me... I like a few splurts and splatters here and there.  Lift your homemade stencil (especially if it's paper) immediately so it doesn't stick to your piece.  Mine actually ended up drying a little stiffer and I was able to save it to use on another project!

It takes a while for the transfer gel to dry so you'll want to set the base aside for a bit while you work on the other pieces for your project.  Kind of like texture paste.  Once it was dry, I placed the foil over the entire piece and ran it through my Minc and voila!

Lots of sparkle and shine!  As I said, I like lots of splurts and splatters (not to mention sprinkles) so I also splashed some Gold Color Shine onto the piece with a paintbrush once it was foiled and set it aside to dry again.

While waiting I die cut my coffee cup from the Coffee Cup Fri-dies and stamped the sentiment from the Coffee Talk Stamp Set using Versamark and heat embossed with some gold embossing powder.  I also smushed my oval coffee piece from the mug into the Versamark and covered that with gold powder and heat embossed it.

I love the Scallop Tags Fri-Dies and cut the large one from gold vellum to frame my cup.  A few more of the smallest jacks cut from some already foiled cardstock as steam (or maybe champagne bubbles??) and that pretty bow I stamped, embossed, colored and cut out from the top of the pretty image from the Mistletoe & Holly Stamp Set.

Oooh!  Aaah!  Pretty!  Sparkly!  ...lol!

One more look at the finished project!  Thanks so much for joining me today!

  Did you know that there is a Collaboration Hop going on with the CAS-ual Fridays and Coffee Loving Cardmakers Design Teams??  We're showing off the awesome array of Coffee themed stamps and dies available in the CAS-ual Fridays shop!  AND you have a chance to win one of three $25 gift certificates for hopping along and commenting at each stop.  There is nothing to lose and all kinds of inspiration to gain and possibly some free stuff!  You can check it out and start hopping at this blog post here!  You have until Friday October 26th to comment!

And should you decide to shop, here's this for you:

See you again soon!