Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Transforming Business Cards with StencilGirl Stencils

We all have them; things we buy thinking they will come in handy, and then we store them away and promptly forget we ever had them. I’m trying to bring some order into my supplies at the moment in the hope of getting rid of some of the clutter. But I must admit rather than throwing things out I rejoice in finding them again.
One of the supplies I came across when tidying my inkjet printer supplies were not just one but two packs of DIY business cards.
It had been my plan many years ago to produce my own business cards but it proved to be so much easier to simply order them that packages remained unopened till now. It suddenly struck me that instead I could put these to use in my art journal.

Here is my step-by-step process (remember to let each stage dry thoroughly!):

1. I took one page out of each pack and covered each in a different color of paint and stenciled both with a different color of paint using Ancient Marks.
Use a gentle hand as the business cards are apt to come loose otherwise.

2. Repeat with a different paint color.

3. Using the large stencil from StencilClub March 2014 add black and white marks to both pages.

4. Using an art foamie (I used Writer’s Block designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer) and an Archival black ink pad, add marks to the pages.

5. Drip acrylic ink down the pages. I used fluorescent yellow and green.
This completes work on the business cards. Set the sheets apart to dry for the moment.

Now we'll start on the background in the black 8 x 8” Dylusions art journal.

6. Paint each facing page a different color. I used red and blue for this step.

7. Using the stencils from MB’s Grid Stencils as well as the medium stencil from October 2015 StencilClub, stencil on squares of various sizes onto the pages using first the opposite colors to the ones used in step 6 and then black and white.

8. Use stencils Grid Outline and Grid Outline and using black and white add more squares to the mix.
You can do this in any order you like and as often as you prefer till you are happy with how the spread looks.

9. Remove the business cards from their background and put them under some heavy books to flatten them.

10. Glue on the business cards to the pages.

11. Outline the business cards with black and white markers and glue on the vintage text as shown,
outlining that in turn with a pencil.
There are even some painted business cards left over!
Now I only have to remember I have them and store them somewhere where I can easily find them again!

Have a very happy and artful holiday season (here’s hoping you will receive some stencils!)
and wishing you a creative 2017.

(C) Frieda Oxenham 2016. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.

3 comments:

  1. i LOVE this idea...and colors...and movement...and sentiments.
    What a great thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a great idea. One could also paint a background, or some art, then run it through the printer with your name and contact information as a custom, one of a kind business card.....hmmm, I rather like that idea too🙂

    ReplyDelete

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