Using Resist Techniques to Create Cards

Hi all - Jessica Sporn here.  

Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days and commonly referred to as the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown on September 13.    It begins a 10 day period, known as the Days of Awe, which culminates with Yom Kippur, the most important and solemn day of the year.  Like the tradition of making New Year resolutions for January 1, Jews look inward during this time period and reflect on mistakes of the past year and plan changes for the New Year.  (Unlike the American New Year, Rosh Hashanah is not a time of drinking and sports watching!)  

It is customary to send Jewish New Year cards.  So I thought I'd make some this year, using resist techniques with my StencilGirl Stencils, and some of my coordinating stamps from Rubbermoon.  

I used 6 x 9" Watercolor paper, which I folded in half, to create 4 1/2" by 6" cards.   Using a watermark pad, I stamped the Tree of Life and Hamsa images from Rubbermoon.  Then I added embossing powder, which I melted with my heat tool.

Using white gesso, I pounced through the Cascading Leaves, Paisley Floral Repeat,  Garden Flowers and Leaves, and words and images from the Happy Birthday Icons, and Teacups and Teapot stencils from StencilGirl Products.

Once the gesso was thoroughly dry, I painted over all of the cards with various watercolor washes.  As the watercolors dried, the gesso stenciled areas resisted the paint, and the patterns showed through.

I used my Derwent Intense pencils to add shadowing and detail. 

You can watch my process in this video.  

Or watch "Gesso and Embossing Resist Techniques" on YouTube here.

I hope this tutorial gives you some ideas about how to combine your favorite stencils with some of your favorite stamps!