One Stencil Set, Four Seasons!

What color palette do you think should be used for each season of the year? Autumn is pretty obvious, with oranges, yellows, and a touch of red and brown. Winter might be blue-ish with silver, and white perhaps. Summer might be a vibrant green and spring.... spring might be pastels, because why not? 

Hi Altenew friends and fans! It's Erica back on the blog and YouTube channel, and I'm having another love affair with a stencil set. The one in question is the Stencil Art: Aspen Sky, and it's a 6-stencil layer set. I had an idea to ink blend four panels in the colors of each season. 

First of all, we need some ink blending tools, inks, and grippy mat. A bit of satin masking tape can come in handy too, as well as cardstock. Oh, and Instant Dimension Foam Tape for later! Quite possibly some Shimmer Relief Paste to use with the stencil layer that is the branches... and the 14 Pan Metallic Watercolor Palette, and a touch of bling, most likely.

I decided to ink blend each season by itself, instead of trying to clean off each stencil layer and avoid colour contamination on the backgrounds. I normally keep a little tub of water nearby to clean off my stencil in, and I did pop them in this tub after each layer was done. I decided to not risk getting water splotches on another panel so instead of a quick dip of each stencil, I left them all in there and dried them off thoroughly before starting again with stencil 1,  

When each season was ink blended, it was time to decide how to spruce them up. A tree pun, get it? However let's take a moment to admire the backgrounds as they are first. Which one is your favourite so far? 

I toyed with the idea of using one of the stencil layers that create the actual trunk of the tree to add some touches of Shimmer Relief Paste for some interest. Sounds pretty fab, doesn't it? That idea will have to wait for another time though, I loved how the backgrounds turned out and to be honest I didn't want to mess anything up. 

Each season is finished off with its own seasonally themed sentiment, which I thought was brilliant! I will admit that when I had finished them I realised that I put summer and spring on those seasons, yet managed to build and stamp sentiments for autumn and winter without those words in. So much for my brilliant idea, ha! 

I have used a variety of diecuts, and stamps to create the sentiments, and while the stencils in the set are amazing, it would be so cool if there was a coordinating stamp set. In fact, I might pitch the idea to the creative team. Imagine it, seasonally themed sentiments to go with all four seasons! How great would that be! Oh and coordinating diecuts saying winter, spring, summer and autumn! A whole product suite to match the stencils, yay! Ok, I need to calm down and carry on with the creations I have actually created with the stencils, and not keep dreaming up coordinating fun products. 

Ok, so let's get to it: For the winter scene I splattered some gold water colours for stars on that dark sky. I skipped all the leaves stencil layers completely and instead ink blended some dark blue ink around the edges first though. 

The sentiment would have been better if I had gone for 'winter wishes' or even 'stay cozy this winter' instead of just 'stay cozy'. I don't know why I seemed to have a total brain glitch when it was time to diecut the words out. 

For the spring scene, I decided to add a frame around the edges. This is the biggest of the Deco Cover Die Set and it's cut out of Brushed Gold Metallic cardstock (I am addicted to this stuff!) I also cut out the word 'spring' out of the same metallic cardstock using the Inline Alpha Die Set.

Obviously, we want it to say more than just spring, so I have customized the sentiment by stamping part of one from the Deco Greetings Stamp set, so it says 'have a dazzling spring'. The part of the sentiment that is stamped, is stamped with Permanent Black Ink directly into the stenciled background.

For our vibrant summer stenciled background, I went simple: I stamped part of a sentiment from the Sophisticated Wreath Stamp Set directly onto the background. Underneath this, I added the word 'summer' cut out of Crafty Necessities Fresh Lemon cardstock, using the Simple Alpha Die Set. 

This is really quite lovely as it is, isn't it? Like looking out a window on a gorgeous summer day. 

The autumn background is probably my favourite! I went super colourful with the stencils and inks, and oooooh, it turned out so lovely! If I may say so myself. 

Sentiment wise I went for one from the Autumn Whispers Stamp Set, it just made sense, right? It is also stamped on Fresh Lemon cardstock and then trimmed down to a banner. For a little fun look, I also stamped up some of the leaves from this stamp set in a fun swiping technique. By swiping the ink onto the stamps, rather than dabbing them on, you get a really great look. I have used the same colors as I used for the stenciled background, to keep it color cohesive.  

The leaves are tucked in around the sentiment banner and I tried adding them where their colour wasn't the same as the stencilled background. I didn't want them to disappear.

As all these backgrounds are lovely and colourful, I was wrestling with what else to add to them. I mean, these stencils really take care of the whole background if you want. While I am always advocating for more bling, I actually thought adding embellishments would take away from the loveliness of the pattern these stencils make, and seeing as they are supposed to be the star of the show today, I actually *gasps in shock* decided to not add any bling at all... I'm seriously as shocked as you are, lol! 

I hope you get a chance to watch the video over on the Altenew Youtube channel, and don't forget to tell me which season you like the most! And also if the Stencil Art: Aspen Sky Layering Stencil Set is on your Wishlist! 

With love and light, creativity and sparkle from your girl Erica