Stencil Focal

This card was made as a birthday card, but could just as easily be used as a Mother's Day Card by changing the sentiment. It's a great example of using a stencil for a focal.  I'm posting it today, instead of waiting until Friday, because I want to refer to it in my next post!

I made the focal using a rose stencil - from Sandy Arts.  I embossed it with my Big Shot (though you could emboss by hand), and then colored it with my "Non-Smear Pastels" from the Stencil Collection ( using the stipple brush I got with them).  I cut and embossed around the outside with an oval Spellbinder's die and drew a thin green border with a glitter pen. This was matted onto a piece of green suede paper (from Hot Off the Press) that had been cut and embossed with a larger oval Spellbinder's die.  I LOVE the texture of the green suede paper!

The base card is a roses blank card from Hot Off the Press.  As you can see, I altered it a bit.  Here's a drawing to help show what I did:

The vertical purple lines show where I cut slits in the base card.  You probably want both slits to be in from the edge by the same amount, but you can choose how wide you want the edge part by how far in you cut your slits. (I cut them 1/2 inch in.) The important part is that the starting point and stopping point be offset from the bottom of the card front and the fold by the same amount. In other words, if you start your slit 1/2" from the bottom of the card front, you want to cut it 1/2" past the fold. Then you'll fold on the dotted lines - mountain folds at both ends of the slit, and a valley fold in between (this fold is placed the same amount from the bottom mountain fold as the mountain fold is from the bottom of the card).

Now, I have an extra fold near the top of the little strip (from the original center of the card) that I no longer want folded.  Gluing a strip of paper or light-weight cardstock on these edges (from the valley fold to the top mountain fold) takes care of that.  On this card, I also used a strip of the same paper to run across the bottom of the card.  Then all I had to do was add my focal, and a peel-off sentiment and decoration (which I had colored to match with alcohol ink).