I’ve been wanting to try out Altenew’s Layered Kaleidoscope stencils, so I was thrilled when I saw that this Monday’s challenge on the SSS blog was stencils.  Perfect timing.

These stencils ROCK!  I thought it may be hard to line them up, or that you’d have to make sure to use the A stencil before the B stencil.  Nope and Nope.  They are super easy to align, and the results are fantastic no matter which stencil you use first.  I hope they make many more of these layered beauties.  It was so quick, and the results are impressive.  In all honesty, the thing that took me longest for these cards was figuring out if I wanted sequins, and where to put them (I won’t even get into how long it takes me to actually glue down the sequins…… am I the only one here?  Why can’t I do this without slip-sliding them all over the place.)

But, back to the stencils.  I used Distress Ink on Strathmore Bristol paper for all the cards. And, I cut all the panels with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die.  Now for the differences of each card.

The “beautiful” pink/orange card used Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Mustard Seed, and Squeezed Lemonade.  I put the “B” stencil down first and applied the Picked Raspberry just in the center, then blended out the edges with Spun Sugar.  I took the B stencil off, then aligned the A stencil, and applied Mustard Seed in the middle, with Squeezed Lemonade blending out the edges.  The sentiment was die cut from Tim Holtz’s Handwritten Love set using fuchsia card stock.  And, I finished it off with just a few Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins.

The “hello there” card also started with the B stencil. I again applied Picked Raspberry in the middle, blending to the edges of the stencil with Spun Sugar.  I switched to the A stencil and applied Broken China in the middle, and blended toward the edges with Tumbled Glass.  The sentiment is from My Favorite Things More Essential Sentiments set, and was heat embossed on fuchsia paper.

The “my heart” card started with the A stencil.  I applied Black Soot in the middle and around the edges then applied Hickory smoke around the center.  I switched to the B stencil and applied a couple of coats of Picket Fence.  The sentiment for this card also came from the My Favorite Things More Essential Sentiments set, heat embossed in white on red card stock.  The heart was a small punch, which I outlined with a Black Sharpie and then put Ranger Glossy Accents on top.

Supplies

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• Altenew Layered Kaleidoscope Stencils (A&B)
• My Favorite Things More Essential Elements
• Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle dies
• Tim Holtz Handwritten Love dies
• Distress Ink: Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Black Soot, Hickory Smoke, Picket Fence
• Neenah Solar White (card bases); Strathmore Bristol (card fronts), red and fuchsia accent paper
• Glossy Accents
• Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins
• White heat embossing