Love a Hero Using Stencils & Ink Smooshing for Camo Backgrounds

  Happy Wednesday! I am sharing two different ways to make a camouflage background on note cards for our heroes. I really loved making these 4 3/4" x 3 1/2" note cards. The two techniques I would like to share are ink smooshing and using a stencil. Sometimes crafters can be intimidated with ink smooshing so I am so excited that Maker Forte has the Layering Camouflage Stencil as I absolutely love the pattern it makes for the background. I used the Maker Forte Love a Hero stamp set, Maker Forte layered Camouflage Stencil, and three distress inks: Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen, and Rustic Wilderness. 

 

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I would like to share the stenciled background first. This stencil is so user friendly and it produces an amazing background.

To begin the background, I took a piece of Ultra White cardstock and laid the stencil on top that has step 1 and Step 2 on it. Then I blended Rustic Wilderness through it. 

 

As you can see in the picture, the stencil has the directions on it so you can layer these stencils with ease! Next, I blended Gathered twigs through the stencil that has "step 3" in the top corner. I originally only wanted to use the two colors. After I finished step 3, I randomly blended Gathered Twigs through the "Step 4" stencil and then Rustic Wilderness in the other areas. 

When I finished, I felt there was too much white space. This is probably why step one is to lay down an initial color which I had skipped because I had wanted some white space. To fix that, I blended some Antique Linen over the whole thing. 

 

This background was put to the side so I could start on the ink smooshing backgrounds. I pulled out a piece of watercolor paper and Rustic Wilderness distress ink. I smooshed the ink on the mat and sprayed it lightly with water. Next, I lightly tapped the cardstock on the wet ink. I lifted it straight up and tapped a different part in the ink. Next is the most important part of ink smooshing. When you want to layer wet distress ink, you must dry it before moving on to the next color or they will all be brown mush. So, I heat set the green ink with my heat tool until it was dry. I suggest heating the front and back of the cardstock with the heat tool, it makes a difference in regards to pooling and blotches. 

 

Once dry, I did the same thing with the Gathered Twigs distress ink. 

 

When my backgrounds were all dry, I cut the panels down to 4 3/8" x 3 1/8". Then, I ran my antistatic bag over my panels and using Color Hive Clear embossing ink, I heat embossed the image from the Love a Hero stamp set with black embossing powder on each panel. Next, I layered these panels on 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" Eclipse Black cardstock panels. I added foam tape to the back, then adhered it to my Ultra white card panels that I had cut to 4 3/4" x 7" and scored in half at 3 1/2". To finish the cards, I stamped sentiments from the Love a Hero stamp set on strips of Ultra White cardstock using Color Hive Eclipse Black ink. Then, layered them on strips of Eclipse Black cardstock and added foam to adhere them to the cards. 

 

I really hope you like these cards and are inspired to make cards for the heroes in your life. This set is great for many different branches of the military and you could use different color combos that relate to the branch you are making the cards for.