Stencil Monoprinting ......

Happy weekend folks!

Hope you're having a good one!

It's time to launch the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge for April.  We have another fun theme for you this month ....... Stencil Monoprinting

April is a very special month at HLS HQ ..... it's Happy Little Stampers birthday!!!  Whoo Hoo!!

It's been a whole year since Kylie released her first set of stamps ..... doesn't time fly when you're having fun!
We'll be celebrating for the whole of April ..... and there'll be prizes and giveaways throughout the month. Just make sure that you're a follower of the Happy Little Stampers Blog so that you don't miss out on any of the the fun.

As always, the CAS challenge is sponsored by the HLS Store .....

 and because we're celebrating this month the prize is ......

a $30 Gift Certificate to spend in the store for the challenge winner
and

a $10 Gift Certificate to each of our Favourites 

Happy Birthday Happy Little Stampers!

So .... Stencil Monoprinting .... what's all that about?
Well it's a different way of using all those lovely stencils we all have in our stash.
You can find some links over on the HLS Blog, to video tutorials on how to do this technique.  It's so easy, and so effective.
Depending on the card/paper you use, whether you use inks or paints and how much water you spritz will determine the look that you'll get   Some stencil designs work better than others ....... just have a play and see what you come up with.

I've used a floral stencil on my inspiration piece to create the background for my pretty spring bloom. (Sorry I can't tell you the make ..... it's been in my stash for ever and unfortunately it has no packaging!)
I simply covered the stencil with various colours of Distress Inks, spritzed with a little water then pressed the stencil down onto a piece of white cardstock .... simple!  Just carefully mop up any excess water with a piece of paper towel once you've lifted the stencil.

I then stamped the large bloom and some leaves from the brand new HLS Doodled Flowers (I love these new stamps, the flowers are so pretty and you get some really useful words on there too!)
I coloured them using the Distress Inks again and then fussy cut around them before attaching them onto the front of my card using foam pads to add some dimension

I stamped one of the sentiments on the front .....

and added a few dots of white enamel accents to the centers of some of the stenciled flowers

And of course I had to add a little something on the inside .....

A little bit of masking keeps everything to one layer ......

Now it's over to you.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with.
And if you're looking for more inspiration then pop over to the Happy Little Stampers Blog, the Design Team have been having a ball with this technique!
Happy monoprinting!

On a different note ....... I got a lovely surprise recently when I found out that some of my cards were being featured on the dotcomgiftshop blog.
They published a post all about handmade birthday cards and there's quite a few well know names on there, so to be chosen alongside them makes me feel very proud ..... thanks guys!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.  It's been a very wet one here, lets hope it's a bit nicer tomorrow.

Cheerio until next time

xx