Stenciled Affirmation Card Deck

Over the years, I have participated in quite a few of Tina Walker's stencil collaborations. They're always fun, creative, and push me to think outside my own box. The StencilGirl Affirmation/Tarot Card Collaboration was no exception...I'm really pleased with the deck I created: the cards have some of my favorite colors, designs, symbols, materials, and words.

Rather than beginning with a piece of plain white paper, I stumbled on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that was smeared with bright colors. I thought I'd try using similar brights, and stenciling with my own designs on the paper. I chose some of my newest collection: my Lemurian Leaves, Blooming Violet, and the small Lemurian Leaf from my Wyatt ATC MixUp. I started with the Lemurian Leaf using white acrylic and a cosmetic sponge.

I added more and more of the white leaf, then used the other stencils in brighter colors. Here's how the design progressed:

Once I had colors and shapes placed all over the paper, I got out my cutting mat, metal-edged ruler, and exacto knife, and cut it into 2/5" x 3.5" ATCs. Some of them needed a little extra pizazz, so I added splotches of color and a few extra stenciled areas so each card would have a nice flow of color and shape.

Here's the ATCs:

I knew I still needed to design the back, and I also needed to find the right affirmations for each card.

I had a stenciled 140 lb. watercolor paper using a gorgeous Wendy Brightbill design a few weeks ago. It was just the perfect shade of pink to go with my cards, and the nature design complimented my ATCs perfectly.

The paper was really beautiful and I hesitated to cut it up, but I pushed on and cut it into 2.5" x 3.5" sections. Here's how the cards looked together:

Two things were missing: words for the back of the card, and a little something extra for the front.

I decided to use the Sacred Heart ATC designs by Laurie Mika on the front, on top of my colorful Lemurian Garden designs. I carefully applied VersaMark embossing ink through the stencil designs, sprinkled on white embossing powder, shook off the excess, and zapped it with my heat gun. The effect was magical! The sacred hearts added an extra layer of meaning for me and the shiny white looked so pretty on top of the bright colors.

Using heavy matte medium gel, I glued the fronts and backs together and used a small fingertip sponge to apply sepia ink to the edges, which gave a finished look and hid any imperfections.

To create the words, I used my Photoshop program and typed the affirmations to fit an ATC-sized space, then printed them out of my inkjet printer on giant sheets (8.5" x 11") of Avery shipping labels. 

I cut the labels to fit, peeled away the backing, and pressed them in place. The clear label didn't even show once it was placed on top of the stenciled design...it looks like the words were printed directly on the cards.

Here's the finished cards, and a close-up of my two favorites.