Bunch o' Punch: Part 2

More fun with the Large Flourish Punch! (If you missed my first report on this fab punch, see here) The first two pics show how fantastic these look framing any of your long greetings(isn't that yummy looking?)...
or short ones, it's all how you configure them, very fun to play around with them to create just the right shape you need for your stamp and your layout!
Next, a quick tip on getting mirror image flourishes perfectly placed to create a negative border: Take a flourish you have already punched out and hold on your CS with one hand (or tack it down with some temporary adhesive), with your other hand slide your punch in on the other side, with the punch facing up always so you can see where you are punching, to where it it's aligned/looks reflected and punch.
Now flip your paper over, slide the CS into the punch and punch again.
NOW SAVE this as a guide for punching out borders into your cards (without needing to do the trick of holding a punched flourish on one side each time) or for stencilling! Below you can see I made one 4 1/4" long, the width of an A2 card and tall enough to accomodate my punch plus extra so you don't end up sponging over the edge of your mat, leave yourself some room (It hangs over the edges of the DP here on either side because I have it cut down 1/4 inch to mount on my card base, but you can still center it, making sure both overhangs are even)

and here is a 5 1/2" one, the length on an A2 card (I went ahead and also punched just part of the flourish on either side of this longer one). I made one strip of my strips with the flourish's small ends pointing out and the other with the small ends pointing in. This way I can use the long one across the short side of a card still when I want to stencil a different pattern and vice versa, KWIM?
This is what both look like finished, both very pretty options! (DP Is Basic Grey Ambrosia)
Now that I have these two stencils I can simply place them on top of my mats or card bases and sponge away (or see where I need to punch), they will be centered every time. You can do one color ink as I did here or blend several colors, but for a shabby chic/distressed look the trick is not to get the ink completely even. Start light and pull your stencil away to see if you need to go back in and add more to an area, because you can't take away ink once it's on!

Sneak peeks start tomorrow, can't wait, can't wait, blog candy, new stamps, (plus lots more examples with this punch!!!) it all starts September 2nd!!! I will be previewing a set or two every day this week here and you can find a list of our other design team members participating each day on Gina K's blog, so be sure to check them all out!

Enjoy your holiday, thanks for stopping in!