Hello there. I’ve got a sympathy card to share with you today, using the ferns stencil & dies designed by Hazel Eaton for Julie Hickey Designs. I’ve actually used a technique I picked up from Hazel with the fern stencil as well, thanks to the current challenge at Just Add Ink (I’ve used foliage & masking), but more of that in a minute. I also picked up the layout from Freshly Made Sketches as a last minute entry!

I started by stencilling the large fern onto a piece of white card using a blending brush and ‘iced spruce’ Distress Oxide. I used the outline stencil first to created the overall shape of the fern, then slotted the ‘innie’ fern back into the outer piece as a mask, so that I could blend more ink through that to give me the detail on the fern. A great tip from Hazel!

I attached the white card to a layer of dark green and then to a 5×7 card blank. I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of white card in ‘iced spruce’, mounted that onto a dark green mat and then onto the card front.

I cut three ferns with the middle sized die in the set, again in the dark green card, and attached those to the card front, flowing over the panel with the sentiment, then finished with a few dark green resin dots.

I love the detail on these ferns. Now technically ferns have fronds, not leaves, and the definition of ‘foliage’ is a collection of plant leaves, but I’m hoping the Just Add Ink team will forgive me!