Spritzing Tips

First, I must confess, that until last week I was a virgin Spritzer. I had purchases Stampin Up spritzers a couple of times with great intentions of using them, but somehow never took that step to open them up and use them. However, after purchasing the Build a Banner Simply Created Kit (133507) and looking at the Banner Kits on pages 4 and 12 of the Stampin Up Holiday Catalog, I realized that Spritzing with templates was a technique I was going to have to master. (More about the Build a Banner Kit later). I am sure there are Spritzing/Stencil tutorials all over the internet, but instead,  I chose the trial and error method. If any of you are like-minded, let me share a few tips with you:

TIP 1 - Make sure your stencil is secured in some manner before you start Spritzing. Depending on what you are attaching the stencil to and how large the stencil is, you can use mini glue dots, removable snail, post-it notes or anything to temporarily adhere the stencil to your paper, canvas, cardboard or other material you might be stenciling.

TIP 2 - If you are going to be using more than one color, go ahead and purchase sufficient Stampin Spritzers. They come in a 2 pack for a very affordable $2.95 (126185) and can be filled with any color of the classic inks.

TIP 3 - Remember the ratio! If you are going to use more than one Spriterful (new word) of the same color, write down the number of drops of ink you used in the water or alcohol.

TIP 4 - Check the color! Spritz on a piece of scrap paper before you Spritz your project. The color you get using 4 drops can be very different than the color you get using 3 drops. Keep checking until you get the color you want. Of course lighter colors will usually require more drops than darker colors, especially if you want bright, vibrant colors.

TIP 5 - Don't worry about perfection! Your lines or dots or whatever you are stenciling may not have crisp edges or lines. Once you had a few strategically placed embellishments you will see that it is the overall effect that counts, not the fact that you had a couple of blurry polka dots.

TIP 6 - Don't forget the Mask! The Mask stencils will cover up the parts of your project that you want to stencil in a different color or that you want to leave "Unspritzed" (another new word).

TIP 7 - Have fun! This is the most important tip of all! Don't worry about mistakes, don't worry if it's "good enough".  As long as you are having fun, it's beautiful!

My next post will include the Banner I made from the Banner Kit. Please check back or sign up to subscribe to my Blog so you don't miss it!