I’ve recently seen a lot of YouTubers recommending the Picket Fence blending brushes that look like cosmetic make-up brushes. Well I thought I’d try a cheaper alternative first to see how I get on and ordered a set on Amazon that looked like it might do the job.
Well, this card is my first time using them with stencils and Oxide Inks.
It’s also the first outing for a few products that have been in my stash a while but I’ve just not had opportunity to use them yet.
I’m sure you can relate!
Stencil: Neat & Tangled – Balloon Duo
Die: Mama Elephant – All Prettied Up
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp – Birthday Bits (r)
Other: Distress Oxides
I started off by stencilling the balloons onto the die-cut panel of Neenah cardstock. I used the 4 smallest brushes in the set to do this, so I could colour 4 balloons at a time. All the colours are listed below.
Once those were dry I went in with the Birthday Bits stamps to add little bows to the balloons as well as the sentiment.
I used a pencil to draw the strings and finished everything off with some rainbow sequins once i’d mounted the panel on my card. The heart paper is from an old collection by Elle’s Studio.
Definitely a lot quicker adding colour to stencils with these brushes as you don’t need to mask off areas because the brush tips are nice and small compared to foam blending pads.
I’m not sure how these brushes compare to the Picket Fence ones, but they’re good enough for me right now. I don’t do a massive amount of blending, but these cheap brushes finally got me in the mood to use those balloon stencils.
I do think they are easier to use with Oxide Inks if you want that really bold look. It will take more work to blend with them using the original Distress Inks.
I’ve done a few darker blended backgrounds since for future cards using the original inks so will see what they’re like once assembled to make a card. 😀
 Simon Says Stamp – Birthday Bits stamps (r) Shop at: MISC |
 Mama Elephant – All Prettied Up dies Shop at: EH | SHC |
 Neat & Tangled – Balloon Duo stencils Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Mustard Seed Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Picked Raspberry Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Spiced Marmalade Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Twisted Citron Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Distress Oxide ink pad – Wilted Violet Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Versafine – Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH |
 Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS |
 Ranger – Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH |
 Lawn Fawn – Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC |
 MISTI precision stamping tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Cosmetic blending brushes Shop at: AZ |
 Sizzix – Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
 Tim Holtz – Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC |
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