Make Art Stay-tion Samples

This post is to show what I was able to make using my new Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion Mat. I had read reviews for this mat before I bought it to be sure I would be able to use it for stencils the way I wanted to.

Although it is a magnetic mat metal dies do not stick to it - which on a work table full of projects that could be a good thing - ;0).  The back of the box says this mat can be used for stencils, embossing, aligning and creating. . .  The first video for this mat I had seen the crafter was using it for stencils and that is why I bought it. In some of the reviews crafters complained it did not have rubber "feet" on the back of it so it could move on your work surface. I avoided that problem by using a piece of drawer liner that I trimmed to fit under my mat. I have the WRM Keepers glass mat on my work table so using the liner piece kept my Make Art Stay-tion mat in place. Here is a photo to show the liner piece I cut to fit under my mat:

I put the mat over the liner piece at an angle so you could see I cut the liner piece to a size that would fit under the mat. The brown craft mat I ordered to come with the Make Art mat and the magnetic alignment ruler that comes with the magnetic mat holds the brown craft mat in place.

I wanted to show a few different inks/mediums using this mat so I will go through them. This first photo is a Holly stencil by Echo Park:

All the card stocks I used for my samples are #110 weight card stock from Mikes in various colours. This first sample I used a regular green ink using a make up brush to apply the ink:

With this mat you do not have to hold your stencil with your one hand while you apply your ink/medium with the other. Plus the magnets kept the stencil in place so you have a crisp/clean stenciled image:

Will have to use this piece for tags and will add red Stickles and such to dress them up.....

This next sample I used the Hero Arts Hero Hues Reactive Sea Salt ink on my kraft card stock using the Snowflake stencil from Simon Says using a make up brush to apply the ink:

and with the stencil lifted off:

I also wanted to try using texture paste over a stencil. For this sample, again using the kraft #110 weight card stock from Mikes, I used a Snowflake stencil from Pretty Pink Posh:

Used the applicator knife and added the texture paste over the stencil:

Even with applying the paste the magnets kept the stencil in place so once the stencil was removed I still had a crisp/clean image:

Stencils can add so much to projects - - backgrounds for tags, card fronts, box fronts, etc.. I especially like with the different inks I used and also the texture paste I had clean images. Without this magnetic mat with the paste you could easily get a "glopish" (is that a word????) image with using a stencil. The stencil could move and smear or maybe the paste was applied unevenly or something. But this mat with magnets eliminates that problem.

Easy clean up as well -- I used baby wipes over the brown craft mat and dried it off with a piece of dry paper towel. Certainly happy I came across the stencil video to begin with so I saw this product in use. Hoping to get lots of use out of it for my holiday stencils for holiday projects ahead!

Here is the photo of the box for this product:

*** STORAGE ***

Awhile back my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) asked me to go with her to a crafter's house that was selling her all her craft supplies.  When we got there this crafter had a large stack of the IRIS snap closure containers that are 12 x 12.  In all the containers were stickers/bling.  My PIC made an offer to this crafter for these filled bins along with other items she was wanting to buy. The seller took her offer and we loaded all the containers into the back of the car to head to her craft room. When she was finished unpacking all the containers she asked me if I wanted any of them (empty) so happy me she gave me quite a few!  I have been re-organizing (AGAIN) and I am happy to say I had a couple of the containers empty still. Fast forward to my new mat --

Here is a photo to show my new Make Art Stay-tion Mat in the IRIS container, along with the drawer liner square I cut for under it, and the magnets and alignment ruler. (In this photo you can see the extra magnets I had bought for it since I had broken some with my MISTI when that first came into the craft room and had to run to Home Depot for more magnets .... ):

On top of the mat and all I put a piece of thin cardboard - from the back of a card stock pad - to protect the mat, brown craft mat, and magnets:

Just finished sorting all my stencils and put those in zippered clear bags (from dollar store) by theme. I have all the BOO Day stencils in one bag, all the Christmas is together, and I have clouds, trees, and leaves together in one bag. flowers together, etc. . I used the label maker and labeled each bag.  I also labeled the IRIS container - front and top.  I have four of the Mobile Storage Towers by Ashland at Mikes in my craft room and I will keep this IRIS bin in one of those towers. Here is a photo to show all the stencils in the container with the mat:

Happy to have everything together for when I am crafting and am wanting to use the stencils and mat. Happy my PIC came across that sale for sure!!! Labeled and ready for use:

Good to have this project put together.  Also like that you can see thru the IRIS containers as well. Thanks to my PIC for sharing them!