Wednesday Workshop - DIY "city skyline" stencil and stamp cards

Here is a cute card that you can mass-produce - by hand! I've been drawing a lot of city skylines for various design jobs and wanted to find a way to use them in my crafting and card projects. Finding inspiration with "The City of Brotherly Love" concept, I decided to combine a heart stamp with a simple line drawing of the Philadelphia skyline. To make it easier on myself, I created a skyline stencil that I can trace over and over again. I also carved a heart stamp using a soft printing block and my linoleum cutter. If you don't already have a linoleum cutter, it's probably cheaper if you just buy a pre-made heart stamp.

Materials used: 
1. Skyline drawing, printed on paper. You can also print a photograph, as long as it is easy to see the outline of the buildings. The width of the skyline print should be similar to the width of the notecard. It doesn't have to be exact but if the skyline is too big, most of your stencil won't fit on the card.
2. Thin cardboard - I used my husband's shirt cardboard
3. Spray mount
4. Exacto knife with a self-healing mat
5. Micron art pen (or any nice pen with a longer tip for getting into tight corners)
6. Rubber heart stamp (pre-made or cut with materials described above)
7. Ink pad
8. Blank notecards

Directions:
1. In an outdoor or well-ventilated setting, adhere the printed skyline to the shirt cardboard using spray mount.

2. Use your Exacto knife to cut out the skyline. Use a self-healing mat to protect your work surface.

3. If you are making your own heart stamp, draw a heart in a corner of your soft printing block. You can save the rest of the block for other stamps. Carve out the section outside of the heart.

4. Place the skyline stencil on top of you paper. Trace the outline with your art pen.

5. Imprint your heart stamp onto the card. Have fun!

Update: here is a Philly skyline for you to use! It's a little different but actually more accurate (and drawn by me!). Click the image to view and download the actual size.