Mixed Media Scrapbooking with February StencilClub Stencils

Hi everyone, it's Gwen here today to share a project with you using the new exclusive February StencilClub stencils designed by Carolyn Dube.

For this project, I wanted to do something with some favorite pictures from my vacation in Myanmar last year. Most of my photos will go into a photobook, but I wanted to do something special with these so I decided to scrapbook them. Here's my layout, and below is a quick overview of how I used this month's stencils to pull it all together.

Although I did this as a scrapbook layout, you could just as easily apply this process to making an art journal page, canvas, or other mixed media project.

To begin, I took out a piece of kraft cardstock and a few colors of ink. I wanted something that would work as a background pattern, so I picked colors that wouldn't compete with the photos but would match the color scheme.

I started by using a dark orange with the 9x12 and just put scattered bits of pattern around the background. One of the coolest things about these is the way the 6x6 works with the 9x12 so that you can easily create a two-toned pattern; I used that to bring in some red. Next I added just a bit of green for contrast using the 4x4, and then used the bottom of the 9x12 to get some dark brown stripes. I positioned the photos so that I could determined where the pattern should go, and then masked them off and stenciled.

Once the stenciling was done, I brought out a few sprays and just made a big mess - a few puddles and drips never hurt, right? (I especially love the copper irRESISTible spray - it dries with a bit of dimension which is really cool in person.) I let this dry overnight.

Next I adhered all my photos and started embellishing. I used two of my favorite things - microbeads and glitter mixed with gel medium and applied with a palette knife around the corners, and then copper dimensional paint in the visible stenciled areas.

The last touch was the title - I wanted to put one on here, but I didn't want it to stand out too much. I found a set of Thickers that had a font that would work, but I definitely didn't want aqua glitter! So I gesso'd over it, painted them, then stenciled the same way I had on the background. The cool thing is you still get the dimension and even a little shine from the glitter but not the color.

From there, I just added some more dimensional pearls, glitter, and microbeads so that it would blend with the rest of the page. I adhered it to the layout with heavy gel medium (I've had these a while, so they weren't too sticky anymore.)

 

 And here's the completed layout once again:

And a close-up so you can see how the stencils and embellishments together really make the layout (in my humble opinion, of course!)

 

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed today's project and that it helps get you excited and inspired to get this month's stencils. And if you aren't yet a member of StencilClub, if you join by the 15th, you'll start your membership with these stencils!

Until next time, happy stenciling!
Gwen