Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Creating with Springtime Stencils


Hi friends! I’m Debi Adams and I’m happy to have you joining me here today at StencilGirl. Been busy in my workshop messing up my workspace, as usual. It’s been said that “creative people are rarely tidy” and I do my best to keep up my end of the bargain. So what’s new? Well let’s see. I never like to stay inside the creative lines and this post is no exception. With Easter and spring here I thought I would make something seasonal so I'm stepping away from the abstract... just for today. 

                                                  

This fun little tag makes a great table decor, package topper or gift tag. Actually, it could be a card front too! It was simple to create and very different from my normal approach to stencils. It’s a passion of mine to showcase the bandwidth of stencils and art supplies in general, because they really have so many possibilities. I love digging in, "exploring" and trying out new techniques. To get started, I began with a tag and adhered torn paper to the top and bottom using gel medium. In the middle I adhered a page out of book that was a nest with eggs. (Failed to take a picture of it before adding all the other doo-dahs. Just a tad too excited I suppose. Hmmm, wonder if I was the kid in the class that got a head of the teacher? Lol.)


I then applied a light coat of gesso over the top of all of it. When that dried, I applied the Scattered Bunnies, Birds and Blooms stencil by Margaret Peot to the tag using texture paste. This is probably one of my favorite applications because I love adding dimension to my art. Once dry, I was ready for the magic of watercolors to take over. (Another favorite art form!) I used a water brush and my favorite watercolors on top.  Distress inks can work as watercolors too.  Make sure to add touches of color to the background.  It really makes a difference. 


Adding details by writing "chicken scratch" to the base with a thin, black pen helps to make a great background filler or as a hidden message. 


I traced the bunny onto watercolor paper with the black pen and used the “messy” watercoloring approach to color him in. I cut him out and adhered him to the tag using foam dots.  



And that was it. I love that stencils make you look like you can really draw :). And really, you got talent! It’s just learning how to tap into it.

Here are a few other projects I was working on with this stencil. Once I got on a roll, I couldn’t stop. These will eventually be cards.


 

Again, like the bunny, I traced out the images and then watercolored them.  I love when the colors go out of bounds.  Kinda rebellious like that :).   

Using  distress inks and water for my background is always fun.   Arches watercolor paper was used for the substrate then texture paste was applied to the top of the spring stencils. 


Sometimes not having a background at all works too!  The watercolored, texture-pasted images really pop on this kraft-colored card base.  (Hmmm, now I'm thinking a chocolate brown base would have been oh so lovely because anything and chocolate is fantastic!) I'm sure you get the idea. 


Well that's it.  Hope you enjoyed a bit of this and that and you learned something new.  And btw... welcome Spring!


XO,

Debi

debi-adams.com

Supplies needed for the tag:


*Tag
*Ephemera Paper
*Gel Medium
*White Gesso
*Texture Paste
*Watercolors of your Choice
*Waterbrush
*Fine Point,  Permanent Black Ink Pen
*Watercolor Paper for Bunny
*Scissors
*Foam Dot








5 comments:

  1. These are so pretty! Such great ideas—you have given me lots to think about. :)

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    Replies
    1. Aw! Thank you Margaret! I LOVE this stencil! Thank you for such a great design.

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  2. Hi,
    I stumbled upon this tutorial not too long ago, (this post is almost a year old!), and loved, loved, loved your tag and cards! So I got the "Scattered Bunnies..." stencil, some texture paste and kraft card stock and pretty much copied you! I did try to make the cards my own and I am so tickled how they turned out! I'm saving up now to take your Stencil Girl Card Video Workshop, Debi! I love your work and learned so much just in this little post! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  3. I love these ideas -- especially the use of texture paste and then water coloring the forms. Delicious and fun!

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  4. So wonderful and full of Spring!Makes you want to get outside!Beautiful cards and tags!

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