Guest Designer Frieda Oxenham

The art of Frida Kahlo is always inspirational to me (and not just because of her name!) as are the images of the artist herself and I can’t resist regularly making Frida inspired art.

Here is the tutorial:

1.     Cover the pages of your art journal with a variety of acrylic spray paint. I used an A4 sized art journal. 

2.     Again using permanent spray paints, spray through stencil L143 Ivy 9 in a variety of colours.

3.     Using a 9 x 12” gelli plate and copy paper, add colour to the copy paper by covering the plate in one colour and taking partial prints on the paper until they are covered. Repeat using other colours.

4.     Then cover the plate In one colour and put stencils on top of the plate. I used stencil L143 Ivy 9 again as well as the B stencil from the April 2024 StencilClub. Again take partial prints on the papers from step 3. Then remove the stencils and take the negative prints too. We’re not looking for perfect prints but instead we’re creating collage material for the next step. 

5.     Collage strips of the papers made in step 4 onto your pages as shown.  I used a UHU glue stick for this. 

6.     Stencil on flowers using different colours of acrylic paint with a cosmetic wedge and stencil S091 4 Flowers. 

7.     Stencil figure from stencil L620 Inspired by Frida onto flower themed wrapping paper as well as deli paper. I used ArtAlchemy acrylic paint Sparks. 

8.     Cut out the figures from step 7 and glue them onto the pages as shown, again using a glue stick.

9.     Also cut out text from a vintage music book and glue that on, as well as tissue paper featuring musical notes. 

10.  Cut out flowers from the wrapping paper from step 7 and glue on. 

11.  Colour in and outline figures and flowers using acrylic paint markers as well as a black Stabilo All pencil.

© Frieda Oxenham 2024

Stenciling on mini magnetic canvases - simple gift idea

Hi All,

Niamh here from down under! It's been incredibly cold down here for the last week or two, and our heater has broken, so working in my studio was not possible. However - to thank the people who came to fix the heater (who were fascinated by the different art in my studio where they had to fix the heater) I made this set of magnets for their office. 

The base was some canvas magnets I picked up cheap at my local K-Mart, but you could easily cover an old advertising magnet with canvas tape to get the same results. I painted my favourite colour combo for the background, mixing pinks, yellows and oranges to get a warm overall colour. 

To add texture to the background I used Random circles stencil  and Kelp Forest stencils in the same warm colours over the top. This added subtle patterning to the background and softened the harsher lines where the colours meet. 

Next I stencilled a strong contrasting colour to pop against the background, in this case turquoise. I used the circle line mask. This helped to make the background really quirky, so much so, I changed my orginal idea to add collage instead. 

To finish off the magnets I added these quirky collage images from Collage Soup and some snarky sayings from Natalie May. I'm a sucker for big eyes and crazy animals with hats!!! You could seal over the top with a gel medium or varnish, but I just left these as is and they have been pretty sturdy. And they were very well received by the recipients. Plus - more importantly, I got heat again!!!!

Hope you try making your own cute collaged magnets - so much fun, and such an easy way to display your art.

Happy Creating

Niamh

@niamhbaly (IG/Youtube)

@Niamhs Art Journal (Facebook)

Carol Ponsford - Fun shrink art clips for art journaling!

Hi bloggers, Carol Ponsford here today with a project to add some fun to 

your art journaling, I will be showing you how I created these clips to hold your pages

open while you create in your art journals that will add a smile to your face.

I started with Shrink plastic, the stencil of choice (this one is L767 - Three Swamp Monsters 

stencil designed by Angela Treat Lyon), and a fine line Sharpie. I love these little whimsical characters!

(I also created one using L502 designed by Gwen Lafleur that you will see further down the page.)

I placed the stencil down on some card stock paper and traced around all of the sections

of the stencil and added some extra embellishments where I wanted.

With the stencil still in place, I took colored pencils and colored in all of the areas.

When using Shrink plastic, you need to remember that when you shrink the image,

the colors will become darker than first applied during the shrinking process.

Next, I carefully cut the image out. Since this image had many thin areas, I left 

some of the uncolored areas to add support for the thin sections.

The next step was to shrink the image. I used an old splatter screen to help 

keep the plastic from curling up too much and getting stuck to itself.

I had some areas stick but I was able to use a needle tool to pull the 

stuck areas apart carefully so I would not tear pieces off of the image.

I stopped part of the way through to show how much the piece will twist and curl

during the heating/Shrinking process. As you can see it gets quite curly.

The image will shrink approximately to half of it's original size as shown above.

I also did 3 other images using other types of pens to color the image. The top image 

was done with Posca markers, the second image was done with Copic markers, 

and the 3rd was the one with colored pencils. On this 4th image I 

did not trace the image on first, I started with placing the stencil under the 

shrink plastic, colored in areas with Copic markers and then laid the stencil 

on top and traced with the Sharpie pen. I wanted to show that there

are several ways to use shrink plastic and different pens that will work.

The colored pencils will give a much softer look than the Posca or Copic markers.

The next step was to trace each piece onto a piece of card stock and 

cut it out. Because I wanted to make sure the colors showed as much as possible

I felt putting white behind them would add to their brightness as well

as add a more absorbent base to help them adhere to the metal clips.

I used Gel Matte Medium to glue them on to the card stock.

This step might not be necessary but I did sand the card stock on the back

of the pieces a little as well as the metal hair clips I used to help them adhere better.

 

I used 2 thin popsicle sticks to hold the hair clips in place during the gluing stage

to help insure that the glue would not drip on the clip and seal it closed. This 

also helped to level the clips and stabilize them while they were drying.

I used 527 glue but I am sure there are many other glues that would work.

Once they are dry, I hope you will enjoy using them in your art journaling to hold the 

pages open as you create in your journal. And just maybe, when you catch 

one out of the corner of your eye, they will bring a smile!

Thank you so much for joining me today on the blog and I hope you will

create some of these journal clips for yourself. I want to thank 

StencilGirl® Products for providing me with these stencils so 

that I can share what I created with you.

Happy Creating!

To see more of my work please visit my Instagram page.

Paper Pinwheels

Hello Creative friends,

Today we will take a trip back in time and revisit the famously fun paper pinwheel.

Paper pinwheels are adorable, they bring forth a touch of whimsy and can be made in just afew minutes. 

I for one love them and they are a great addition to my cards, journals or even party banners!

I love using stencils for this projects to personalize them and add further interest. 

Today I am using:

Words to Live By stencil designed by Carolyn Dube 

&

DNA Strand #3 stencil designed by Mary Beth Shaw

The Process:

• Apply paint to the gel plate and then the stencil 
• Cover the stencil with a blank piece of paper and lightly rub so that the stencil image is transferred
• Clean the gel plate and repeat the process on the opposite side of the your paper

• Fold the paper into quarters and cut (unless you want a GIANT pinwheel!)
• You will have four pieces of paper 

• Take one piece and fold it from right to left to create a trianlge and trim off the excess 
• you will end up with a square. Note this method works with any size square

• With the ruler draw light lines from corner to corner and a small circle in the middle where the lines joins - this will act as your cutting guide (do not cut past this guideor it will all fall apart)

• Once all the lines are cut add a small dab of hot glue to the center of the paper
• Bring the right corner of each individual trangle to the center, and hold in place until the glue keeps it there (repeat with all four corners attaching with glue as needed)
• Add a button or pom pom in the center for whimsy 
• Allow to dry completely 
• Turn over and glue on the straw

So fun! 

 Thank you for stopping by and enjoy.

Supplies

Tina Hois Art

Flag Book with Kirsten Varga

Welcome to another bookmaking adventure with StencilGirl® and me, Kirsten Varga! This month I am featuring the flag book. 

The Flag Book structure was invented by book artist Hedi Kyle. The structure is an accordion-folded spine with rows of flags attached to opposite sides of each fold. It is more sculptural than other book structures and the variations are endless. (That is one thing I enjoy about book arts, the endless variations!)

This was the first type of book I ever made! Back in college my professor had our class create multiples of a business-card sized artwork and we had an art exchange with our classmates. We each created a flag book and glued all the cards inside. It is a wonderful keepsake and a showcase of all our mini artworks!

For the book I created for you I am using painted papers from my stash for the flags. I think I will later glue on quotes, poems and fortunes from fortune cookies onto them. But, please don't limit your flags to just paper! You can use wood veneer, photographs, fabric or other thin materials. 

I used stencils to decorate 140lb. watercolor paper for the spine as well as a lighter weight mixed media paper for the covers. I limited myself to a small palette of acrylic paints and layered the designs until my eyes were happy. :)

I created a tutorial video to show you all the details! Find it on the StencilGirl® YouTube channel HERE!

Happy Creating!

Find me on Instagram: @kirstenvarga

Stencils used:

Soulful Scribbles Dots Dash (L605)

Rock Wall (L897)

Grout (L898)

Other Supplies:

140lb. cold press watercolor paper

mixed media paper (maybe 98lb?)

gesso

gel medium

Yes! Paste

bone folder

craft knife and ruler

glue stick

Golden Acrylics: 

Quin/Nickel Azo Gold

Prussian Blue Hue

Sap Green Hue

Transparent Brown Iron Oxide

Burnt Umber

Titanium White