Monday, January 6, 2014

Getting Organized with Color!

Hi! Mary Nasser here! Happy New Year! A popular New Year’s resolutions is getting organized, so I’m here to share with you a fun project to help with that resolution. Today I’m using Pam Carriker’s Primary Secondary Tertiary Stencil to embellish a clipboard!

For this project, I used a clipboard, gesso, collage elements, brushes, an ink sweeper and acrylic paint!

First, I primed both sides of my clipboard with gesso because I knew the masonite clipboard would absorb much of the paint.
After arranging collage elements from a vintage art book and words I'd typed and printed, too, along with the stencil,
I adhered the paper elements with gel medium.

Using painter's tape to help me achieve straight edges, I painted the colors of the spectrum on both sides...

After this dried, I taped my stencil in place...

...then pounced on a light layer of gesso on with an ink sweeper.
I kept the gesso light so that it would not seep under the stencil.

I repeated this process on the other side...

Then came my favorite part...mixing and painting in the colors on Pam's stencil!!
I taped my stencil in place again and used it as a guide for my colors.
If any paint seeped under the stencil, I wiped it off easy-peasy with a baby wipe!

I finished by brushing on matte varnish to both sides to protect my clipboard.
I love that I have a completely unique clipboard now!

Here's the front...

and a detail...

And here's the back!

And one more detail...

Happy New Year! I hope I've inspired you to try stenciling on a new surface, too!

19 comments:

  1. This is so colorful. Sometimes I come across that problem with too much paste or gesso has gone thru the stencil... When you say wipe it off.. do you mean lift up the stencil and wipe away and reapply the medium? I think I want a cool clipboard like this! Great job.

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    1. Glad you may make a cool clipboard of your own, Monica!
      When I have too much paste or gesso seeping under the stencil, I lift the stencil and use a baby wipe to remove the excess medium. Sometimes that means wiping away completely and reapplying the medium. But usually I just wipe away the bits that have seeped under the stencil. Hope that helps! Thanks for your comment!

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  2. Practical and gorgeous too. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. so inspiring!!! thank you for sharing...

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  4. I love this. Bright, fun and useful and I have a clipboard just waiting to be decorated. Am planning to try using hanging clipboards as a sort of project organizer this year. I love the Studio line of gesso and gel mediums. Curious as to what brand acrylic paints you used for this project? Thanks for sharing this idea.

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    1. Love your idea of using hanging clipboards as a project organizer this year, Rebecca!
      And it's great you have a clipboard waiting to be decorated!
      Any acrylics would work for this project; for mine, I used Amsterdam Standard Series Acrylics.
      Hope you post photos of your decorated clipboard(s)!

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  5. Love the colors and the fact that it is a clipboard! Fun project!!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jean! I like that it is functional art, too!

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  6. This blows me away, Mary. I need a 12 step program for organizing.

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  7. Beautiful and teacherly too Mary! Love it! Sanna

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  8. Practical art! Who knew? Totally brilliant!

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    1. Thank you so much, Kay! I will definitely use this. :)

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  9. Hi

    Awesome! What a fabulous clipboard! Love the bright fun colours.
    Although there is some paper used in this project I'm not sure that it could strictly be classified as a paper craft project which is the criteria for the Make It Monday linky party.

    I will leave your entry up though this week as there some paper used :o)

    Thanks for sharing with us.

    Michelle :o)

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  10. Oh, sorry, I Just realised that my comment on your first entry (the stencilled sleeves) may not have gone through, my apologies. That entry was deleted as it was not a papercraft project.

    Kind regards Michelle
    Make It Monday

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  11. Very colourful, and great to see instructions too. Seen on MIM
    http://croftcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/creative-friday-link-party-2.html

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