StencilGirl Guest Designer Michael Trent

Hello everyone.  My name is Michael and this is my first time on StencilGirl Talk but, hopefully, not my last.  Today, it is my pleasure to introduce to you a new technique I have come up with called "Stendoodle" or "Stendoodling".  Consider it a way of doodling but with stencils.  It's not an easy technique to explain but once you do one project, I am sure you will be hooked!!  It's very calming and Zen-like and I actually came up with this technique while trying my hand at Zentangle.  I can actually zone out for hours while working on a project. 

With Valentine's Day right around the corner my project is using Terri Stegmiller's Heart Flower 6" to make a card.  This would be a great card to give to someone for Valentine's Day but I also see it as a beautiful anniversary card or just a card to tell someone that you love them!!   At the end of the post, I also show a card using the same stencil but leaving out one main part of it in order to give you a larger work space to make your "Stendoodle" in. 

I really hope you guys like the project!! 

Heart with Flower Stendoodle Style

Supplies Used:

StencilGirl Stencils I used in this project 

Journal Texture #2 (4"x4")

Heart Flower 6 (6"x6")

Triangles Stencil (6"x6")

Ray Circles (6"x6")

Throwing Stars 6 (6"x6")

Diamonds Small 6 (6"x6")

Slices 6 (6"x6")

Blades (6"x6")

Herring Bone (9" x 14")

Other Supplies Used:

White cardstock base - 6" x 12" folded in half

White cardstock 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

White cardstock 3" x 3"

Black cardstock 5 5/8" x 5 5/8"

Pink cardstock 6" x 6"

Artist grade pencil and eraser

Sharpie Fine Tip Permanent Black Marker

Mixture of Tombow markers and Neon Sharpies

Double sided tape

Removable tape or painter's tape

Ranger Black Archival Ink Pad

Glue Stick

Liquid Glue (I used Glossy Accents)

Scissors

Optional – button to match the pink cardstock and string for button

Optional – pop dots

Thoughts of Courage by Pam Carriker from Stampington

Step by Step:

1.    Place the 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" cardstock on your work surface, tape the Heart Flower 6 stencil down with the painter's or removable tape, and lightly trace the outline of the stencil with the pencil.  Don't push down too hard as the pencil lines will be erased later. (Whether you keep it on an angle or straight up and down, is up to you).

2.     Remove tape and stencil and slowly go over the pencil with a black permanent marker.  Then erase all the pencil marks.  Also color in the “shadow” marks at the top of the heart with the black marker.  You can also close off the 3 flower petals with the permanent marker if you want.  But the flower will be covered later. 

This is a good time to talk about the pencil – the question most frequently asked of me is "Why do you use the pencil?  Why not just trace with the permanent pen?"  The main reason is that most of the stencils I use are very thin and some areas of the stencil are very narrow with the cut areas easily moving.  If the pencil moves while I am tracing, I can erase it later.  But, if the permanent marker moves while tracing (something that has happened many times), if the project cannot be saved, it will need to be started over.  When you do this technique, you will get to know the stencils and which ones can be used right away with a permanent marker and which ones you will need to use the pencil first.

3.     Now lay the Herring Bone stencil over the image and find "that part" of the stencil that “talks” to you.  This is hard to explain but move the stencil around, looking at the open areas as you do this, until you see what works best.  Then trace around the image with the pencil (trust me on this one, with this stencil USE A PENCIL FIRST!!)

4.     Go over the lines with the permanent marker and then erase the pencil marks. 

Now comes the fun and creative part...using stencils with smaller designs to use within each of the rectangle "brick" areas from the Herring Bone stencil.  Steps __ through __ are basically the same – lay a stencil over one of the bricks, trace the part of the stencil you want in the brick, remove stencil and then retrace with the permanent marker. 

5.     Slices - I used it two boxes, one on the right side and one on the left.  Trace with pencil then go back, trace again with permanent marker, then erase pencil lines.   

6.     Rays Circles – Used in the top box.  The stencil will not fully cover the box so after you trace, just extend the lines to the edge of the box.  I also colored the rays in with the permanent marker.

7.  Journal Texture 2 – I love this little stencil as it is perfect for not just the large boxes but also smaller boxes or areas.  I used this stencil in the 3 small portions in the piece.

8.  Blades – every time I use this stencil I want lemonade.  LOL.  Make sure to look at each of the blades or flowers as they are not all the same.   

9.  Triangles - this is a fun stencil to use because you can make your own design with all the straight lines.  Love it!! 

10.  Throwing Stars - this is a great stencil because you have both the positive and negative spaces to use as a stencil.  After I used this stencil, I went back and used the Rays stencil again but this time I only used the small circles in the center of the smallest ray to add some depth to this box.

11.  Diamonds Small 6 - note that the diamond patterns are not spaced very close to each other so you will have to lay one row down, trace, then lift the stencil and position the next row next to the row you just traced to get the effect in the photo below.

12.  Rays again – I used the Rays stencil again on the bottom box to fill in and give some balance with the Rays at the top.

This is what your piece will look like after all the boxes have been filled in –

13.  Color in your piece. You do not need to color in the flower, as that will be covered in the next step. 

I colored in my piece with a mixture of Neon Sharpies and Tombow markers.  You can use Copics, color pencils, you can even leave it black and white if you so want.  The choice is yours.  Just make sure that the medium you use can be used with the permanent pen you used.  Sometimes Copics and Sharpies will react with certain permanent pens. 

I cannot stress enough – if you do not know how your medium will react with the pen you used, try it on a piece of scrap paper.  After putting all of this work into this piece you do not want to have a huge smudge on it.

Here is my piece completely colored in –

(Insert Photo 16 here)

 Now for the flower in the stencil –

14.  Lay the flower part of the stencil on the 3” x 3” piece of white cardstock, trace with pencil, retrace with black permanent marker, close in petals, and cut the flower out.   If you have white showing around the flower, run a black marker around the edge to make it all black.

15.  Now stamp the script or word stamp across the flower.  To make sure that the words flow the correct way, I line up the cut out flower against my piece, then move it to the mat and stamp the image.

(Insert Photo 18 here)

16.  Using double-sided tape or glue of your choice, adhere the finished piece to the black cardstock, then to the pink cardstock, then to the card front.

17.  Using a glue stick, glue the stamped flower to the front of the card.  If you want to use a button, run a piece of string through the button, tie it off, and then glue the button to the center of the flower with Glossy Accents.

18.  Stamp a phrase inside of card and give to someone special!!

You’re done.  I know, that was a long tutorial.  But I hope you enjoyed learning how to Stendoodle!!  I would love your feedback and/or questions.  Feel free to email me at HERE.  And make sure to check out my personal blog for more Stendoodle projects and about my life here in Brasil HERE. 

Beijos e Abracos (Hugs and Kisses)

~Michael