Friday, June 6, 2014

Seed & Tiny Medallion stencils add POP!



Hi everyone and Happy June! Kirsten Reed here....Summer is in full swing at my house with two teens sleeping late, lush trees, and our good 'ole American flag hanging from outside of our house.  Both Flag Day and July Fourth are approaching, so I thought I would create my artistic interpretation of the American Flag using the Seeds and Tiny Medallion 4x4" mini stencils from StencilGirl and designed by Maria McGuire.  I love these little guys, and you will too, once you try them out!

Don't fret if you don't pledge allegiance to the USA ~ you can use the same techniques to make any country's flag or a completely creative flag! Just follow the basic steps I show and simply change up your color palette and paper shapes.

I started off by painting some music sheets red and marking them up for texture with stamps  and ink.


Then, I tore strips of paper to make the "white stripes" and dabbed white paint through the seeds stencil and then a strip with the Medallion stencil.  I did not make this an accurate representation of our flag ~ so yes, I know there are more stripes in an authentic flag! :)


Don't you just LOVE the texture these two stencils give off???  Mini stencils are perfect for creating subtle texture ~ so much more interesting than a stripe of plain white! When I look at these torn pieces of paper I think of lace!


I then tore a square and painted it blue and used the Seeds stencil in reverse, rubbing the paint off through the stencil. I call this reverse stenciling but I am not sure that is an actual "thing" :) .


I then added white on top for more depth. I went VERY light on this with the paint...just a tiny dab.


Time for glueing! I used Golden gel medium to adhere all my paper pieces the way I wanted, putting the red pieces down first on my wood substrate.


 

I wasn't loving the blue part ~ it didn't quite POP enough for me so I added in some molding paste through the Seeds stencil and I added some Prussian blue paint along the edges.  I thought it gave it the look of fireworks and was perfect!


See the texture?


I then added some paint splatters and drips to give my flag a "fun" celebratory feel.  I let it all dry and sealed it with a shiny gloss acrylic spray. 

Some detailed close up shots:




Here it is in all it's glory...


Hope you enjoyed and let your flag fly high this summer!

If you liked this tutorial and more free tutorials by me, visit my blog here and be sure to go to my Facebook page here!  

Thanks for your support!

Kirsten


22 comments:

  1. Kirsten, Love how this turned out and you have given me great inspiration. I've been ruminating for some time on creating something for my father-in-law. He LOVES his flags. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Oh you should make one for him! Send me a pix if you do! :)

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  2. wonderful tutorial and I love how your project came out!

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  3. Geez Louize, Kirsten.. this so so cool. So eclectic. Love the rawness of it. And the white popping is outrageous.

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  4. Kirsten, I think this is such a wonderful piece of art especially since we are remembering D-Day so patriotic!

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    1. I had forgotten about it being the 70th anniversary of D-day until I woke up this am. I felt horrible for not mentioning it in my comments but I'm now really glad that my post was a patriotic one.

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  5. This is GREAT Kirsten! I love it! Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Thank you Janet! I appreciate your kind words. :)

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  6. So wonderfully creative and unique, Kirsten!
    Love seeing the step-by-step process!

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  7. This is a wonderful job to salute our country!
    I bet you had a blast making this!

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    1. I did Nancy! I was raised in a military family and I supported my husband as he served for 23 years ~ so it runs deep with me!

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  8. This is wonderful! Really love how you made the paper with the medallion stencil. Beautiful idea and execution. Thanks for sharing.

    Katie B.

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    1. I know those stencils are so versatile ~ love the texture they produce! So many options. Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. THAT was super fun! Love your flag and all the inspiration it brings me - which is a lot! I agree with you on the lace, I thought you had used a pretty lace to make the white area. I think Betsy Ross would be proud of you :)

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    1. Thank you Laura ~ I am so glad you liked it! I just love using things in unexpected ways! Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Thanks for showing your process - I love the final result! :D

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    1. Thank you Susan ~ I am so glad you enjoyed!

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  11. This is so original and creative! I love it! Very well done!

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