Wednesday, April 8, 2015

April StencilClub - Groovy Stitched Projects


Hi everyone, It's Gwen here today to share a few projects using the awesome, exclusive, April StencilClub stencils designed by Jessica Sporn.


When I first pulled these out of the envelope, I immediately thought embroidery (which is pretty weird because I am so not a seamstress or all that proficient with needlework.) And the next thought was, that would take you FOREVER... no way. So they sat there for a bit while I thought, but I kept coming back to doing something with stitching. Finally, I decided to do a small project with just a section of the 9x12 stencil, which then turned into a second small project with the 6x6. And I love them both! Here you can see that I made myself a little embroidered felt pouch and a felt needle book. And my needlework definitely improved as I went along.

To turn the stencil into a pattern, all I did was ink through the stencil with a slightly darker color using Archival Ink and a blending tool onto a nice wool felt.


Then I picked a small palette of thread colors and started stitching, adding some sequins here and there for a little bling.


I'm not going to lie. It really did take forever. Or at least it seemed that way! But I put all of the supplies into a little pouch that I could use on the couch while I watched hockey, or traveling with me when I went back to Virginia to see my family. As I worked, I did rub off some of the ink as I held and worked with the piece. In a few places it got pretty faint so I free-styled a bit. Finally, I finished off the section I'd laid out.


For those who are interested, I used mostly satin stitch (which I make no claim to being good at) along with French knots, split stitch, and chain stitch. I picked out some fun fabric to line the inside of my pouch and, with the usual amount of pricking my fingers with needles, got it all sewed together.


Below is a shot of the inside - it's the perfect size to hold a few small notebooks, another sewing project, or lots of other fun things.


Of course, I couldn't stop there... I used the same process to make a little felt needle book using an image from the 6x6 stencil.


I just used my Cropadile to punch some holes for the thread that I used to bind it (just a quick little pamphlet stitch,) and I put an eyelet in the back cover and added some elastic cord (knotted on the inside) to hold the book closed when I'm not using it.


You can see the inside where I'll start putting my needles - I decided not to line the inside of this one since the back side of my embroidery was actually kind of neat looking!


And there you go! The April stencils make fabulous embroidery templates if you like that kind of thing. But, what's that you say? You don't do needlework? You can actually take this same technique and use it on paper with various kinds of paints or other color mediums instead of thread. I whipped up three quick tags in just over an hour to demonstrate.


Of course, we all know that I have an addiction to dimensional paints (in this case, I used mostly Scribbles dimensional fabric paints that I got at the craft store.) You could use acrylics, markers... whatever you like!

Same approach - I used a slightly darker shade of ink and stenciled the design onto my tag.


Then I set the stencil aside and went through with my paints and colored it in. For this first one, I added the word "love" from the 6x6 stencil.


And a second tag, mimicking my needle book:


Finally, I used one of the adorable icons on the 4x4 stencil to decorate a metal-rimmed tag:


I've already got plans to incorporate all three tags into the junque journal that I'm making... these were so fun!

So here you can see all of my projects this month:


I hope you're excited to get this month's stencils - I know I'm definitely looking forward to playing with them some more! And don't forget, if you're not a member of StencilClub yet but you're thinking about joining, as long as you sign up by April 15th, this is the set you'll start with.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're feeling inspired :) And as always, please come back and share your projects with us here or on Facebook!

Until next time, happy stenciling!



11 comments:

  1. Stunning work Qwen! The embroidery is fabulous!

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    1. Thanks Linda! It was a learning process, but lots of fun :)

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  2. Oh Gwen - each of your projects fills me with joy. Beautiful work.

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    1. Thanks Jessica! I LOVED your stencils this month - they were so fun to work with! I'm sure I'll be using these a lot.

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  3. Wow! What delightful projects, Gwen! Love your versatility with media and your attention to detail!

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    1. Thanks Mary! I definitely like to mix it up... keeps things interesting ;) Glad you like them!

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  4. Gwen, you are just SOOOO creative! I love every colorful item you make and always look forward to seeing your next project.

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    1. Thank you so much! So glad you hear that you like them!

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  5. This beautiful stencil is perfect for so many different kinds of use! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous artwork!

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    1. Thanks Cecilia! I'm with you... I think this set (especially the 9x12!) are going to be in my list of frequently used stencils for sure.

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  6. I love what you did with the stitching! Just beautiful.

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