Frieda Oxenham: All Square

Hi! Frieda Oxenham here! So happy to be back with you here in a New Year and I want to wish you all a very happy and creative 2016, filled with stencils and fun. For this spread I have used the set of different sized squares stencils designed by Mary Beth herself! I love grids of all kinds (I’m not a quilter for nothing!) so they were a Must Buy for me as soon as they appeared on the website. I knew they would become a project to feature for one of my spreads as Guest Designer.
Many thanks as ever to StencilGirl Products for having me.

1.      Gesso two facing pages in your journal (I used the large Dylusions journal).

2.      Using PaperArtsy paints Zesty Zing and Mermaid (or paints of your choice) spread paint over the pages using an old credit card. Use the smallest squares stencil (from Mary Beth’s Grid Stencils Set) and a baby wipe rub away the paint partially.
Let dry!

You need to let every layer dry thoroughly before proceeding to the next step to avoid making muddiness on your pages.
From here you can follow my steps exactly or use paints of your own choosing and the stencils from the kit in random order if you prefer. But this is what I did:

3.      Do the same again as in step 2 using Rose color paint.

4.      Repeat again with Mermaid, and make sure you put the stencil with the smallest squares on a different place on your pages, every new round of paint color.

5.      Repeat again, this time with Lilac and using the medium sized squares stencil.

6.      Repeat step 5 with London Bus red paint.

7.      Use the smallest sized stencil and this time stencil through it using a cosmetic sponge and Lime Light paint.

8.      Repeat step 7 with Mermaid.

9.      Repeat step 7 using the medium squares stencil and pearlescent white paint.

10.  Repeat step 7 using the small squares stencil and Zesty Zing paint.

11.  I found some fabulous hand-made wrapping paper with colored squares

and glued some of them to the pages using matte medium.

12.  Using a pencil and the largest square stencil mark out large squares on the page and fill in the rest with Silks glaze
(I started by using Sky Blue but that wasn’t dark enough so I covered it with Olive Vine).

13.  Using Radiant Gel (by ColourArte) in Gold, add small squares by stenciling using the smallest squares stencil and a cosmetic sponge.

14.  Outline squares with black and white markers.

15.  Glue on the words ALL SQUARE as shown.

(C) Frieda Oxenham December 2015. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.