Guest Designer Michelle Rydell: Stenciled Journal Cover

Hi everyone! Michelle Rydell here. I’m so excited to be with you today on the StencilGirl blog! I have a journal cover project to share and I hope you like it!

This is the spiral notebook that I'm currently using as an “everything” sort of journal. It’s got my planner, written journaling, collage, to-do lists, notes, drawings and lots of other stuff. It’s actually a laboratory notebook, so it’s full of thick luscious grid paper.

I love it, but let’s face it - the cover needs some sprucing up!

Here’s how it went…

1.      I started by carefully opening the spiral coil with pliers, and laid the front and back cover out flat on the table. (I’m going to rebind later with a larger spiral, so I threw the current one out)…

2.      I put a layer of gesso on, and then collaged on some text paper as a base. I just used an UHU glue stick, but you could use gel medium or your favorite adhesive of choice…

 

3.      Then came a thin layer of fluorescent magenta acrylic.

4.      Now for the stencils – First, I used Buenos Aires by Nathalie Kalbach to sponge some fluorescent orange in an all over pattern.

5.      Next, the Fade Horizontal by Michelle Ward was added for some random chartreuse dots here and there. 

6.      I splattered some white high flow acrylic, and the background was done. 

7.      Now for some contrast! I had this idea of a creating something that looked like a dark night sky, with a portal to the sun; so I started with the Wheel in the Sky stencil by Kae Pea. Using Turquoise Phthalo paint, I sponged on the large circle part of the stencil…

8.      I used the same turquoise phthalo to entirely cover both the front and the back covers, except for the stenciled circle pattern; and then used a baby wipe to remove some paint here and there to let the bright colors show through.

9.      I added the scallop design from Wheel In The Sky to the top of the page; doodled around the portal with a white pen; and added the word “create” in turquoise with the Vintage Typewriter Alphabet stencil by Carolyn Dube. Almost done…

10.  The final touches - I added a few more white splatters, and some outlining for the letters; then re-assembled the notebook with a larger spiral. Here are front and back shots of how it turned out. This was such a fun process; and all the fun stencil designs made it super easy!

These are the products I used:

Stencils: 

Buenos Aires by Nathalie Kalbach

Fade Horizontal by Michelle Ward

Wheel In The Sky by Kae Pea

Vintage Typewriter Alphabet by Carolyn Dube

Other:

Golden Gesso

Blick Matte Acrylic- Pink Medium

Dylusions - Black Marble, Bubblegum Pink

Golden Heavy Body - Fluorescent Orange, Fluorescent Magenta, Fluorescent Chartreuse

Golden High Flow - Titanium White

Golden Fluid - Teal

Golden Matte Fluid - turquoise (Phthalo)

Liquitex Basics - Deep Violet

Uniball Signo white pen

Sharpie Poster Paint Black pen

Happy stenciling!

Michelle Rydell

Blog: Inspiration Everywhere

 Instagram: @shelleyrydellie

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