Hi there!
This is Heidi Smith with the StencilGirl® Creative Team sharing a stenciled paper garland for today’s blog post!
Well, I am happy to say that I just recently moved in to a new studio space and have been super excited to decorate it and try to make it my own! 🙌 That is what has inspired me this month! The StencilGirl® Creative Team challenge to “texture it or make marks on it” made me want to create some texture on my bare walls by hanging some stenciled-paper garlands and I was excited to use some of my favorite mark-making stencils to give my new studio space some much-needed personality!
My goal was to create something colorful and special... something that would make me smile when I looked at it. 😊 So that’s where my inspiration came from .. and I am quite pleased with how it turned out!!!!!
This is my supply list:
18”x24” 140lb cold press Strathmore watercolor paper
Found paper text ephemera
Acrylic gel medium
Flat Taklon brush
Golden fluid acrylics
6” ruler
Scissors
Golden heavy body acrylics
StencilGirl® stencils
Stencil brushes
2 1/2” circle punch
X-Acto knife with a fresh blade
Self-healing cutting mat
Baker's Twine
Heavy duty needle (mine is 3 5/8” long)
To start, I chose some cold-pressed watercolor paper so that my garland would be sturdy and last a long time. I took three large sheets of the watercolor paper to make 3 garlands. (One sheet makes about a 14-foot garland that has around 50 circles). I began by collaging some paper text ephemera onto two of the sheets. I used acrylic gel medium to apply the text papers.
After the gel medium had dried, I used Golden Fluid Acrylics to paint on some foundation color washes on both sides of my papers. I also let this dry thoroughly before moving on.
Next, I used a ruler & pencil to measure & mark 3” sections along the edge of my paper. Then I "freehand"-cut my paper into 3" wide strips. I chose to cut up my paper before stenciling because I wanted to work with smaller sections. Plus, this way the paper will feed through the circle punch a lot easier!
Finally, it’s time to break out my stencils!!! I had a wonderful time sorting through my vast collection of StencilGirl® stencils and picking out the ones that I thought would compliment (as well as contrast with) each other to make the garland dynamic! I chose stencils that had good "mark-making" qualities.
I admit, I couldn't stop at just a few... 😬
I used:
Once I'd chosen a "few" (ha!) stencils, I went ahead and used my favorite stiff stencil brushes and Golden Heavy Body Acrylics. I used a bunch of my favorite colors and applied paint to stencils in sections along my strips.
After my paint had dried, I used a 2 1/2” circle punch to cut out a TON of circles for my garland. It took a bit of muscle to punch through the thick watercolor paper, but the punch was definitely up to the task!
After I finished cutting out a total of 150(!) circles..... I played with them as if they were confetti!!!! Haha! :) I mean, how could I not?! Can you say: "giant stencil confetti?!?"
But then back to business, I needed to string up my circles, so I used an X-Acto with a fresh blade to cut out two 5-7mm (-ish) slits in each circle to allow my twine to be threaded through. (I just “eyeballed” my measurements).
Finally, it was time to string up this bad boy! I used a heavy-duty needle to thread my baker’s twine through the slits of my paper circles. I found it was helpful to tie my twine onto my needle so that it didn’t keep slipping out.
After I strung about 50 circles onto a length of about 16 feet of baker's twine, I arranged them so that there was about 1/2-3/4" between each circle (again, just "eyeballing" things) and left about a foot of twine on either end. In all, I made 3 garlands and had a blast (!) playing with them once they were finished.
I really enjoyed making this garland!!!! It was super fun! I really think I will make some more to decorate my house and also use special colors for various holidays!!! This project is super-versatile... you can try using smaller sizes of circle punches (using thinner-weight paper for smaller punches) and create any length you desire!!! There are tons-tons-TONS of StencilGirl® stencils to completely customize this project!
If you decide to make some stenciled garlands, be sure to share your pics with us! You can hashtag #stencilgirl or #stencilgirlproducts to share your creations on social media! I cant wait to see what you create!!! 😍😍😍
Heidi
Heidi
Heidi Smith is a mixed media artist and painter and a member of the 2019-2020 StencilGirl® Products Creative Team. You can find her work on Instagram and her newly-launched YouTube Channel.
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Beautiful!!!! Wonderful idea and gorgeous results! And you seem to have a very well-organized, neat studio -- this amazes me most of all! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is a charming way to add color and fun to your new studio space! LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteFun idea!
ReplyDeleteLove this Heidi!!!
ReplyDeleteLove how you have fun with your projects.
ReplyDeleteI love this SO MUCH! Thank you for the great idea!
ReplyDelete