StencilGirl® Art Journaling by Frieda Oxenham

This is my October project as Guest Designer but I’m writing this in late August, a time when summer is almost over and autumn is coming ever closer. This is also the time when I cling on to what is still left of all that summer glory; the last flowers, the final rays of sunshine, having coffee on the patio and wearing summer clothes. I always wish I could somehow hold on to all those delights to get me through the often cold, wet and snowy Scottish winters. The small booklet I’m sharing with you today was the result of that wish. I imagine leafing through it regularly while cuddled up in front of the stove while the weather rages outside.

Here is the tutorial:

1.      I started with a 4 x 4” art journal by Art by Marlene. It has 15 pages of 300gsm weight and is ring-bound. Before starting I carefully removed all the pages, apart from the covers.

2.      Give the covers a few layers of gesso on both inside and outside.

3.      Gesso both sides of all pages.

4.      Add colour to one side of the pages by using a 5 x 5” gelli plate and a selection of acrylic paints. Take partial prints instead of covering the entire pages. Once dry do the same on the other side of all pages. Repeat on both sides of the covers.

5.      Using stencil Phlox Mask and a selection of colours, stencil flowers onto both sides of the pages as well as the covers.

6.      Repeat step 5 using only Titanium white acrylic paint.

7.      Add green leaves to both sides of the pages as well as the covers by stencilling with different green acrylic paints and using stencils Duck Nesting and Tall Flowers.

8.      Glue on postage stamps featuring flowers and flower/garden quotations to selected pages.

9.      Stencil on more flowers using stencil Daisy-May Tile,  and using a variety of colours of Stencil Butter with a palette knife.

10.  Using permanent black markers, outline the flowers from step 9 and the green leaves from step 7

11.  Spray random pages with a variety of colours of Perfect Pearls Mist (or any other mica spray) through the same stencil as used in step 9.

12.  Outline the pages with gold paint marker.

13.  Put the pages back in the ring binder in your preferred order.

© Frieda Oxenham 2022. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.