The Suprise Inside

         

The Faberge Eggs

 

 

  For three decades - from 1885 until the Russian Revolution - the imperial jeweler, Peter Carl Faberge, produced the now-famous Faberge Imperial Eggs as Easter gifts from the Tsar to his wife and his mother. With each passing year, these bejeweled masterpieces became more and more elaborate, inventive, and breathtaking.  Each egg took at least one year to create - sometimes two! - with an entire team bringing a suite a skills to the task, from watchmakers to enamelists, gem cutters to goldsmiths and more. When the Romanov family fled from the Bolsheviks in 1916, the collection of fifty magnificent eggs was left behind in the palace, where they were subsequently looted in the chaos.  Some were lost, possibly destroyed, many ended up in private collections, and the rest are on display in St. Petersburg. 

Some of the Imperial Eggs from the workshop of Faberge

   

An example of the ornate "surprise inside" that was standard on most of the eggs

             Each egg is very different from the previous egg, since Faberge intended to outdo himself each time, both in design and fabrication.  But one thing that almost all have in common is that they open up and contain a surprise, and it all began with the simplest egg of all, known as the Golden Hen Egg.  This first of the Imperial Eggs has a simple, white enamel shell, and opens to reveal a golden yolk, which then opens to reveal a golden hen.  I took this elegant masterpiece as my inspiration for my project, a sweet little Easter gift.

The Golden Hen Egg, the first of the Imperial Eggs

             Tracie Lyn Huskamp has designed two 6x6 stencils of speckled eggs for StencilGirl® Products:  S021 Speckled Eggs has two larger eggs on it, and I used the larger of those two eggs to trace out onto a pale green cardboard.  I cut out two, and used the speckle patterns to add brown and blue splotches on both sides. A couple of sprinkles of white paint gave them a little more brightness. I then cut narrow strips of the same cardboard (one narrower than the other) and cut them to match the perimeter of the eggs, softened the fibers by curling the strips around the edge of my desk, and then glued them in place with PVA glue to make a little box with a snug-fitting lid.

 

 

 

            Now I had a little speckled egg box.  But what could the surprise inside be?  It had to be something more than just a little candy or a message.  Could I somehow replicate the golden yolk or golden hen?  And then I remembered my bird guts!  Stencil guts are sometimes available from StencilGirl® Products, and at one point when a set of “bird guts” was available I put them right into my shopping cart without delay (and you should not delay either if you see them make another appearance).  These guts are the mylar scraps left over from the stencil cutting process.  Tracie Lyn Huskamp also has a 6x6 Songbirds stencil S034, and I had some of the birds that were the by-products of cutting that stencil.  A little bit of gold leaf, and I had a golden bird!   All that remained was to add some white jelly beans, and I had a perfect little gift to send to my daughter.  (Full disclosure: I did snip off the bird’s tail so it would fit inside the box!)

Adding gold leaf to the bird

            This is my last Master Pieces column.  I’ve really enjoyed researching the artists and using them as inspiration for my own art exploration.  I hope you have enjoyed reading these columns as much as I enjoyed writing them!  If you want to see any more of my art going forward, feel free to look at my Instagram @jennitoga.

Eggs Speckled Stencil by Tracie Lyn Huskamp

    

Stencils, Easter Eggs and Rolling Out a Whole Lot of Fun

Hi friends!  Hard to believe springtime is just around the corner. In Southern California, it already feels that way because today was actually 87 degrees!  Nearly summer, but not, lol.  Anyway, with Easter approaching I thought it might be fun to turn Easter eggs into artwork. Not hard to decorate by any means, you can still do the traditional egg dyeing but then consider adding some stenciled embellishments or stencil decor directly onto the eggs or you can try a few creative things with the gelli plate, deli paper, or simply do some watercoloring.

For all my eggs, I created the background first.  I enjoyed using the gelli plate with stencils because I could continue to roll the egg until it was entirely covered in paint. (I also managed to clean my plate. :).)   Sometimes the stencil images remained clear and sometimes they got a bit layered but isn't that what mixed media is about?  Lots of textures come from layering.( I loved using the smaller gelli plate for my egg "dyeing", as shown below.)

Applying Seth Apter's stamps (Planner Basics) and watercolors for the egg's background on the banded egg shown below,  I embellished a strip of watercolor paper with Ann Butler's 1 x 4 Rails stencil set using both paint and watercolors and wrapped it around the egg, adhering it in place. This is a great set with petite images.  The tulip from the Scattered Bunnies, Blooms & Birds Background Stencil by Margaret Peot was watercolored too. This is a wonderful stencil for springtime and works well for the eggs again, because of its small designs.  

Deli paper is an ideal surface and substrate to make prints for eggs.  The paper allows for a perfect design and it's thin enough that the underlying color or design, as in the egg, can be seen. (See egg below.) I actually used ink to create my images onto the paper shown here then tore them down to manageable sizes and adhered them to my eggs with a glue stick.  Basic collage-making.  If your image is too large, you might get wrinkles in your paper so smaller images are ideal. However, you can make small snips into some images, which can help them lie flat.  Sometimes there is a little overlap but it still looks nice.  (Notice the large daisy flower at the top of the egg.) 

Some stencils are perfect for working directly onto the egg like this Hexagon Set by Ann Butler.

And of course, making fussy-cut images always adds dimension to any project.  Here I attached a black string to my gelli-rolled egg, watercolored a few flowers from watercolor paper, cut them out, and adhered them to the egg.  I love using these for table decor for Easter. 

And for those of you who don't celebrate Easter, consider all the ways you can embellish and decorate painted paper mache shapes. They would look beautiful on top of a gift!  

Well, that's it from me today! Time to do some major clean up, but I say, if you can't get a little messy when creating, you might be missing all the fun.  Leave the overthinking behind, get your hands a bit painty and start playing. What's on your art agenda?   

Thanks for reading my friends, 

Debi 

https://debi-adams.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debi_adams/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debi.adams.779

 

Easter Inspiration

Just in time for Easter!

Guest Designer,  Judi Kauffman, made more stenciled Shimmer Sheetz Easter egg projects! The Circle Accordion card includes bunny stamps from Magenta, dies from Karen Burniston at Elizabeth Craft Designs. She used faux fur and part of a plastic mesh bag for grass on the gift bag and side-fold card, plus papers from Karen Foster Design and Graphic 45. To find out how Judi made the eggs, please see THIS post that she did last time she was here at StencilGirl Talk.

StencilGirl Products Stencils Used

Eggs Speckled

Sporn Flowers Negative

For those of you who celebrate...

Happy Easter 

from 

StencilGirl Products!

StenDoodled Easter Egg Ornaments

Hi everyone, Michael here. First of all, thank you for all the great comments you left on my post last week.  This week I am continuing with the Easter Egg theme but today's project is an Easter Egg Ornament.  I have noticed over the past few years that people are putting up Easter trees or making ornaments for a small Easter trees or plants.  Every craft store has them for sale but...why not...make your own? This is also a great project to do with kids.

The above photo shows just some of the great StenDoodled eggs you can make with all of the StencilGirl Products stencils.  This tutorial is on Egg "D" but, at the end of this post, I have listed the stencils I used for each of the other eggs.  

Step by Step:

1.  On a piece of white cardstock, trace the large egg from the Eggs Speckled stencil, three times.  

2.  Lay the Diamond Waves stencil on top of the eggs and trace the design within each egg.  The 3 eggs are going to be glued together so try to get as close to the same design in each egg.   

Now, we could just stop here but, being that this needs to be StenDoodled, we are going to keep playing.  

3.  Lay the Journal Texture No. 2 stencil over the areas in the photo below and trace the small circles. 

4.  Lay the Fractured Glass 6 stencil over the other small areas, as shown in the photo below, and color in with the black permanent marker.

5.  Now color in the eggs.  I used Tombow markers but feel free to use any medium you wish.  After they are colored in, cut the 3 eggs out and then fold them in half. 

6.  Using the glue stick, glue two of the sides together.  Then apply some dots of glossy accents in the crease of the two eggs, lay the piece of string or jewelry wire down the center of the two sides, and then glue the third egg to other two.

7.  String some of the beads and tie a knot on each end.  Then apply the Yellow and Firefly Stickles to each of the eggs.  I did one side at a time and allowed each side to dry before moving to the next side.  When dry, hang on your Easter tree or in a window.

Supplies Used:

Eggs Speckled by Tracie Lyn Huskamp for StencilGirl Products
Diamond Waves by Carolyn Dube for StencilGirl Products
Journal Texture No. 2 by Pam Carriker for StencilGirl Products
Fractured Glass 6 by Mary Beth Shaw for StencilGirl Products
White cardstock
Fine Tip Black Permanent Marker (Sharpie)
Tombow Markers
Collage Glue Stick by Inkssentials
Jewelry wire or string
Small beads of various colors and sizes
Glossy Accents or Diamond Glaze
Stickles - Firefly and Yellow

Egg A - L246, Chevron Set No. 4, by Andrew Borloz and M014, Mini Checkers Small, by Mary Beth Shaw

Egg B - M027, Journal Texture No. 2, by Pam Carriker

Egg C - Diamond Waves by Carolyn Dube and Journal Texture No. 2 by Pam Carriker

Egg D - Please see tutorial above.

Egg E - L246, Chevron Set No. 4, by Andrew Borloz and S150, Gigi Stencil, by Lizzie Mayne

Egg F - S105, Blades Stencil by Terri Stegmiller

StenDoodled Easter Card

Hi everyone.  Welcome back to "StenDoodling With Michael".  Hmmm, I like how that  looks and sounds.  LOL.  With Easter right around the corner I wanted to show you how to make a cool Easter card that all of your family and friends will talk about using the Rabbits and Eggs Lg. & Sm. stencils by Tracie Lyn Huskamp.

Once you do this card you will see how easy and fun it can be.   Feel free to use whatever color combos work for you for the paper layering and for the coloring.  I also use Tombow markers in this project but, if you are a Copic person or a colored pencil person, use them!!  Just make it bright and fun!

Step by Step:

1.  Adhere the 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of pink cardstock to the card front with double sided tape or adhesive of your choice.  Then adhere the 4" x 5 1/4" lime green cardstock on top of the pink cardstock.

Now for the die cut machine:

2.  Stamp the Easter phrase on a piece of white cardstock.  Cut and emboss the phrase and the piece of scrap pink cardstock using the appropriate dies from the Basics A and B Spellbinders sets.  Adhere the white piece to the pink piece and set aside for use later.

3.  Emboss the 3 3/4" x 5" piece of white cardstock in the Cloudy Sky embossing folder and cut the Grassland Border and Spring Border dies from pieces of darker green cardstock.  

 

4.   Place some Zig Adhesive on the bottom part of the Grassland Border piece and adhere to the card front.  Don't apply any glue to the grass itself as you are going to place eggs behind some of them.** Trim grass, if needed.  Then apply some Zig glue to the bottom of the Spring Border piece and adhere to the card front on top of the grass.  Trim if needed. 

Now the fun part...the Stencils!!!

5.  Grab the Rabbits and Eggs Lg. & Sm. stencils and, using the permanent black marker, trace the rabbit, two large eggs, and one small egg onto a piece of white cardstock.  Note: you might need to adhere the stencil to the paper with removable tape.

 

6.  For the rabbit...I wanted something that looked like a chocolate rabbit but not a solid one, which is why the Fractured Glass 6 stencil works great here.

It gives the rabbit a look of texture in the chocolate.  Lay the Fractured Glass 6 stencil on top of the rabbit and color "cracked lines" using the black permanent marker.  Don't worry if you go over the lines of the rabbit since we will cut it out.

Color the rabbit in with the Tombow Marker No. 947.  Note:  I made a small dot for an eye and colored around it with the No. 055 Tombow marker.  then cut the rabbit out, apply a coat of Glossy Accents and set it aside for it to dry.  Depending on humidity, time of the year, etc. it might take several hours for the Glossy Accents to fully dry.

7.  Now for the eggs.  

For one of the large eggs, place the Slices 6 stencil over the egg and trace the design you want.  Then lay the Journal Texture #2 stencil over the design and trace the small circles within each section that the Slices 6 stencil left. 

For the other large egg, place the Mini Checkers Small stencil over the egg and trace the design you want.  

For the small egg, color it a light color (I used Tombow No.. 133) and then went back and placed the speckled section of the stencil over the egg and colored in again with Tombow No. 665.   

8.   Because it's Easter...we need color and sparkle.  After you have colored in the two large eggs, apply Star Dust Stickles in the small circles and squares on the eggs.  Set aside to dry.

9.  Now, go back to the piece you adhered the Grassland Border and Spring Border to.  Get a couple of cool colors of Stickles and apply to the flower tops.  I used Orange Peel, Thistle, Yellow, and Purple.

 

10. After your rabbit, eggs, and flowers have completely dried, it is time to make your scene and adhere the pieces to the card front using the glossy accents or glue stick.  

First, adhere the part with the embossed clouds to the card front using double sided tape or other adhesive.  

 

Now, make your scene.  I placed the rabbit on the left side and the 3 eggs on the right side.  Play around with the pieces until you get the look you like. 

Then adhere the phrase the card front.  And, you're done!!  See?  Not that hard.  Now send this beautiful card to someone you really care about and watch them smile. 

Supplies Used:

Stencils:
Fractured Glass 6 (S024) by MaryBeth Shaw for StencilGirl Products
Rabbits Stencil (S031) by Tracie Lyn Huskamp for StencilGirl Products
Eggs Lg. & Sm (S043) by Tracie Lyn Huskamp for StencilGirl Products
Slices 6 (S094) by Terri Stegmiller for StencilGirl Products
Mini Checkers Small (M014) by Mary Beth Shaw for StencilGirl Products
Journal Texture #2 (M027) by Pam Carriker for StencilGirl Products

Dies:
Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics A & B sets, S5-131 and S5-132
Grassland Border, Style No. 825, by Poppy Stamps
Spring Border, No. 98115, by Memory Box

Paper:
Card base is a piece of white cardstock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" folded in half
Pink cardstock, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Green cardstock, 4" x 5 1/4"
White cardstock, 3 3/4" x 5"
A piece of white and pink scrap for the phrase and layer under the phrase
Pieces of scrap green cardstock for the grass die cuts

Other:
Cloudy Sky Embossing Folder (1217-53) by Darice
Double Sided Tape
Zig Chisel Tip Adhesive
Die Cut Machine i.e. Big Shot or Cuttlebug
Easter Phrase Stamp - I used Bunny Hug by Inky Antics
Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger
Fine Tip Permanent Black Marker (I like Sharpie)
Glossy Accents by Ranger
Star Dust Stickles by Ranger
Stickles in various bright colors
Tombow Markers - 947 (Brown), 055 (Yellow), 173 and 195 (Greens), 603 (Lilac), 925 (Orange), 665 (Purple), 743 (Hot Pink), 443 (Blue)


Hope you enjoyed!!  Hugs (Abracos)

~Michael