Gel Printed Holiday Tree Cards

Hello! Nicole here back for my last blog post of 2023! What? This year has flown by, hasn’t it? If you’re anything like me, it’s the middle of December and you either ran out of time or completely forgot about sending some holiday cards. I always like to have a few on hand for neighbor gifts and friend get-togethers plus some for mailing.

Ever since I began making my own cards, I just can’t purchase them. I think that also adds a bit of pressure to create a work of art on a card. 

Recently, when I was playing with some StencilGirl® stencils, I applied paint through the Butterfly Rouen Tile stencil and thought it looked like snow and/or the pattern on one of those ugly Christmas sweaters. I immediately wanted to spray paint white through it and brainstormed how I could make that work for a card design. Then, it hit me. Trees! 

I could add some trees and make a snowy winter sky background. So, for this year’s card I had the idea to gel print some papers and turn them into trees with the spray-painted background of course!

 

My first step was to gel print a variety of papers in all shades of green. I wanted to layer different patterns, colors and sizes of trees in the foreground.

 

I printed on white and kraft colored card stock to add to the variety and for a tiny bit of pop and thickness to the trees.

 

The gel print process was simple. First layer down some green(s) on the plate and brayer them to a thin coat. 

Place a stencil down and pull a first print on top the stencil. 

This print isn’t always a great one, depending on the stencil style, but it makes a great first layer!

Then, remove the stencil and pull a second print. 

I repeated this process several times with different shades of greens and stencils.  Once in a while I pulled a third print to layer on one that just didn’t look right or flipped the stencil over to use the paint again on that side. I let the paint, stencil, and results determine my next steps each time. There are no rules, and you can watch my simple process in the video tutorial.

 

Sometimes when I was unsure of how the pattern would look for a tree, I isolated it with a piece of paper that I had cut a triangle out of. It’s amazing how different just a slice of the print looks and makes the perfect little tree.

While I waited for the prints to dry, I cut my base cards and spray painted through the Butterfly Rouen Tile stencil.

And, while those dried, I added some white splatters to the envelopes. I just simply sprayed some of the paint in a small cup and added some water to it. I repeated this process on both sides of the envelopes and also the back of the cards.

Finally, it was time to cut out the trees! I cut out some small tree patterns to make this process easier. Using the patterns, I was able to ensure that the trees would layer ok on the card fronts.

Once I had millions (ok, maybe just a hundred) trees cut out, I placed a large one on each card and then picked out all the little ones to go with it. I originally planned to put three trees on a card, but I couldn’t resist changing that to five trees. 

When the trees were perfectly placed, I quick snapped a photo just in case. Then I carefully piled the cards up and began the process to stick them down.

Looking back, I wish I had printed a few more trees that were a little more solid in color with small pattern. I like how they anchored some of the card fronts. 

 

To finish the cards, I knew I wanted to add a “Merry Christmas” sentiment with my typewriter, but I also decided to add some red berry garland to one tree on each card. If you don’t have a typewriter, you can print words from your computer or find some stickers. 

I added the simple berry dots with the end of a paintbrush.

I really enjoyed how these came together, even if my husband calls them mountains instead of trees. Maybe that’s one reason I decided to add the berry garland! 

The best part? Besides the fact that I have a bunch of cards to send, I have a lot of leftovers. So, I think I’m going to also make some small tags for packages as well.

Check out the entire process in the video below!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and maybe I just helped remove a little of the holiday stress by not only giving you a card idea, but some moments to just sit down and create.

-Nicole

Connect with me on

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Stencils

• Quatrefoil
• City Map Mask
• Scribbley
• Tripwire
• Curvy Lattice
• Maltese Mix
• Art Deco Fairview
• Winter Berries Mask
• Scribble Scratch Handwriting
• Chain Mail Large
• Words to Live By
• Butterfly Rouen Tile 

Supplies

• Card stock (white, dark blue, kraft)
• Green acrylic paint of all shades
• Red acrylic paint
• Typed sentiments 
• White spray paint (I prefer the Liquitex brand)
• Gel plate
• Adhesive tape
• Scissors
• Brayer
• Envelopes

Wood burning Christmas with Stencils

This Christmas and holiday season are going to be very different from years past whether we like it or not. I don't particular relish the fact that we may not be able to gather with family and friends as usual. However the good news is we can still immerse ourselves in decorating and crafting! Now more than ever finding healthy ways to cop with the stress and isolation Covid can bring is so very important.

Stencils provide an easy jump start to all types of holiday creativity. In this project post, I am using stencils as a guide for wood burning ornaments. 

MATERIALS:

Birch slices approx. 1/4" thick

Hand drill

Wood burning tool

Stencil brush

Non-toxic paint

Stencils

Fishing line

Ribbon

Hot glue gun

1) Using the paint color of your choice (I chose a frosted white) stencil a design on the wood slice. Remember to pounce up and down in a vertical manner using a dry brush technique to get the best results.

2) After the paint is dry, use a wood burning tool to outline the stenciled image. Feel free to add additional detail.

3) Drill a hole in the top of each ornament. Thread fishing line through the hole to create a hanger for each ornament.Use premade bows or bows made from ribbon to hot glue over the hole.

Decorate for the season!

The stencils used to make these ornaments are:

Christmas #1

Christmas #2

Snow Storm Stencil

Small Deer Antlers Stencil and Mask

For more holiday projects click here!

New Year Garland created with StencilGirl® Products

Hi, everyone! Cynthia Silveri here! I've always thought it would be really fun to be in New York City on New Year's eve, but I've never done it. All these years I have watched it on TV, but watching the ball drop in person would be pretty awesome! Inspired by that big silver ball, I created the Drop Your Own New Year Ball Garland. This garland design is understated and modern, and easy to make-perfect for a new year celebration. (And you might have just enough post Christmas Day time to make one before the year ends.) I hope you enjoy this project, and I wish everyone a wonderful, art-filled New Year!

Materials:

8 (or more) sheets of black cardstock

8 (or more) sheets of white cardstock

StencilGirl® Products used:

• Mary Beth's Private Collection 19.1
• Fun and Games
• Rex Ray-Esque
• Mod CityCountry Abstract

Feel free to use your favorite stencils for this project, keeping mind that all over patterns on 9” x 12” stencils will work best.

Ironlack Sugar acrylic spray paint  in Fads (white-grey), Giggles (dark blue) and Liquorice (black) Or you can use regular acrylic paints in any color you like.

Sizzix die-cut machine and circle Frame lits in 4 sizes (4”, 3.5”, 2.5” and 2”).

Sewing maching and heavy duty needle and thread

Optional: Marvy Uchida DecoColor Paint Pens in silver and gold & Marvy Uchida Just Glitter Markers in silver and gold

Note: You may not use every circle to create the balls. Depending on the thickness of the cardstock you may use 5 or 6 per ball. The garland I made has 20 balls and is approximately six feet long.

Instructions:

1.      Stencil both sides of each piece of cardstock. I used black and blue Sugar Spray on the white cardstock, and the white-grey on the black cardstock.

2.      After the papers are completely dry, use your die-cut machine to cut out the circles. Fold the paper in half lengthwise to be able to cut the two largest sizes of circles-or 4 total. Use the remaining part of the paper to cut the 2.5” smaller circle (getting 2 circles from it). Use the remaining scrap by folding the paper open to cut out the smallest circle (to get 2 more from one sheet). Thus, you get a total of 8 circles from one sheet of cardstock. It will take a little bit of time to cut them all out.

3.      I originally intended to edge each circle with gold and silver markers so the garland would appear really festive and shiny, but I after decorating enough circles to make three “balls”, I realized that it was going to take too long to do this on 128 circles...and then double that to do back and front...I would not be able meet my deadline for this blog post! You can see in the video what the three decorated balls look like. If you had a group of people making this garland together, everyone could decorate 2 or 3, and you'd have your fabulous shiny garland in a jiffy. Or maybe you have more time and patience than I did to complete all 128 circles!  

4.      Next make stacks of each size circle and then count out 6 of each size to sew together-with one caveat...I learned the hard way that the black cardstock I had was too thick to sew 6 layers together, but 5 layers worked on my machine. The white cardstock I had was thinner, so it was not a problem to sew a stack of six layers. You may have to test this on your machine before you can really get sewing!

5.      Lay out the different size circle stacks, alternating the black and white ones, to create a pattern you like before sewing them. Make sure you can reach all of the circle stacks from your sewing machine because you are going to sew continuously-do not break the thread between each stack of circles. Be sure to sew a bit beyond each stack before placing the next stack at the presser foot. There should be about 3/8” to 1/2” of thread between each stack of circles. Leave a good long tail of thread at the beginning and end of your garland, or alternatively, you could hot glue a ribbon onto each end for hanging.

6.      Once everything is sewn, it takes a bit of patience and time to open up each circle stack to create the “ball”. Crease the stack back and forth along the stitching line, and then as you open it up to create a “ball” you may have to crease each individual paper half. The ball will not be perfectly round as it is difficult to make each part stay open the same distance apart, but it will still look great!

7.      Hang where you and your party peeps can enjoy...Happy New Year!

Wrapping Up the Holidays

Hi, everyone! June Pfaff Daley here! It's time to wrap up the holidays ("wrap" meaning "package"!) I'm sure you'll agree that stencils are the perfect card, tag and wrapping paper crafting tools to do so. While there are countless ways to create said items, I wanted to share how I made these unique tags. They were inspired by a project found in the book "Creative Lettering and Beyond." (By the way, I highly recommend this book to up your lettering skills which are perfect for addressing cards or gifts this time of year.) In the book, Julie Manwaring demos this watercolor tag technique. I've used it as a background to then stencil a design on top of.



First, I punched tags out of watercolor paper with my Fiskars tag punch. Next, I wet the paper and applied loose washes of watercolor leaving plenty of variations. Let dry completely.

Using my Christmas stencils, Small Deer Antlers stencil and mask, black acrylic paint and a stencil brush, I stenciled on top of the watercolor tags. As you can see I also used stencil masks to reverse the technique.



  

This is also a fun project to do with kids as my godchild, Riley, can attest. The watercolors make for  gorgeous color surprises and the black paint on top provides a striking finishing contrast.

All that's left to do is add a string, address and tie to a package!

Happy Holidays!

I'm Stuffed!

Hi, everyone! June Pfaff Daley here! I hope everyone had a wonderful and filling (like the post title...ha!) Thanksgiving. Today being Black Friday, many of you might be out shopping and fighting the crowds. This is something I used to enjoy, but lately not so much. I'd rather be in my warm, cozy home with a mug of hot tea either relaxing with family and friends, shopping online, or creating holiday projects. Speaking of the later these stuffed holiday ornaments are an easy project for both kids and adults. They come together quickly to hang on the tree or tie to a gift.

Here's what you'll need:
fabric paint
stencil brush or cosmetic sponge to apply paint
Christmas stencils
lightweight canvas or other unprinted fabric
flannel or printed fabric for ornament backs
string
thread
sewing machine (can be hand-stitched if you prefer)
fiber fill


Pounce paint through stencils onto a plain canvas with a stencil brush. I paint all of my designs at once leaving about two inches in between. Let dry. When the fabric is dry, loosely cut around ornaments, leaving at least 1/2" of white space around designs.



Cut out a back the same size as the front from flannel/printed fabric.

Pin the wrong sides together. (right sides should be facing out.)



Sandwich approximately 6-8 inches of folded string between the pieces of fabric.

Starting at the bottom, zigzag stitch around the edge of the ornament leaving a one-inch opening for stuffing.

Stuff with fiber fill. Then stitch the opening closed.

Hang and enjoy this special season!

Holiday Wall Hanging with StencilGirl Stencils

Hi, everyone! Brigitta is here!

The holidays are just around the corner, so I wanted to create a holiday-themed project.

I hope you will make your own version, too.

Stencils used:

Traci Bautista's Love Collage

Caroline Dube's Wall of Words
Daniella Woolf's Succulents

1.                  Mediums I used: cardboard (5" x 7”), white gesso, black gesso, crackle paste, glaze effect wax paste, black mist and white ultrafine glitter (not seen on this picture). First I painted the cardboard with a light coat of white gesso.

2.                  Next, where I planned to create the later pine tree, I stenciled Succulents, using white heavy gesso. So now I had a special structure for the tree. Then I grabbed the Love Collage stencil. You can see there are branches in the left upper corner of the stencil. I used this part (turning left to right) and created the shape of my pine tree. I used black heavy gesso for masking its silhouette, putting on the heavy gesso with a craft knife, so I got some great structure again.

3.                 I imagined that this pine tree was standing somewhere in the fields in a dark starry night, so I misted around the tree with a glittery black mist. This mist contains ultrafine glitter so now “my dark sky” shined when you turn it to a lamp. Great! Although I accidentally misted some parts of the tree as well, I just covered these later with white gesso again.

4.                 I love mixed media projects that contain text in the background as a design element. So I stenciled Wall of Words stencil in the sky, using heavy black gesso.

5.                  There is a special medium called glaze effect wax paste. Using my fingertips, I put a very light coat of this wax onto the previously stenciled letters. So the letters popped from the background and started to shine in a very special glittery and frosty shade of blue.

6.                  I didn’t forget to create snow! With the Love Collage stencil again, I stenciled dots using crackle paste. Before the paste dried I poured ultrafine white glitter to the surface, so the glitter stuck to the paste. Now I also have some glittery snow on this frosty night! Yay!

7.                  As a final touch, I covered the upper part of my wall hanging with a thick coat of solvent based glossy varnish. After the varnish dried, I glued some half beads here and the words PEACE ON EARTH.

Below are photos of the finished project and details:

Hope you like my project and will try these techniques in the future!

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this project.

You can contact me through my blog or on Facebook.

Hello, from Hungary,

Brigitta Budahazi aka Gigi :)