Art Journal cover by Sandee Setliff

I want my journals to be as pretty on the outside as they are on the inside!

How about you?

Do you like to decorate your covers?

This month StencilGirl Products is collaborating with Canvas Corp Brands 

to show you unique ways to use StencilGirl stencils with a variety of 

Canvas Corp Brands surfaces and Tattered Angels Paint Kits!

My match-ups include:
 StencilGirls
Rain Stencil designed by Jessica Sporn
 JournalArtista Stacked Books by Paula Phillips

Pen and Ink Stencil designed by Leslie Riley

Canvas Corp
Tattered Angels Calendar Paint System - Spring Flowers
 7gypsies Starter Journal Cover 8.5x11

Home Basics burlap sheets

The first thing I did was load the front cover with the Tattered Angels Baby Blue simply sheer spray. I am very impressed with the canvas thickness in that none of the spray seeped through to the other side.

 Next, I used the Tattered Angels Party Pink glimmer mist through one of the girls on the Rain stencil and painted a hand holding a paint brush. The paint brush from the Pen and Ink stencil was stippled with black acrylic paint and then splatters of the Tattered Angels glazes were dabbed on to emulate a "rain shower" of paint cascading down over the girl.

Next came the platform of books for the rain girl to stand on and I used the burlap sheets, the Pen and Ink stencil and some embroidery floss to create them.

TIP: 

To transfer the book stencil to burlap, first outline the stencil with a Sharpie marker, spritz it with alcohol...

and then press it down on the piece of burlap...

and then cut it out.

Then mask the Pen and Ink words on the stencil and stipple with black acrylic paint to the burlap. Sew around the edges of the books and adhere with glue to the front cover.

I finished off the cover by sewing some beads and charms on as bracelets.

There's a prize at the end of the month from

StencilGirl Products and Canvas Corp Brands.

All you need to do is….

• leave a comment here on this blog post
• or on any or all of the Matchup Posts during the month of April
• with StencilGirl Products and Canvas Corp Brands.

• You can leave one on each post for more chances to win. 
• 
  
• Don’t forget to include the hashtag #SGPCCBmatchup so we can find you!!!
• 
  
• You can also leave a comment on the CCB Facebook page 
• or StencilGirl Products Facebook page. 
• Again....Don’t forget to include #SGPCCBmatchup so we can find you!!!
• 
  
• You can also leave a comment on any of the
•  CCB Instagram posts or StencilGirl Products Instagram posts
•  where you see any of the projects from the CCB team or the SGP team.
• 
  
• Don’t forget to include #SGPCCBmatchup so we can find you!!!
• 
  
• You can follow along by searching #SGPCCBmatchup. 
• If you love what you see and would like to join
•  the Facebook group CCB Collective – ask to join today.
• 
  
• Keep your eye out for more SGP & CCB Match Ups
• during the whole month of April!
• 
  

Thanks for visiting!

Sandee

Imagination art journal page by Sandee Setliff

Sandee Setliff  greeting you today. Spring means creation. Like a seed pushing forth out of the darkness of the earth and toward the light, so do we feel the pull out our art supplies and get creative!

Stencils inspire me to let loose and get creative and I have so much to learn in using them. They are versatile and easy to play with and you can use so many different techniques with them. 

Today I am creating an art journal page using the Pen and Ink stencil designed by  Leslie Riley,  Planner Spiral Notes designed by Mary Beth Shaw and I am using watercolors to stencil with.

Today's project was spent exploring with watercolors through the stencil for a nice soft washed out effect. 

Tip: Think before washing your stencil and ask yourself, can I reactivate the paint that is left on the stencil even though it is dried? 

Some paints like watercolors and inks can be "recycled" by misting them with alcohol which re-activates the dried watercolors and then pressing that back onto the paper. ( The words that are printed backwards are the effect you get because it is actually the front of the stencil you are using. I created a video HERE where I used alcohol inks and my stencils but it is basically the same process I used for activating the dried watercolor paint on todays project. )

 Mary Nasser has me reaching for maps these days so I collaged some torn strips along the bottom to "ground" my ink pot which was stippled in with some black acrylic paint.  I really liked the boldness of the black against the bright pastels.

I outlined the letters to emphasize them so they would stand out from the background using a Micron 2 pen by lightly sketching the outline.

For some added whimsy and to help bring out the calligraphy pen image better I used the Pen and Ink stencil as a guide and outlined it. Then I used the Planner Spiral Notes stencil also as a guide and drew it on the corner extending the stencil and letting it "fade out" over the the right side of the paper.

Let your art burst forth like flowers in the spring! 

Sandee