Feather Treasures with StencilGirl® Stencils!

Let go of perfection. Create beautiful feather treasures with this fun, simple and easy project! Sweet artsy statement feathers with pizzazz.

List of Supplies 

• Feathers
• Gesso
• Acrylic paints of your choice - I’m using Amsterdam reflex rose (384) & azo yellow deep (270)
• Make-up sponge
• StencilGirl® Stencils used - Puddles & Deconstructed Zinnia
• Acrylic marker
• Masking Tape
• You might also want to type on used & empty tea bags* - then you'll need used tea bags, a typewriter, matte medium and a brush 

Technique:

1. Start by taping your feathers down  { this makes it much easier to work on them }
2. Hold your stencil in place and gently pat down your acrylic paint onto the feather {don’t worry if it’s not perfect… that’s the fun part about it!}
3. Let your feathers dry and then go over them with another layer.
4. If you feel the need to add more layers or color, well then go for it!
5. After they are thoroughly dry you might want to add some small marks with an acrylic marker.
6. A wonderful and fun way to add words - type on tea bags* and then adhere them to your feather with matte medium

 

* Preparing tea bags: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_7U3VsAsWD/

  The typed word on a tea bag: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBarllDArEY/

Michelle is the artist behind RaspberryBlueSky.
She resides in the south of Germany with her husband, near Lake Ammersee.

If you would like to see more of what creative mischief Michelle is up to, feel free to check her out on:
The web: www.RaspberryBlueSky.com 
Instagram: @RaspberryBlueSky
YouTube: RaspberryBlueSky

Rae Missigman: Art Journaling with StencilGirl® Products

Hi, everyone! Rae Missigman here! Happy to be back on StencilGirl® Talk to share a video from my studio!

I hope you enjoy this flip through of one of my miniature journals in which I used a mix of my favorite StencilGirl® stencils to create interesting backgrounds that I take with me while traveling!

SG Blog Post_Rae Missigman.mp4 from Rae Missigman on Vimeo.

Thank you for joining me today!
And happy stenciling!

Rae Missigman
raemissigman.com

Springtime Accordion Journal using StencilGirl Stencils and Collage

What is it about the changing of the seasons that inspires us? 

A couple months ago, as winter was in full swing, I was completely dedicated to dark, cool, and neutral tones. The idea of bright colors made me cringe a little bit. 

Fast forward, and spring is right around the corner. Now I'm all about those bright colors! 

To commemorate this shift in both the weather and my creative flow, I decided to make this little accordion journal. 

I saw Renee Mueller making accordion journals like this and I loved it because it was different than just your standard accordion. The cutting can be a little confusing - I demonstrated how to do it in my video, so make sure to watch that part closely!

The journal is made from one piece of paper that I painted on both sides. I wanted one side to represent the sunshine and happiness of spring, and the other to represent the rain (and flowers!!) that spring brings. 

I hope you enjoy the idea and process for this little journal and that you feel inspired to make your own!

And tell me, do you feel that same creative shift every once in awhile? What is it that inspires you? 

StencilGirl Stencils Used:

Garden Spray & Bramble

Abstract Natural Sun

Abstract Rosette

Words to Live By

Other products and supplies:

Strathmore Mixed Media Paper

Liquitex Basics Gesso

Liquitex Acrylic - Light Portrait Pink

Golden Heavy Body Acrylic - Nickle Azo Gold

DecoArt Americana Premium Acrylic - Payne's Grey

Master's Touch Acrylic - Ocean Green

Liquitex Spray Paint - Parchment

UHU Glue Stick

Liquitex Basics Fluid Matte Medium

Collage Papers

Cheesecloth

Various Tim Holtz Sentiment Stickers

New Designer Kelly Cameron! 3 New Stencils!

Kelly Cameron, a self-taught mixed media and collage artist from North Carolina joins our marvelous lineup of stencils designers!

These three stencils are filled with energetic flowing curves.

The Dragon Fire Stencil was designed by Kelly Cameron with several interpretations in mind. In addition to the breath of a fantasy creature, the curlicue parts of the design could depict billowing clouds, waves of water, or even a floral motif. There’s even a bit that looks like a conch shell and a diamond that resembles a pineapple.

Have fun playing with this bold, daring design in warm colors, in ombre tones, or with straight-up contrast. 

The Waterfall Stencil has a soft, elegant flow. Parts of it are mermaid-like, especially the two diagonal corners with scale-looking designs. The details are all so close together, although still with a hand-drawn look, and yet halfway through you are hit with the solid section that breaks it up a bit and offers a little relief.

This detailed stencil lends itself to formal-toned greeting cards, printing plate play, backgrounds, and is gorgeous with metallic paint.

The Oh Velocity Stencil celebrates the charm of ovals. 

The wobbles, double lines, and perfect imperfections of this hand-drawn stencil make it the designer's favorite.

Shop Kelly Cameron's Stencils

Art Journaling with StencilGirl® Face Stencils

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to be here on the StencilGirl® blog again today as a guest designer. My name is Niamh Baly and I am a Primary (elementary) school teacher from Tasmania, Australia, a content creator and mum to two gorgeous girls. I am also stencil addict! Stencils are such an amazing tool to help produce fabulous artwork and are so simple to use. They are one of the most important tools that I use in my art journal pages, and nearly every page I create has a stencilled image or texture on it. In this project we will be using stencils to create a layered background and adding a face stencil as a focal point. I find face stencils like this help me create moody pages which can capture how I am feeling at the time. As I am not great at drawing, I love that a stencil can capture a hand drawn effect.  Below you will find a full process video as well if you want to see this page from start to finish.

To begin, gesso your journal page then apply some colour in the background. Dry the paint then apply a contrasting colour over the top and place a stencil over the top and wipe away the excess paint.  Repeat this until you are happy with the effect.

Using a small 6 x 6 gel plate and a script stencil, print the stencil into your journal by pressing your page directly onto the plate. You can roll the excess paint off your brayer onto your page to add a grungy effect as well. Then I have added the face image using Paynes grey as a focal point to my page. To create a figure I use another script 6 x 6 stencil to extend the body, then add the whites of the eyes and some linework with a white pen. I then used a stabillo all pencil to create a shadow around the figure and push it out from the background. I also added some colour pencils to the figure to add more interest.

Finally, I wanted to add some extra marks and layers to my page using metallic paints to catch the light. I then added some stencilled words to my page to capture my thoughts when I was creating this page. I find when I am creating art journal pages like this, my mind wanders and I think of things that have been bothering me. Usually by the time I am finished a page I have some clarity about why I created it. With this page, I was reflecting on some health issues I’d had during the year – hence the ‘you are tough’.

Here is a video of the full process creating this page:

Here is a close up of the details in this page.

Here is a list of the StencilGirl® stencils I have used in this project to create the unfinished art journal page:  

• Circular Patterns to Play
• Sweet Face Girl Small
• Travel Note Mini
• Mark Making with Florals

Here are two BONUS videos using StencilGirl® Face stencils in some different ways to get you inspired as well:

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog. I hope that these videos have inspired you to get into your journals and create something beautiful using the fabulous face stencils. 

Happy Creating,
Niamh
Instagram: @niamhbaly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/niamhbaly/

Mixed Media Canvas with StencilGirl® Products

Hello stencil lover,
Sue Plumb here today with a fun new project to inspire you. It’s been a little while since I shared my last project here as part of the StencilGirl® Creative Team, so I was only too happy to jump in and get my hands dirty when I was asked to be a guest designer this month. 

As I will be moving house soon, I have been busy sorting through my art supplies and assessing what I have on hand. This task also highlighted which supplies have been neglected lately, particularly some of my paints. With that in mind, I decided to create a mixed media canvas for this project and put some of those paints to good use. Unfortunately, paint is one of those supplies that does have a shelf life, and I did have to throw some of them away that had dried up. (If you have paints in your stash that you haven’t pulled out for a while, I encourage you to check them and use them whilst you can!)

My project began with a 10x12” canvas panel which came pre-primed, so it saved me applying a coat of gesso. I started with some collage on my background, adding a Jane Davenport printed napkin and some spotted tissue paper using matte medium. I then dried it off and started on my painted layers using a mix of acrylic paints applied with a silicone spatula and my fingers.

If you are unfamiliar with mixed media, there are couple of important points I want to share with you here. First of all – layers! Mixed media is all about layers and each one contributes to the overall depth and impact a piece will have. Yes, along the way, you will inevitably cover up some of the layers you create, but it is the way in which those layers combine that will deliver the final result.  The second point is what many of us like to refer to as the “ugly stage”. At some point during the process you are likely to look at the piece you are working on and think it looks terrible, but my best advice here is to push past that stage, continue on, and know that it will all come together in the end.

Once I had my background colour down, it was time to start adding some stencilled detail. The first one I reached for was a branches mask that came from Into the Woods by Suzi Dennis. I used a green Distress Oxide and a sponge to add some detail along the bottom edge of the canvas. However, once I looked at it I realised that the detail didn’t stand out enough, so I went back to my painted layers and lightly added some white paint using a brayer to strip some of the colour back and allow my detail to show more clearly. I repeated the process with the mask and the Distress Oxide and was much happier with the result. (See – it really is a process of layers!) I then used the same Distress Oxide and sponge with the Looping Leafy Vines Background stencil to add detail along the remaining edges of the canvas.

Next, I added some floral detail using the Deconstructed Floral Bouquet stencil, teal Archival ink and a sponge. I only used one section of the stencil and moved it around the canvas to repeat the same flower design in different areas. At this point I decided it was time to add some texture, so I went back to the Looping Leafy Vines stencil but this time I used a teal-coloured texture paste instead. (I often like to use the same stencil more than once on a project but with different mediums to achieve a different look.) I then added more texture paste, only this time a pink, using the Peony Blooms stencil; and again I focused my attention around the edge of the canvas.

Now it was time to turn my attention to the focal point for my canvas. I had a printed napkin that featured a bright design with Toucans and tropical foliage, so I decided to use one of the Toucans as my centrepiece. I removed the backing layers from the napkin, leaving me with the topmost thin sheet, then traced around the part of the design I wanted using a water brush. Moistening the paper like this allows you to then separate the piece away gently and gives a softer edge that is easier to blend into the background than if it were cut with scissors. (Watch my process video to see exactly how it is done.) I used matte medium to apply it to the canvas, along with some extra foliage printed pieces.

Now it was time to start adding all the final details to bring the piece to completion. To add some light to the foreground and the surrounds, I used the small Maidenhair Fern Stencil with Masks and stippled some light green paint through it with a brush and then dried it off.

To tie in the black colour of the Toucan, I used a rubber stamp featuring small stars and spots and black StazOn ink to lightly stamp tiny black details randomly around the canvas. I also used a black Stabilo All pencil to create subtle shadowing around the Toucan’s silhouette.

I added further detail to the piece using one of my all-time favourite stencils, Organized Chaos by Cat Kerr, white paint and stippled the design randomly around the page. (This is one of my go-to techniques for finishing mixed media pieces like this.) After that, it was simply a matter of sticking down the large quote, small phrase stickers, and a few printed vellum flowers to add dimension. (I love the way the vellum curls up from the canvas when applied with a small dab of wet glue.)

If you would like to see the evolution of exactly how this piece came together, or see any of the techniques I have mentioned, please watch my process video. 

Stencils used:
Into the Woods
Looping Leafy Vines Background
Deconstructed Floral Bouquet
Peony Blooms
Maidenhair Fern Stencil with Masks
Organized Chaos

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope you are feeling inspired. Happy stenciling!

Sue Plumb

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How To Create A Mixed Media Background With StencilGirl® Stencils

Hi! My name is Fairuz Fabiha and I’m 22 years old, a student of Architecture. I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh with my ever supportive parents and an elder brother.

I’ve been crafting since I was a kid but from 2016, I got more involved and dedicated towards it. I started sharing my creations online from 2018 and at the end of the same year I started my YouTube channel. My crafty nickname is ‘Craftivation’

I love scrapbooking, card making and doing mixed media art. Though mixed media art and card making are my favorites.

I like trying out different products but my style is mostly turning ‘trashes into treasures’.

In this short period, I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of many design teams including Lisa Horton Crafts, CrafTreat, Robin’s Nest and Ambassador for Trinity Stamps

Crafting has become an inseparable part of my life and I don’t plan on leaving it anytime soon!

 

I feel honored to get the chance to work with StencilGirl® as their guest designer for the month of August.

As my style is mostly clean, simple and easy, I wanted to create something similar for the StencilGirl® Talk blog. Here I have shown how to use different stencils and mediums in one project but still keeping it very simple. And I have created a short and easy tutorial of my process:

Stencils used:
Crackle Stencil
Fridge Poetry
Drips
Repeating Fleur de Lys Small

Here you can see how I have used these four stencils from StencilGirl® to create this Grungy-Vintage fusion background.

Hope you all have enjoyed today’s project. Thank you!

Fairuz Fabiha

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Travel Art Journaling with StencilGirl® Stencils

Art journaling when traveling brings me awareness of what I am directly experiencing through my senses (mindfulness) by observing my surroundings through my artistic eye. I love to travel and was so excited to re-enter society this summer by traveling to Utah.

Check out this photo of me and my travel buddies at Landscape Arch in Arches National Park. Our matching world map shirts were a blast. When considering the weight of our hiking gear and water, we wanted to limit the art supplies we brought in our backpacks. 

I don’t always take the same supplies but have core items that I choose based on the method of travel, planned activities, and the length of the trip. When traveling by air, I don’t take anything with liquid such as acrylic paint since I tend not to check luggage. I use a watercolor pan set which is light weight and doesn’t take up a lot of space. I also bring a watercolor sketchbook, a waterbrush, a few pens and pencils, and for this trip I added several StencilGirl® stencils.

I have a lot of StencilGirl® stencils and love working with them in the studio. It hadn’t occurred to me to take them with me when traveling, but they are highly portable and do not take up space or add weight. I think they add such a fun element to my art journal pages and are great way to add texture. Here is a list of the stencils I chose as well as why I selected them (not all were used in the video):

• Compass Rose by Julie Snidle: compasses are a universal symbol of travel 

• Windows Large Stencil by Pam Carriker: represent ‘windows’ in the rock formations 

• City Map by Mary C. Nasser: urban vibe as a contrast to nature/national parks 

• Sunburst Crackle by Daniella Woolf: sun for sunny desert location 

• 6” leaf motif from Stencil Club September 2020 by Rae Missigman: botanical 

• Wheel of Hope from Stencil Club May 2017 by Pam Carriker: texture and shape 

• Mash Up from Mary Beth Shaw Stencil Club January 2021: texture

In the video linked above you’ll see how I created a journal page while inside Arches National Park.

After finding a comfortable place to sit in the shade, the view of Turret Arch was the subject for my page. Don’t be surprised by people’s curiosity; I found they were really excited and thought what we were doing was very cool. It was a great reason to strike up a conversation and learn more about the area from other travelers.

I started my page with a line drawing using a watercolor pencil. Next, I painted the blue sky and earth-tone rock formations using a waterbrush and watercolors. I used the Mash Up stencil to add texture to the foreground. I added greenery and then used part of the Windows Large Stencil, subtle symbolism to our location, to add texture to the rock formations. 

A few extra lines and my art journal page memorializing my trip to Arches National Park was complete.

I hope I have inspired you to art journal on your next vacation to create something you can look back on for years to come. I’d love to see your travel journal pages so make sure to tag me on social media and check out my YouTube and Instagram accounts for more mixed media inspiration: https://www.flowcode.com/page/carolynmcgowan 

Native Cincinnatian, Carolyn McGowan works in finance, while also feeding her creative appetite as a mixed media artist through painting, art journaling, book making, photography and travel. 

StencilGirl® Stencil Portrait by Artist Pamela Vosseller

Hi, everyone! Pamela Vosseller here! I’ve always been a bit of Tomboy, and I think that is why I believe we all have an inner superhero waiting to let its warrior of Good shine. I remember growing up watching some of my favorite TV shows from National Geographic about the beautiful Indigenous tribes. They had the most amazing headpieces, which inspire my creativity to this day.

In this StencilGirl® project, we will create a whimsical female portrait that is wearing a warrior headpiece designed using StencilGirl® Stencils. I love creating on recycled surfaces; it is especially helpful when you’re on a budget, but I also find those surfaces to have the best texture. So, in this project, we will be using a 12x12 piece of recycled cardboard as our substrate; however, you can always just use paper or a canvas.

I hope you enjoy this project, and I look forward to seeing your warrior portrait.

I used the following StencilGirl® Stencils:

Circle Bubbles

Garden Flowers Tile

Floral Lace

Supply List:

·         Cardboard (any size, I used 12x12)

·         Platte knife or you can use brush

·         Pencil – Water soluble (orange or red)

·         Gesso – White and Black (Okay to use acrylic paint)

·         Acrylic paints: (I use Liquitex and M.Graham)

o   Unbleached Titanium

o   Orange – Cadmium

o   Blue

o   Azo Green or other yellow green

·         Chalk Acrylics – Paper Artsy:

o   Red Lipstick

o   Blue Bayou

o   Steel Grey

o   Mud Splat

·         Posca Pen – black