The Feathered Tribe alights for February 2021 StencilClub

Gwen Lafleur's love of birds comes from her naturalist grandparents. 

The Feathered Tribe Set combines Gwen's love of birds, travel, and pattern.

Join the StencilClub art community now and get these stencils (2/15/21 ship date) and Gwen's fabulous project when you sign up!

Three exclusive stencils for StencilClub members:

A Songbird perches on a single branch of the 9" x 12" stencil, while two birds perch on the lower branch, the bird with furled wings was inspired by the Australian Cuckoo, and the one with fluttering wings was inspired by Native America Tribal Art. Although the birds are tied together by flowering branches, you can mask them off and use them individually.

Three feather designs adorn the 6" x 6" stencil to use together, repeat in a row or use individually, perhaps as a border.

Use the pattern of the 4" x 4" to coordinate with the feathers and birds, as a repeating background, or use the individual elements.

Exclusive to StencilClub members:

• Start to finish technique video for creating the detailed painted image and vintage collage of the artwork, below left. 
• Gwen is including a printable with vintage images as well as the PDF!

These adorable mini collages and brightly colored embroidery with beading are two other ways Gwen used the hand-drawn stencils she created exclusively for StencilClub members.

Get all the perks of StencilClub membership when you sign up by February 15, 2021. Are you reading this post after that date? No worries! Current club members can order any past set and access the PDF and video that comes with it.

Get the details and sign up here.

Made By Janet

Dream Big Stencil 

Happy New Year!

Hi Stencil Friends!

Janet here, with my StencilGirl Column 

focused on Journals and Planners.

No surprise here! I am still obsessed with those

3.5"x 5.5" field note journals.

Here are a few pages in my recent journals.

Shadow Face 

City Stories Stencil 

ATC Mixup 1  & Curlicue Wide Borders

Loose Half Rings & October StencilClub 2016

X-12 Stencil

Curlicue Wide Borders

ATC Mixup 1 & Bullseye Stencil

ATC Mixup 1

This January starts my 6th year of playing in an Art Planner.

Goodbye 2018.

Hello 2019.

Lots of opportunities to use stencils!

Here's a wrap-up of the last couple months of 2018.

ATC Mixup 1 & February StencilClub 2017

ATC Mixup 1

ATC Mixup 1 & Small Deer Antler Stencil

ATC Mixup 1, Planner Winter Stencils, NovStencilClub 2018, Aug StencilClub 2017

Winter Trees Bark

Winter Trees Bark

Another super fun project I squeezed in during a busy December 2018 was

#CarveDecember hosted by Julie Balzer.

I used a few stencils on my Speedy Carve blocks as design choices.

Curlicue Wide Borders

Curlicue Floral

Cruiser Side Stencil

Cruiser Side Stencil

Small Deer Antlers Stencil

Sometimes I resize the image on a copy machine to get a size I want to carve.

Small Deer Antlers Stencil

ATC Mixup 1

Fly 6 Stencil & Fly 4 Stencil

Again, notice the sizes of my birds. 

That is the 6" and 4" stencil along with two smaller carved versions!

I am real excited about those!

And I'm thinking of trying a smaller one yet!

There you go!

Carving stamps is not at all hard. 

Take a class or get a book on the subject.

Art is all about having fun and trying new things!

See you next time!

Treat Yourself With Inky Birds by Jill McDowell

Hi! 

It's Jill McDowell here with you today with my take on this month’s Creative Team theme: Treats.  Since it’s October, the first thing that comes to most people’s mind when you mention Treats is usually Halloween Candy.  But candy is definitely not a good thing to think about when you’re trying really hard to stay true to your diet.  So instead of feeling deprived, I decided to twist the theme around and treat myself to a shopping trip at my local art supply store as a reward for sticking to my goals.

Everybody knows that treats come in small packages.  I found mine in a five pack of Ampersand Encausticbord, 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 panels. These hard board panels are the same size as artist trading cards. They are covered in an absorbent ground that is both archival and encaustic friendly.  You don't have to house them with encaustics though.  Encausticbord plays nice with other mixed media mediums too. Although I did use encaustic medium to seal and finish my treats, encaustics are totally optional for this project.  I could have used varnish, another sealer, or even let them go naked and they would have worked out fine. 

Non-Stencil Supplies used in this project.
 (I also used encaustic medium and an adhesive magnet sheet; both of which are completely optional)

My Pitt Pen Collection

I then treated myself to an afternoon of play and experimentation with the Encausticbords and India Inks; the stuff that my collection of Pitt Artist Pens are made of.  I’ve always enjoyed blending their ink on the page with inky fingers.  So, it should certainly come as no surprise, that while I was at the art supply store, I also treated myself to a few new Big Brushes.  A girl’s got to have her Big Brushes, right?  Who's with me on this?

By the end of the day, I had made four Inky Birds using the Encausticbords, Pitt Artist Pens, Bombay India Ink, Walnut Drawing Ink and a few of my favorite StencilGirl® stencils.  I made a video to show you how I made them.  I hope you enjoy.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, (just in case you were worried) - No candy corn was consumed during the making of this video 🙂.

Here's a few close-ups of the finished birds made into magnets.

Now it's your turn to get out there, find something that brings you joy and treat yourself.

Hugs until next time, Jill

Stencil Links:

   Grenada by Nathalie Kalbach
   BoHo Birds by Gwen Lafleur
   March 2018 Stencil Club Private Collection 18.1 by Mary Beth Shaw
   Three Crows by Kimberly Baxter Packwood
   Little Figments of Imagination by Carolyn Dube
   Fern 6 by Cecilia Swatton