Yay! New Designs from Valerie Sjodin

Circle Line Borders - LL1001

Use this stencil to create beautiful borders of various circle shapes and lines or an overall pattern. It is a great companion with the Circle Lines Stencil Mask.

Circle Line Stencil Mask - LL1002

This versatile stencil of lines within and extending from circles can be used to sculpt the edge of a journal, a background pattern, and a retro-looking edge. It is a great companion with the Circle-Line Borders stencil.

Valerie's stencils are available now at www.stencilgirlproducts.com

Carolyn Dube's Overlapping Shapes Collection is here!

Hi there!

Get ready to play :)

This Overlapping Shapes Collection by Carolyn Dube is an exploration of the idea that everything is connected. It symbolizes the moments and places where things overlap and the space that surrounds those points of intersection.

Line them up!

Of course, you can use each stencil as a single, but Carolyn's Overlapping Stencils are perfectly matched within their suit as pairs. To do so, use the "overlapping" to create your base and then line up "overlapping filled" to paint or print again as shown below.

Watch Carolyn's video to see even more ways to play with these stencils such as writing in the lines, using them on a gel plate, and clusters. 

Here Carolyn has masked off a layer:

Circles Overlapping

Gel print:

Circles Overlapping Filled

Carolyn used alcohol inks:

Squares Overlapping 

Pan Pastel Print:

Art Journal:

Overlapping Squares Filled

Gel plate:

Hearts Overlapping

Doodles in the lines:

Hearts Overlapping Filled

Aren't you just filled with ideas for these stencils?! We are! After Carolyn made her video she told us she had even more ideas that will come in a later video!

You'll find all of Carolyn's stencil designs at StencilGirl Products.

Frame It + Fill It With Circles with StencilGirl® Stencils: Magic Tape

Hi there! It’s Marsha Valk, and I’m here today to share a new column with you!

For the past nine years for me, January has always started with Nathalie Kalbach’s annual online event Creative JumpStart. At first, I just followed along as a participant. Then, after a couple of years, also as a teacher.

I love it! I enjoy watching all the daily videos, and I always take away something from each of the lessons or tutorials: A new idea, a new technique, a new medium or even a new way of looking at an old supply.

This year one of my aha-moments was about borders.

Several Creative JumpStarters masked the edges of their paper with tape before they started painting with watercolour, acrylic paint and other media.

Of course, this isn’t anything new. Artists protect the border of their substrate all the time.

I had even done my share of it in the previous months when I had to work with watercolours. And, I have always liked a border around my photos, scrapbook pages and artwork.

However, each time one of the Creative JumpStart teachers removed the tape from their projects, it suddenly struck me what a vast difference the border made.

The crisp (in this case) white border made everything look so much more intentional and pulled together.

It’s like a super simple yet magical trick that makes everything look just ‘right’!

Please don’t take my word for it, though. Watch me create a mixed media page from start to finish to see it for yourself:

As said, I have always had a preference for borders around my artwork. And, I wonder if it’s because of my art teacher in high school.

Whenever we started to work on a new drawing, he insisted we’d prep the paper by drafting a box on it.

The lines of the rectangle had to be between 0.5 and 1 cm inside the edge of the paper. Whatever we wanted to draw went in the frame. The only things allowed outside the lines were our name, class number and occasionally a title.

I cannot remember if he ever explained why.

Did he just like all of the students work to have a uniform border? Or was it a way to force us to think about the composition and to make sure we’d fill the frame from the get-go?

If it was the latter, then I think it worked. Because I certainly know how to fill the frame and after all these years I still love that white border!

Until next time!

Marsha Valk

Stencils used in the video:
Stitch a Doily Stencil by Maria McGuire
Complementary Stencil by Pam Carriker
Sun & Moon Stencil by Cathy Nichols
Merry Go Round Stencil by Terri Stegmiller
Teardrop Doily Stencil by Maria McGuire
Central Ave Stencil by Nathalie Kalbach
Brick Factory Stencil by Daniella Woolf

Mini Printmaking Stencil Sets by Ann Butler are here!

Are you squealing over the artistic possibilities for card making, quilting - faux and actual, playing with patterns and colors, not to mention all the gel printing fun you can create?

Ann Butler says, “I love working with stencils on all sorts of surfaces but especially fabric. With stencils, I am able to create one of a kind fabric pieces to use in my art and home decor projects.”

Ann's Mini Printmaking Stencil Set 1 includes patterns withing shapes:

Circles (L691), Squares (L692), Hexagons (L698), Ovals (L699), Rectangles (L700), and Triangles (L701).

Ovals Set 1

Use your inks, markers, pens, and paints to make this set of nine 3” ovals including vertically slanted stripes, looped crosses, 8-petaled flowers, rick rack, dots, thick horizontal lines, hearts, organic vertical waves, and a solid oval absolutely dance in your artwork.

Circles Set 1

This set of eight 3” circles includes hearts, random pieces, 10 pointed starbursts, straight lines, chevrons, diamond net, curlicues, and zigzags. 

Magnet using the Circles Set.

Rectangles Set 1

Hearts, a sweetly delicate pattern, directional triangles, starbursts, diagonally slanted lines, patterned flowers, rectangular zigzags, a petal pattern, and a solid give you lots of depth and artistic possibilities when you use this stencil.

Squares Set 1

The set of six 3” squares including diamond Vs, random lines, directional triangles, chevrons, Fleur de Lis, and stars are ready for you to use. 

Mini notebook!

Triangles Set 1

Nine 3” triangular motifs are perfect to use with the mini gel plates to add dimension and depth to your art projects. You get directional triangles, thick & thin lines, a sweetly delicate pattern, basket weave, bricks, hearts, stars, a pyramid, and a solid. 

Hexagons Set 1

This set of six 3” hexagons include stripes thick and thin, Fleur de Lis, squares, a sweetly delicate pattern, random lines, diamonds & Xs.

 You'll discover all of Ann Butler's stencils right here.