Easy no-sew stenciled friendship pillows DIY

Greetings & Salutations! 

A friend is in from out of town so I am off to a sleepover or maybe an all-night conversation. 

Not only am I bringing my pillow (because there's nothing like your own pillow when it's not your bed) I am bringing pillows for two of my best girlfriends - one I don't get to see often because she lives up north - shhh! don't tell them! It'll be our secret for a little bit.

Project time: About 4 hours total

1. Gather:

• Scissors
• Measuring Tape or Ruler
• Fabric
• Batting
• Stencils I used on pillow 1: Retro Comets by Mary Beth Shaw, Loose Woamn #1 and #2 (small) by Sue Pelletier, and words for The Dance of This Life.
• Stencils I used on pillow 2: The small stencil for the January 2015 StencilClub Set, by Mary Beth Shaw and dancers and words from The Dance of This Life by Carolyn Dube
• Acrylics
• Paintbrush
• Optional: Acrylics and Fabric Paint Medium or Fabric Paint (I decided not to use fabric paint in an attempt to keep it simple.)

2. Measure 2 pieces of previously washed fabric ( I used muslin I had on hand and it took the paint beautifully!) the size you want your pillow to be plus 3" all round for fringe.

3. Cut out the square, rectangle, or circles. Also, for a square or a rectangle, cut a 3" x 3" square out of each corner. You don't need to do this for the circle.

4. Stencil at least one side - you can do both if you want :) I stenciled the edges of the fringe in 2 different colors and am I ever glad I did because it made pairing the fringe up to tie so much easier.

4a. Sponge on 4 background colors in an uneven number of spots. 
4b. Place your stencils and use 2 new colors to paint the background designs.

4c. Stencil a greeting in black.
4d. Stencil figures in black or white. (Depending on the stencil you may need to fill in the blanks with a paintbrush.)

Pillow 1: 

Pillow 2: 

5. Place the two pieces of fabric together and cut fringe that is 3" long and about a 1/4 inch wide. I carefully measured the fringe on the first pillow. I eyeballed it on the second one. For larger pillows, you could pin them strategically together so they will not move. I planned to do this, but for the approx 10" x8" pillows I made it was not necessary. 

 

Tip: I have scissors I ONLY use for fabric and scissors I only use for paper. Friends who sew tell me this is a good practice. 

Time to be knotty!

6. Tie 3 edges on each pillow. 

Tip: I found this easier to do holding the pillow against the table top than just holding it in my hands.

7. Stuff pillows and tie off the remaining ends.

Adorable if I do say so myself!

8. Toss pillows in the dryer on low heat for about 10 minutes to set the paint.

9. Present each friend with her pillow :)

Here's a toast to Lynn and Diane! Spending time with them never fails to fill my heart with hope and laughter!

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. 

It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. 

We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

– Albert Schweitzer

Take a look at a few more projects from your art friends on StencilGirl Talk - your maker muse is sure to be set alight!

Happy stenciling,

Carol Baxter

Get crafty in minutes on canvas with a stencil and buttons

Happy TBT! Carol Baxter here saying hello to you!

When I was cleaning up my craft table, five cute little fish buttons swam out from their hiding place ~ behind some orange paint turquoise glimmer mist. What was I to do but grab a stencil and give them a better home?

I call this piece...

Like Fishies to the Flame

You'll need a 6x6 inch canvas, Glimmer Mist, acrylic craft paint - purple, red, orange, sponge, paintbrush, cute little fish buttons available from Gwen LaFleur's web store, All Purpose Ink - Autumn, old dictionary page, glue or decopauge,scissors, a pen, needle and thread, as well as the Trees 6 Stencil by Mary Beth Shaw.

Ready? This is easy. And quick! Craft in 30 minutes. You can make it with a child. It only requires a little patience (perfect, because my hubby will tell you, a little is all the patience I have).

#1 Lay down newspaper under canvas and spray with mist.

Tip: Hit canvas with heat gun or blow dryer BEFORE the next step!

#2 Place stencil on canvas and use Fantastix and All Purpose in to color in tree lines. Quite relaxing!

Remember that tip? Here's why... eek! The mist was not dry and the ink bled. Apparently, patience really is a virtue.

Mary Beth's wisdom to the rescue! "When you don't like something you always can paint over it."

Cue blow dryer! Clearly, I need a new plan! Think..... There are heat vents in the bottom of the sea!

#3  I will paint a flame! I used the sponge, a paint brush and my finger. Cue blow dryer again.

#4 Sew on the cutest little fishies ever!

#5 And lastly, cut out some fish from old book paper and glue them on. It's a party!

Okay, I am off to go hang my happy little school of fish on my bathroom wall.

If fish buttons are not swimming on your craft table, you could paint with this stencil instead:

Aidan's School Stencil 6x6" S001

I hope you find something hiding on your art table that begs you to put a stencil on it!

Warmly,

Carol

Four Cork Placemats Simply Transformed with Stencils

Hello! It's Carol and I decided to stop managing the team for a couple hours and make a craft -- something pretty to eat lunch on when I'm working from home :)

Plus, I was in Ikea and found plain cork placemats and thought, "I can put a stencil on that!"

Color me pleased because I centered it then measured and it was centered.

I used the large stencil from Mary Beth Shaw's Private collection 16.3 for StencilClub.

Not much layering here except on the birds. Just made 'em opposite colors and on 's beak a bit more open (chatty!).

I think this would be a fun project to do with the kiddos if you've got 'em!

Doing the same thing is boring so I made 4 different placemats I can use to suit my... oh wait, there's elk outside my window... mood.

Let's paint some flowers the elk cannot eat!

I used the small stencil from Jennifer Evans' Seredipity Florals for StencilClub.

Tip: Don't fuss too much and it will look like a lovely little organic garden :)

How about an abstract placemat?

Just like the flowered one: Flip, align, add paint.

I used the large stencil from Mary Beth's 15.5 set for StencilClub and then I realized it...

Enter bonus stencil from August 2017 StencilClub.

Now I am hungry.

And I wonder if I gesso first will I like the results better? (I don;t think it mattered.)

Yup! You could keep making words but seriously folks, fun break-time was over for me.

I like the one with the partridges the best, particularly if I was going to make sets of placemats as a gift.

The flower one was pretty zen to paint. 

You need to join StencilClub in order to purchase past StencilClub sets.

Need a new favorite stencil?

I gotta say, I am quite enamored with Gwen Lafleur's Art Deco Alphabet stencil. I know that is going to become one of my faves fast.

Let's just stencil through dinner, eh?