Autumn Leaves Three Ways

Hello stencil friends! Nicole here with an easy little project (or three!) to add a touch of fall to your home. I don’t know about the weather where you are, but here in Central Texas we recently had three days of amazing, fall weather. It was glorious! I made chicken soup, my favorite pumpkin bars, and had the most amazing (cold!) morning walks while dreaming of wearing pants and long sleeves. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long as our temps went back up to near 100. Ugh! However, despite our rise in temps, I officially declared it fall. I bought all the new fall things from Trader Joes and put out my fall décor.

One of my favorite things about fall, besides the weather, is the changing of the leaves and fall colors.  

With leaves and the colors of fall on my mind, I thought it would be fun to make something new for fall. I grabbed the Autumn Leaves stencil and began blending colors to create leaves.

First, like most of my painted paper projects, I began by adding watered-down gesso to some old book and ledger pages. This does a couple things. It adds some integrity to the sometimes-brittle pages and allows for a better surface to paint on. Since I don’t want to cover up the text and I don’t need a thick layer of gesso, I water it down. You can also use clear gesso.

Then, I grabbed all the fall colors of paint, an applicator and began to play. This is a fun, simple process but does require some patience. The Autumn Leaves stencil is a bit more delicate, so sometimes you have to hold down parts of it while you stencil. 

I love how fall colors blend together, especially purple and orange (trust me, try it!). 

A couple ideas and tips:

1. Less is more! Don't over-saturate your applicator.

2. However, if paint seeps under the stencil, don’t stress! Just go back and stencil again a bit when it dries. This creates a cool shadow look. 

3. Lift the stencil to peak at your leaf before completely removing it. Then, set it back down if you need to add more paint.

4. Use one color on several leaves, lifting the stencil each time, and then go back with another color, for more of a two-step approach (or even three). The paint blends a little less this way for a different look.

5. Try an ombre palette, or a candy-corn one. 

6. Start with a lighter color, add a darker one and then go back and blend more with the lighter color.

7. If you don’t like how one turns out, stencil over a bit with a darker color. 

8. Don’t forget a few solid leaves, too!  

9. Flip the stencil over half-way through for more variety (or to make your leaves double sided in the end, more below) 

10. Put your favorite fall movie on a screen and have fun!

My favorite fall leaves are the ones with spots of color, so when my leaves were finished, I splattered leftover paint on them.

After the splatters dried, I cut them out and grabbed some kraft-colored card stock to give them some strength.

I stuck them down with matte medium, front and back, and then also added another layer on top for extra protection. 

Then, once they dried, I had to cut them out again! I chose to leave a border each time, one with the original paper and one with the kraft paper. 

Check out the beautiful pile of leaves! 

Now that you’ve made some amazing leaves, what can you do with them?

Create a Garland 

Grab some bakers twine or thin jute and string them up! I am putting together a fall-themed thank you basket for a friend, and adding a garland to it is the perfect final touch. I’m also going to hang a small one in my house.

All you have to do is punch a couple of holes in each leaf and add them to the string of choice. I added some extra colors of twine by weaving it around my original one after I added the leaves.

Make a Mobile or Wall-hanger 

Similar to the garland, string some leaves to dangle from a branch, old paint brush, vintage wooden spoon, or anything you can think of! You could add some beads or other fall-themed items. 

Start a Thankful Tree Tradition

Use bakers twine or string to create single, hanging leaves. Place them in a container with a pen or makers. 

Then, find a fun branch and add it to a vase or other container. Each day leading up to thanksgiving, write something you are thankful for on the back of the leaf and hang it on the tree. You could use multiple leaves for each family member, or all write on the same leaf each day. After the fall season, save them in a special container for a fun keepsake from the year.

More Ideas

For the garland, mobile, or wall hanger, if you think your leaves might twist in the wind, you could always make them double sided. All you need to do is add a back-side leaf after you cut them from the Kraft cardstock. This will take a bit more planning to match up your leaves so you have a front and back one (stenciled from each side of stencil).

I have a few leftover leaves even after the three projects. I’m going to scatter some on our Thanksgiving table, tuck them inside letters and packages, maybe make a card or two, and I think I might add a couple to my door wreath. I might even need to make more. They are so fun to create!

You can watch how I made the leaves + the projects following in the video below: 

Happy fall!

-Nicole

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Stencil

Autumn Leaves

Supplies for the leaves:

• Gesso
• Vintage book and ledger papers
• Matte medium
• Fall colors of acrylic paint (I used Golden's SoFlat)
• Scissors
• Kraft card stock
• Palette paper
• Round applicator

Extra supplies for projects:

• Bakers twine or another string of choice
• Twig (and anything else you want to add to your mobile) 
• Branches, Vase, Bucket, Marker, etc... for your tree
• Hole punch

Stencil Painted Paper Mobile by Sarah Gardner

Hello there! It's Juicy*S, otherwise known as Sarah Gardner. As I write this, I've just finished the 100th paper mobile for my 100 Day Project! Yes, I made 100 of them! I’m very proud of myself, as you can imagine! Along the way, I encountered a few artist community friends who expressed interest in how I made my paper mobiles, so here I am with my first post as a StencilGirl Products® CreativeTeam member. I’m thrilled to be part of the Team, and happy to share a little of what I learned over the past 100 days!

It all starts with the paper! I’ve been making painted papers layered with color using StencilGirl® stencils to use for my mobiles. Anytime you make a paper and cut it up, something magic happens! The whole looks great, but the cut pieces or shapes always have a unique and artful look all their own.

To make a paper mobile I create two of what I call “art papers” (some people call it collage fodder, Mary Beth Shaw calls them “parts” ;) Simply put, they are papers YOU make to use in your art. I use heavy card stock or even watercolor paper for one of the two, and a thinner paper for the other one.

For the watercolor paper (side one of the mobile), I start with some water-soluble oil pastels from Art Philosophy and a Charvin Pastel Painting Stick, spraying the marks and scribbles with a little water to activate. Then I add some liquid watercolors, just dropping them onto the wet paper.  

I let these dry thoroughly and then start the stenciling! I often start the layering process with the darkest color I have chosen. Here, it’s Viridian acrylic by Lukas and I sponge it through Wendy Brightbill’s, Floral Frolics stencil.

Next, a Charvin heavy body acrylic in Eva’s Pink, using Wendy’s Peony Blooms stencil.  

Then, Lukas Naples Yellow using Cynthia Silveri’s Broken Line Columns stencil. 

Finally, Golden Titanium White through Cecilia Swatton’s Pressed Leaves stencil.

 

I'm loving how this paper is coming along. It’s a little busy. Sometimes, what works best to tame a layered and colorful piece like this is to add a whitewash, but I decide to use a colored wash because I don’t want my white Pressed Leaves to disappear. I water down already-fluid Golden High Flow Acrylic in Quinacridone Red and brush it over the entire piece. I swab a little of the paint up here and there, especially wherever those white leaves want to peek through.

The last step to complete this sheet of art paper is to add splatter with an FW Pearlescent ink from Daler Rowney in Waterfall Green. I put the ink in a dish and add a little water so that I know I’ll get a good splatter.

Now to make the second paper and what will be the reverse of the finished mobile. I decide on a fairly thick piece of vintage ledger paper. I use the Pressed Leaves stencil again, but brush/paint through the stencil with a combination of the same liquid watercolors and ink that I used for the first paper. I also include an acrylic ink from Dr. Ph. Martin's in Iridescent Orchid to add a little brightness and shimmer to the watercolored leaves. I add some splatter with the leftover paints and then take a look.  

I want the papers to coordinate, so I feel like I need to bring some of the dark green into the second paper. I do this with another acrylic ink (Liquitex in Phthalocyanine Green-Blue Shade) and a dip pen. I save the little scoops from my collagen powder ;) and use this to dip my pen. I outline all the stenciled watercolor leaves. To finish, I add some splatters with this ink.

The papers both have to be thoroughly dry before I can cut them for the mobile.  While they do, I paint the mobile string to match the papers.

You can use any shape for your mobile. I created my star templates out of sturdy cardboard (notepad backing) and they are a little worn out from all the mobiles I’ve made with them!   Since I have been adding song lyrics to my mobiles, I’m showing you how I do that. I print out the lyric, planning a word or two for each ‘star’. Then I choose the size and shape of the star according to the size of the word/phrase. I trace around my templates on the reverse side of the art papers, making sure to use the same number of the same shapes for each paper. 

Can you guess the song these lyrics came from?

And here’s a little tip: 

I marked the templates with an ‘X’ on one side. So I trace around the templates with the ‘X’ facing up for the first paper, and down for the second. That way, I can match up the mirroring shapes when I glue the stars together around the string to create the mobile!

I’ve gone through about 30 glue sticks making my 100 mobiles! I apply glue to the wrong sides of both cut-out stars and add a little to the string that will be sandwiched between the two. I start at the end of the lyric, gluing the end of the string between the two cut-out stars. Then I move up the string, gluing the stars in backward (lyric) order. 

To create a loop for hanging, I trim the string if necessary, and glue the end of the string next to itself between the last two star shapes.

Next, I glue on the lyrics.  

The final touch is to trim the stars so that they are even, with no mismatched points or corners.

Now it’s ready to hang with the other 99! 

Thank you for visiting StencilGirl® Talk!

XOXOXO

Sarah

Juicy*S is my DJ name. I'm not a DJ. I would love to be a DJ. It's one of my fantasy dream jobs, really. I got this name when my sister, my friend, and I were slinging paint and working in our art journals, drinking wine and keeping track of the funny things we were saying on a "sign-in" sheet...just craziness. We all ended up with a DJ name that day. I started my first art blog with this name, and I've had it ever since.

I have found that being creative, that making stuff, is a very fulfilling and beneficial activity for me. Creative play, and art journaling in particular, has become my self-care practice. It's so exciting for me to share what I'm excited about, and helping others find their own creative practice is one of my goals in life!

You can find me on Instagram @juicy.s.art and my website is: Juicy*S Art

I also have a YouTube Channel and an Etsy Shop.