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

Connect with me on

• Instagram
• YouTube
• My website

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

Merry Makings - DIY Ornaments by Nancy Curry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M  E R R Y        M  A  K  I  N  G  S

 

 

 

I adore the magic of the holiday season, even the wrapping, but most of all, I enjoy putting my own diy stamp on our home decor that blends well with my favorite motifs that are part of my life story.  I've been making alcohol ink ornaments for a few years now and really enjoy the happenstance of them all.  I hadn't planned to do an ornament project until I walked into my studio and saw some ornaments at the ready.  That's when the idea of melding my process with stencil design was hatched.  In the tutorial video above, I talk through the process, but there are a few specifics I'll add here.  

I chose to use 3" white glass orbs but you could use clear and drop some diluted white in the middle to create the contrast layer or use metallic colored glass balls.  I love the look of alcohol ink on the metallics.  What I won't recommend are the powder coated ornaments.  The alcohol ink eats right through the powder coat and you are usually left with a silver undercoat.  It makes for a choppy application.  There is no prep that needs to happen with these ornaments.  I love that convenience.  You can find them at Michael's or Hobby Lobby early in the season. 

 

The rest of the products I used are in the flat lay photo below that includes a view of the finished orbs.  I used Ranger and Jacquard on this project.  Nothing tops Jacquard's Real Gold for me.  Any alcohol ink could be substituted except for Ranger's Alcohol Pearls.  The Pearls would not move as well over the surface in this process.  The bottle of 91% is rubbing alcohol.  As for the acrylic, I would use the most pigmented, smooth black you have so that it stands out well against the prior layer.  Cosmetic sponges are great to use because you can cut them to fit smaller stencils.  Last but not least, I chose a few abstract stencils:  The smaller scale stencils were from ( L792) Rae Missigman's ATC Mixup#1Art Marks, the mainly organic circles were a StencilClub  1/2019  by Mary Beth Shaw and Seth Apter, Cecilia Swatton's Ornamental Curls (S462) challenged me to use narrow lines,  and Daniella Woolf's Fez Medina Wall (S749) gave me the chunky coverage I was looking for.  What I would say about stencil choice is that abstract is the easiest to use because if you miss a little coverage pouncing on the orb, no one will know. Staying in the abstract genre also follows the random, abstract application of the bottom layer. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the orbs are dry, it's your choice to add a spray sealant layer.  They really don't need it but if you do, you will need an isolation layer or two of Kamar Varnish and then your choice of a final coat, matte, satin or gloss spray.  Always give the layers time to dry before adding another spray.  All choices give a different look.  

 

 

As always, it is my pleasure and privilege to be on this blog.  I'll back in February with something new.  Follow me on FBK and Nancy Curry Art and  IG at Nancy Curry Art or browse my galleries on my site. I'll have a sale coming up shortly so sign up here if you want notice (very low volume).

Merrily On High,

xoxo

Nancy