Blog: Mixed Media

Stencil Blog Hop – Elephant March Stencil

NatKalbachStencilbloghop

 

Welcome to my 7th Stencil  Blog Hop! This time I invited 4 wonderful artist friends to hop along with me and show case my StencilGirl Products Elephant March Stencil. It is a 9×12 inch stencil.

NathalieKalbach_Elephant

 

And I give away one Elephant March Stencil! Comment here for an entry into this giveaway! And if you also comment on all the other listed blogs I will  give you an entry into the giveaway for each blog you comment on–how cool is that! You have five chances to win it. Leave a comment on each of the listed blogs and on my blog  and let us know how you like the projects and I will pick randomly one lucky winner. You have time to comment till September 18, 2013 – midnight EST.

 Edited on September 23,2013: Congratulations Sharon Johnson – you win the Elephant March Stencil. Please contact me by October 10th, 2013 with your snail mail addy. -Nat

Here are my friends joining me this time :

Carolyn Dube wonderful artist and Stencil addict…give her a stencil and she does magic

Maria McGuire rocks the StencilGirl Talk blog and all kinds of beautiful projects

Marsha Valk Marsha my sweet and talented friend from the Netherlands

Jessica Sporn an amazing Mixed Media Artist and Illustrator who is soon an almost neighbor of mine ;)

 

WHY an elephant Stencil? I love elephants and we have a lot of family connections with elephants! My uncle Gerd used to work as a zoo keeper at the zoo in Wuppertal. His stories of the elephants always fascinated me the most. And as a little child my grandaunt Margot used to tell me the story of the Tuffi a female circus elephant who jumped out the famous monorail in Wuppertal into the river in 1950 (no elephant seriously hurt!). And I loved all kinds of stories elephant related…and Elephants can be represent so many things..memory, strength,  mental strength, fun, intelligence. Need more reasons or an elephant stencil? Nope- LOL- ok…let’s continue on

Check out some samples here:

Bildschirmfoto 2013-09-03 um 19.11.52

Here is what I created for today:

NatKalbachHappy01

Loved working on this big canvas and applying layered stencils and collage elements and then spray paint – there is a lot of texture on this canvas.

NatKalbachHappy02

 

So much fun how different all the elephants turned out

NatKalbachHappy03

 

They make me really happy

NatKalbachHappy04

Here are the supplies I used:

nSupplies

Now hop on over to my friends and check what they did and comment for some changes to win the stencil :)

Carolyn Dube

Maria McGuire

Marsha Valk

Jessica Sporn

Have a wonderful day

hugs

nat


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Comments (71)

  • Miriam

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    Love this elepant ,it is can be customed my iphone case ,it is magic.

    Reply

  • Elina

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    Love this elephant! I would love to use it on fabric – it would make a plain T shirt very special!

    Reply

  • Carmen Lucero

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    The colors you used on the stencil are fab!! Just like indian fabric. Thanks for the chance!

    Carmen L

    Reply

  • Karen

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    Beautiful, elephants are my favorite animals. I have a collection.
    Thanks for the give aways.
    Karen
    matthews.karen22@gmail.com

    Reply

  • Rachel Parris

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    I am such an elephant fan! I love your stencil and would, of course, love to win it.

    Reply

  • Betti Zucker

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    Elephants! Wow! Wonderful! and Indian print ones…. fabulous

    Reply

  • Pattyb

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    love all of the different design elements in your elephant stencil! Makes it so versatile! Thanks for posting your work….love it! So hope you are enjoying your new home!!!!! and WELCOME HOME!!!! and oh yeah…thanks for a chance to win your stencil!

    Reply

  • susan reiser

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    My favorite stencil yet! Maybe I’ll win something!, gfeat work, beautiful.

    Reply

  • Andrene

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    I love all the designs within the elephant – great for dimension and texture! Another awesome stencil.

    Reply

  • marykay

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    love this. love the morrocon feel and beauty of this piece. great stencil. I’d love to have it. thanks for showing us all this

    Reply

  • Cat

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    Fabulous stencil. I love the elephant!

    Reply

  • Cindy J, Holland

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    Thank you for that wonderful opportunity to win that great stencil! I like elephants, and this one is very detailed. That’s what I like most about it.

    Reply

  • Gunvor

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    Love the stencil. Like you say, elephants are symbols for soo many things. And your canvas is absolutely fabulous! I love the bright colours and the contrasting dark back ground that looks almost like a starry night! BTW, my German teacher in High School (Frau Brauer) often told us about the Zoo in Wuppertal and the elephants so it’s a small world ;)

    Reply

  • Pat Upton

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    I really love your elephants! Wonderful!

    Reply

  • Janis in ID

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    Love your project. The raised trunk just exudes so much joy!!
    How interesting abt your family’s connection with elephants. TFS!
    <3 J

    jwoolbright at gmail dot com

    Reply

  • Renee G

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    I love your elephant stencil. I too have an affinity for elephants. They seem so majestic. I hope you make a few more. Thank you

    Reply

  • Melissa

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    This stencil has my mind whirling with ideas

    Reply

  • Gillian Pearce

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    I’m really surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed everyone’s use of this stencil. I’m not normally that keen on animals but this stencil seems to work really, really well.

    Reply

  • Jean

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    Love, love, love the elephant stencil! Love the way you have used it. Big fan of elephants–Roll Tide!

    Reply

  • ionabunny

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    Great colours, great sentiment, great elephant

    Reply

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Necessary Ingredients in Living or Art Journal Page

NathalieKalbach_Fantasy01

 

I played a bit with collaging the background and using my Elephant and Arabesque Stencil.

NathalieKalbach_Fantasy02

 

I love how much texture and interesting effects the collaged flowers, die cuts, Fragments, Aged Embossing Powder and other elements added to my spray painted background and elephant.

NathalieKalbach_Fantasy03

The journaling says: Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it is a way of looking at life through the wrong way of a telescope. (Dr. Seuss)

nSupplies

I hope you have a lovely day!
hugs


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Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys – Canvas

NathalieKalbach_Circus01

 

is a saying that I really love..it is basically saying “not my problem” and often times the monkeys definitely are not mine ;) As you can see I used my Elephant Stencil for Stencil Girl Products – which just makes me happy. Also lots of spraying and layering on the background

NathalieKalbach_Circus02

 

with a finish of Liquitex Pouring Medium which gives it a nice glass like finish. Love the stuff.

nSupplies

have a gorgeous day without any monkey business ;)

hugs

nat

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Stencil Blog Hop – What’s The Point Stencil

NatKalbachStencilbloghop

 

Welcome to my 6th Stencil  Blog Hop! This time I invited 5 wonderful artist friends to hop along with me and show case my StencilGirl Product What’s The Point Stencil. It is a 9×12 inch stencil.

WhatsthepointKalbach

 

And I give away one What’s The Point Stencil! Comment here for an entry into this giveaway! And if you also comment on all the other listed blogs I will  give you an entry into the giveaway for each blog you comment on–how cool is that! You have six chances to win it. Leave a comment on each of the listed blogs and on my blog  and let us know how you like the projects and I will pick randomly one lucky winner. You have time to comment till September 3, 2013 – midnight EST.

 Edited on September 23, 2013: Congratulations to Jean A Marmo- you win the stencil- please contact me till October 10, 2013 with your snail mail addy so I can have this send out to you :) – Nat

Here are my friends joining me this time :

Jamie Dougherty: my wonderful mixed media artist friend from California- check also out her latest painted skateboards…too die for!

Carolyn Dube: who rocked the StandUp Bass last week already!

Andrea Gomoll: my super talented German friend from Berlin – we taught and organized a couple workshops together and she is one of my old Craft Mafia Gang Memberfriends;)

Marsha Valk: from The Netherlands who does AMAZING projects and photos and who I know pretty long now too :)

Maria McGuire: Let’s see what this talented lady does this week- she always surprises me with out of the box and cool projects!!!

 

What’s the point about this stencil? Man…there is never enough dots- LOL. I love dots – and I use them all the time to tie things together – and I love the possibility of a nice background with it.  Check out some samples here:

Bildschirmfoto 2013-08-14 um 16.25.12

 

Here is what I created for today:

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep01

 

I played a bit in my art journal -first creating a background with PanPastels.

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep02

 

Then I placed the stencil on top of the panpastel background and used an eraser through the stencil.

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep03

 

Here you can see how this erased the panpastel through the stencil. I fixated the background afterwards.

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep04

 

Then I added some old sewing pattern paper on top here and there and blended that in with some acrylic inks- as you can see..this lets the dots still shine through.

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep05

 

After spicing it up a bit here and there with stamps I used some Heavy Body Paint and applied this for texture over the Stencil too.

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep06

 

So much fun to layer it with different media to get some depth on an art journal page

NathalieKalbach_Whatsthep07

 

Here are the supplies I used:

nSupplies

Now hop on over to my friends and check what they did and comment for some changes to win the stencil :)

Jamie Dougherty

Carolyn Dube

Andrea Gomoll

Marsha Valk

Maria McGuire

 

Have a wonderful day

hugs

nat


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Comments (71)

  • Susan Brannon

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    So simple..and so cool..lots of uses..Thanks!

    Reply

  • Nancy Lee

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    This is really a super stencil. Love your piece.

    Reply

  • Tricia

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    Great project, Nat – love this stencil and the colors!

    Reply

  • Marilyn Kaye

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    Love the layering you created with your stencil. The bright colors are right up my alley!

    Reply

  • JudyG

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    I agree! There are never enough dots!

    Reply

  • Barbara I.

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    Wow! I so LOVE this stencil. Thanks for a chance to win it and for sharing how you used it to create your journal page. Awesome techniques. I like the use of the Heavy Body Paint. Crossing my fingers!

    Reply

  • angi eharis

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    love these circles, especially everything you did with them! tx for the chance to win them, aloha, angi in hana

    Reply

  • Nancy Sapp

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    Nat – Would LOVE to win 1 of your stencils!! And we can never have enough DOTS in our lives!

    DOTS of love!
    Grandma Nancy Sapp

    Reply

  • Cat

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    I love the way you used the What’s the Point stencil on your journal page! And, the color are awesome! Now I have to own this one as well. If you keep introducing me to more stencils, it’s going to start taking a serious bite out of my paycheck!.

    Reply

  • Ivonne

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    Super!

    Reply

  • Kathy

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    Love the bright colors! Question: did you use fixative to set the Pan Pastels before adding paint? I rarely incorporate Pan Pastels because of the mess, although I love them. I’m inspired to use them!

    Reply

  • Trena in Naperville

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    Very cool design Nathalie! Love your colors and how to you add splashes of color.

    Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

    Reply

  • Jeannette

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    Sorry for THE weird comment. Autocomplete made THE stringent words …

    Reply

  • Jeannette van Dongen

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    Love THE work you did urinegewogen thuis stencil! Hope to win one ….

    Reply

  • Jeannette van Dongen

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    Love THE work you did urinegewogen thuis stencil! Hope to win one ….

    Reply

  • Gillian Pearce

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    Love the look of that super heavy body paint. I’ve never seen it before. Looks perfect for stencils.

    Reply

  • ina

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    I’m just starting out with stencils. Love this one!

    Reply

  • Lissa

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    Love it! You can never have enough colors or stencils!

    Reply

  • Lissa

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    Love it! You can never have enough colors or stencils!

    Reply

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Can do…but don’t have to!

or in German: Kann ich…muss ich aber nicht. A theme that I should take more serious sometimes  ;)

NathalieKalbach_KannIch01

 

I had heaps of fun with this one :)

NathalieKalbach_KannIch02

 

The stamp set I found again while sorting through my studio – they were the first stamps I created back then for my Product Line eMOTions for the french company Sultane. I still love them.

Here is the whole list of supplies I used.

nSupplies

Have a great day :)

Nat

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Fragmented II or Hamburg*End(si)e Canvas

This is my favorite canvas that I created for the exhibition. Actually not only for the exhibition. I created it already with a place to hang it in my mind in our new home in Jersey City. It is a wall that is in the middle of our dining and living room – there is a little fireplace in the wall. So the plan is to hang this canvas on one side and make another one the same size  70x80cm (27.5×31.5 inches) – or the other side of the wall but with a Jersey City or NYC theme- have to see ;). mmmh- now I wonder if that is a size I can get in the States- better inquire – LOL .

NathalieKalbach_HHMax01

Again symbols, landmarks and typical Hamburg-related things on this canvas.

NathalieKalbach_HHMax02

 

I painted with Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paints, Markers and Spray Paints.

NathalieKalbach_HHMax03

 

After this canvas I am almost striving to do even bigger canvases…but then there is the question, where to hang it – LOL.

Have a colorful day today :)

nat

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Arabesque or…One more new Stencil with StencilGirl Products

NathalieKalbach_ArabesqueAJ01

 

Ready for one more new stencil? My new 9×12 inch Arabesque Stencil that I designed for StencilGirl Products is in the house :)

NathalieKalbach_Arabesque

 

I love background stencils- and I wanted one that is swirly but also a bit grungy…and this is what I came up with.

NathalieKalbach_ArabesqueAJ02

 

I had lot’s of fun turning this into a little spanish themed art journal page while teaching in Madrid :)

nSupplies

huge hugs

Nat

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Hamburg*End(Si)e or…my very first exhibition

Hamburgendsie

 

So last friday was the day of my first exhibition. If you are a regular reader of my blog and newsletter you know ow long it took me to do this and how scared and excited I was about the whole thing :) For the first time showing a bigger amount of my art work to friends and other people who have nothing to do with Mixed Media usually. Also most of my friends never really saw or got what I am doing anyway – not that they are not interested  – they just couldn’t grasp the concept ;)

Let me say right away – IT WAS AWESOME! – so you are done reading, if that is all you want to know – LOL – for the rest…let’s get into the details why it was one really cool experience!

1. Creating Process

NatKalbach_Ausstellung07

 

Once I had the theme of the Exhibition in my head – a mixture between all Hamburg-Related things -mixed with a good bye twist – I had ideas for more canvases to create. I spent many days from early morning till late night in my studio painting and it was awesome. I loved working with my favorite techniques – and as I said many times before- if you master the technique it is quite easy to just let creativity flow.

NatKalbach_Ausstellung03

 

My obstacles were of other nature …painting on canvases that are bigger than my usual surfaces…

NatKalbach_Ausstellung04

 

and I tackled that too and I loved it. I want to do more of those!

NatKalbach_Ausstellung06

 

I am ready for it ;)

2. Preparing the Exhibition

NatKalbach_Ausstellung05

 

It was pretty amazing how much work even in such a small exhibition goes – I never really thought about it…see it is all a learning process for me. Gathering the artwork which I thought would fit best for the rooms and theme…

NatKalbach_Ausstellung10

 

planning out in which rooms which art work can hang …trying to take into account space, wall size, windows and light – I didn’t do the best job on the light in one room as at a certain point the light was glaring on the pictures distracting the view a bit- but oh well…that is why you do your first exhibition in a small and familiar place then ;)

NatKalbach_Ausstellung12

 

The hardest while preparing…coming up with names and …prices…the never ending discussion for an artist how to price your work. I was told I priced it to low by all of the people at the exhibition…I also talked a long time at the exhibition to a friend who is working at the Art Academy here in  Hamburg and she stated that in her experience it is mostly the women that have a problem pricing their art work, while the guys just do it. She has seen rows and rows of art students and it is always the same issue. Interesting…why is that? Well…I guess I fulfill the norm here ;)

NatKalbach_Ausstellung02

 

Transporting and packing the artwork…some are super easy, some are causing problems because of fragility. I also learned that huge canvases do not fit in a smart car…and I also learned that carrying a huge canvases for half an hour in about 90 Fahrenheit (32 C)  is quite straining…Note to myself: ASK friends for help next time ;) On the other hand – carrying canvases around in a bag and having strangers ask you if they can take a look to hear them saying “Oh that is so cool, where did you buy that?” is also pretty fun…

NatKalbach_Ausstellung11

 

Hanging the work…it is good if you have a friend who is 6.76 feet tall (2.06m) – you do not need a ladder and hanging stuff is a breeze ;)

3. The Exhibition

NatKalbach_Ausstellung13

 

It was the hottest day ever and the last day of the school vacation – so only 1/3 of the people we invited came – it was small but yet wonderful . Sorry for not many pictures of the exhibition and people itself – I was way to busy and excited to take any…

It was special to show my work and the coolest part was hearing what others thought of my work, what they saw, what they liked (very different tastes- so fun to notice that once again ;) )

NatKalbach_Ausstellung15

 

I loved when they discovered the tiniest details, asked questions and told me what they thought or felt seeing a certain canvas.

NatKalbach_Ausstellung16

 

And after a while I started relaxing too and joining the party that formed on the balcony later that evening when it got a bit cooler outside when the sun started to go down

NatKalbach_Ausstellung14

 

and we even got a nice firework to see to top off the exhibition :) What a great way to say an early good bye to Hamburg -even though we won’t move for another five weeks ;)

NatKalbach_Ausstellung09

 

4. Conclusion

It was awesome. It was special for me and I am sure I will always remember this first intimate moment showcasing my work life. I had the feeling people liked my work and I even sold five canvases. I am stoked to know that four of them will be hanging in three different law offices throughout Hamburg (St. Pauli, Eimsbüttel and Altona). I am so giddy about it -I wanna go to all of them and look at them there- LOL. I would absolutely do it again and I hope there will be a chance to do so in my new home one day too :)

5. Thank You

Thanks to Klingner & Kollegen who invited me and made it possible to exhibit my work, to Liquitex for the support with their awesome paint media, to my wonderful readers that kept me going with my first exhibition, my awesome husband without whom this whole art adventure would have never started, my friend Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for her pushing and brain picking sessions and to all those that came to the exhibition on a very hot and murky day and who made me a really happy trooper. Thanks to A. to whom I sold my first two canvases – wow- that was so cool! Thank you!

Huge hugs

Nat

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Stencil Blog Hop – Crackle

NatKalbachStencilbloghop

 

Welcome to my third Stencil  Blog Hop! This time I invited five wonderful artist friends to hop along with me and show case my Stencil Girl Products Crackle Stencil – size 9 x 12 inches.

NathalieKalbach_CrackleStencil

 

And I give away one Crackle Stencil!Comment here for an entry into this giveaway! And if you also comment on all the other listed blogs I will  give you an entry into the giveaway for each blog you comment on–how cool is that! You have six chances to win it. Leave a comment on each of the listed blogs and on my blog  and let us know how you like the projects and I will pick randomly one lucky winner. You have time to comment till August 13, 2013 – midnight EST.

Edited on August 14, 2013: The winner is Neija, Congratulations. Neija, please email me with your postal address so I can get this stencil sent out to you :) , Nat

 

Here are my friends joining me:

Carmen Sanchez – aka Cuchy : Cuchy who lives in Madrid and I have been organizing our Art Mesa Mixed Media event in Spain for the third year already and I do love her as a friend and super talented artist too.

Cat Scanlon : one of my oldest artist friends who has released lots of wonderful products lately and wrote two amazing books on Mixed Media in the past too.

Marjie Kemper : Who does stunning work and blew me away already last week when she posted her take on my Circuit Stencil

Louise Nelson : My friend from Australia who has a stunning style in scrapbooking – and who has a wonderful soul too!

Maria Mc Guire: super talented and an ongoing never ending source of ideas and inspiration who also runs the Stencil Girl Talk Blog .

 

When I was thinking about my stencil designs – I thought about the stencils that I would love to own – and the Crackle stencil idea has been in my head forever! I wanted the closest possible pattern to real crackle effects and also in smaller sized cracks or bigger ones- so that is why there the stencil is 9×12 inch – which gives you lots of options.

Check out some samples here:

Bildschirmfoto 2013-08-04 um 10.48.05

 

Here is what I created for today:

NatKalbach_Tapetenwechsel

I created these three canvases for the hallway of the place where my exhibition took place last week. The writing is from a German song by Hildegard Knef and it could be translated into:

“I need a change of scenery”, said the birch tree and set off at the crack of dawn

NatKalbach_Tapetenwechsel02

 

I used the Crackle stencil throughout those canvases in it’s most simple use – with some Liquitex Modeling Paste spread over.

NatKalbach_Tapetenwechsel03

I love the simple texture effect you can archive with it. I had used my What’s The Point Stencil underneath with some heavy gesso directly on the canvas, then spray painted with Liquitex Professional Spraypaint, added the texture with the Crackle Stencil and applied a birch tree panel, some moss and a sprayed tree branch to the canvases.

NatKalbach_Tapetenwechsel04

Here are the supplies I used:

nSupplies


Now hop on over to my friends and check what they did and comment for some changes to win the stencil :)

Carmen Sanchez 

Cat Scanlon

Marjie Kemper

Louise Nelson

Maria Mc Guire

Have Fun

Nat

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Comments (108)

  • Debbie Sherman

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    Love this stencil!! Your project is gorgeous as always!

    Reply

  • Gunvor

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    Thanks for another blog hop and more versatile stencils! I love this one – soo cool!

    Reply

  • cheryl

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    Great stencil. Love how you used it. So much better than crackle paste which often doesn’t work. thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  • Barbara K

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    This is a great stencil. Love the texture you can create with it!
    Thanks for sharing and thanks for the give-away!

    Reply

  • tami Howse

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    This is one of the coolest stencil designs. Love it! Fondly, Tami

    Reply

  • Barbara I.

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    What an awesome stencil you created. I can imagine so many uses for it. Thanks for sharing your art with us and for the inspiration. And also for this blog hop and the giveaway. I’d love to win. Crossing my fingers!

    Reply

  • Deleted User

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    Awww! stunning artistic signs…love the moss and all the natural way used…Thanks for the opportunity, Nat.

    Reply

  • June H

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    Great project! Love the stencil!!

    Reply

  • Fern Edwards

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    Very cool stencil and project!

    Reply

  • sandra

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    Great stencil, would love to give it a go and try some of these great techniques.

    Reply

  • md_gawain

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    Me ha encantado el trabajo que has hecho con este stancil.

    Reply

  • Audrey Mislan

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    Love the crackle stencil. It can be used so many different ways. Can’t wait to get one to play with

    Reply

  • marie

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    oh!la!!!!!!!!la!!!!!!!!!!!! j aime j’aime j aime !!

    voilà exactement le stencil que je cherchais pour mes travaux artistique( ils ne sont pas sur mon blog)

    et que de merveilleuses creations

    bravo!!

    Reply

  • Carmen Lucero

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    So happy you designed some stencils, Nath! The best ideas come from within! Thanks for the chance to win it!!

    Carmen L

    Reply

  • Susan Schultheis

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    Great stencils, N! You project is fun and I am glad you translated for us.

    Reply

  • Jorja M

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    What an awesome stencil…!!!

    Reply

  • Kate

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    Awesome crackle stencil! I love the texture you have created with this.

    Reply

  • Renee G

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    I love this crackle stencil !

    Reply

  • ลиqεŁล

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    Me ha encantado el fondo!! y el musgo le da un toque natural increible!!! Espero tener suerte con el stencil, ya que me quedé sin él en el curso ;) besitos

    Reply

  • Helen Markee

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    I love the look of the stencil

    Reply

  • Juliette

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    I love this stencil, these 3 canvases are amazing, love the colors and the moss too!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    Woo hoo…enter me to win this cool new stencil please Nat!

    Reply

  • Leslie McNeil

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    lovely! i think this crackle stencil is so versatile.

    Reply

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