Blog: Star Struck

Stencilbop Challenge Prompts 27 & 28

Here is your recap for Stencilbop prompts 27 and 28:

August 27 – Cut

It’s so much fun to use Stencils as a cutting template in your art journal. 

For this art journal spread I used my Star Struck  Stencil and traced it into my journal.

Then I cut the openings out of the paper with a craft knife…

…and mounted one of the Suminagashi papers that I printed a while ago behind it.

I really like the simple look of this. 

August 28 – Collage

Collage is such a classic artmaking technique. I wanted to combine it with the use of stencils.

For this art journal spread I used some spraypaint through my Santa Fe stencil and then traced some of the elements of the stencil onto an old letter that I had found in an antique store. 

I cut the pattern elements out and applied them- sometimes offset with a glue stick to the spraypainted pattern. 

Another fun and easy way to use stencils. 

Here are some of the supplies I used for these prompts:

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Love the fussy cutting with that stencil. Looks great and perfect for a unique page in an art journal or on a project.

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True Blue – Tania Ahmed

  

Happy Tuesday from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Tania Ahmed, sharing with us an awesome way to use my Star Struck stencil and Large Circle Jumble rubber stamps to decorate the cover of an art journal. Check out the video below to see Tania’s technique. This month’s theme is: True Blue – Blue is the color of honesty and serenity. It’s calming and has even been shown to promote healing. It reminds us of the water and the sky. Let’s slow things down this month and bask in the tranquility of the color blue.


Our theme this month was True Blue, and for us to use any of Nat’s new Stencil Girl designs which I had been looking forward to having a play with as soon as I saw the designs! Blue also happens to be one of my favourite colours and I use almost any excuse I can get to use it in my projects! :)

I had an art journal that I made last year in a workshop that I attended with Nat and her friend Birgit Koopsen which I still use to test new techniques. I still hadn’t made a cover for it, so I decided that it was about time that I decorated it.

I made a video showing how I decorated my art journal cover:

When I saw the Star Struck Stencil, I was immediately reminded of Japanese fabric and I knew that I wanted to create a print which looked like vintage cloth. I had an image of furoshiki wrapping (Japanese art of wrapping gifts and parcels with fabric) in mind and I set out to see how I could create a project as an homage to the technique.

I started by taping down a sheet of printer paper to the stencil and created a rubbing of the stencil using Faber Castell Gelatos. You can create rubbings using pencils, pastels, crayons, anything that you have in your stash! Experiment with different pressures and papers to see what effects you can get. I tried the technique on printer paper, cartridge paper and thick cardstock. The thinner the paper, the better impression you will get!

Printer paper

Cartridge paper

Heavy cardstock

Thank you so much for watching and reading and have a great day!


Thank you Tania! I loved watching how the stencil rubbing transformed – it really does remind me of the textiles I saw in Japan. You can find my Star Struck stencil and Valley Road stamp in my Online Shop. Here are some of the other products that Tania used:



Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

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Stenciled Umbrellas for a Rainy Day – DIY Play Date

Did you know you can stencil on an umbrella and turn it into a work of art? You can and it is a fun project. Kim and I got together on a sunny day to transform a couple umbrellas into something that will brighten any rainy day we encounter.

We chose white umbrellas as our “blank canvas” and some of Nat’s new stencil designs. We worked outside with acrylic spray paint (and proper protection – face mask) and each tried a different way to approach the project.

I began by painting my umbrella with heavy body paint to create a new background color.

I chose three different colors to alternate on the panels. This is a great way to make your umbrella any color you want.  BUT I learned the paint definitely stiffens the fabric and makes the umbrella hard to wrap up when you are all finished. I could almost not get the velcro tie around it in the end. Oops. It’s still doable, but tight.

Kim decided to spray paint directly on the fabric. She taped down the stencil and some paper as a mask. She began with my new Star Struck stencil and some blue paint.

The 9×12 stencils are a nice size to cover a large area with color and pattern.

She covered the top of 3 alternating panels with a couple colors of blue. The Star Struck stencil almost looks like umbrellas so it works nicely.

She then moved to the bottom to add more.

I chose my new Hamilton stencil – absolutely loving this pattern!!! I used a buff color on the blue panels.

I lined up the pattern and covered the whole panel with the design.

On some panels I used Hamilton and on others I used my new Van Vorst stencil – both are beautiful and delicate designs.

Here is my umbrella with the patterns. I might add more to the yellow panels – I chose a very subtle color for that one and it’s hard to see it once it dried.

Kim added green with my new Flower Maze stencil and just blended one pattern into the other.

Peekaboo :)

Looks great and all ready to brighten up a dreary day!

So you have lots of options when you start with a white umbrella. You could choose colors and coordinate it with your rain coat or rain boots or you could just aim to make something that makes you smile on a rainy day :)

You can find my new stencils in my shop here, as well as all my other products. Here are some of the supplies that we used:


 

Comments (4)

  • LindaLubovich

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    If you add textile medium to the acrylic paint you’ll avoid the stiffness you experienced when you base-coated your umbrella. Hi from San Jose.

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    • nathalie-kalbach

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      Great tip Linda, thank you! In this case on of the main problems was that I used heavy body paint which just made a too thick of a coating so that the string to tie it together became to short. Kim didn’t have the same problems using just spray paint.

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  • Sue Clarke

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    Clever and colorful…did you put anything on to preserve the paint…so it doesn’t run in the rain?

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

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      thank you Sue. Since Acrylic paint is water proof I did nothing else to it- it should be stay as is :)

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