PRESSED LEAVES

I was happy to see one of my stencils, 6" x 6" Pressed Leaves, used here today; MaryBeth Shaw chose it, along with other StencilGirl stencils, for developing that impressive, multi-layered art journal page.  

6" x 6" Pressed Leaves

Happy New Year!  

Christmas Decorations made with Stencils

Altho Christmas greeting cards are the thrust of today's post, I need to add that these ideas also work as ways to decorate giftbags and to create gift-tags.

The first 3 cards below were made with the same cardstock that I described in my Dec. 15 post -- it's a sturdy cardstock with tiny embedded particles (perhaps ground mica) that reflect light, making a jazzy frame for any decoration to be added.

I buy most of my greeting card blanks from JamPaper.com.  This one measures just under 6"x 6"... and perfectly fits my  6"x 6" stencil.  And its corresponding envelope is exactly 6" x 6", which means there is a surcharge for mailing it.  I handle this problem by using two regular postal stamps.

Sturdy cardstock is important when the greeting card cover has to easily support coarse modeling paste mixed with silver metallic powder -- which is what I used in today's first 2 cards:

 

The card above was made with my 6"x 6" stencil BUDDING BRANCHES.

The above Christmas card was made with my 6"x 6" stencil Swaying Grasses.

The above card was made with part of my 9" x 12" stencil Queen Anne's Lace.

I created today's top 2 cards using an art spatula to spread coarse modeling paste (mixed with silver mica powder) thru the stencil openings.  After the paste dried, I added highlights with glitter glue.

My approach to the third card, made with a portion of Queen Anne's Lace, was to spray acrylic paint thru the stencil openings.  Since this stencil measures 9"x 12", I masked off portions of the stencil to keep them from showing.  The same finishing touch was used on this third Christmas card, altho you may have to click on the image to enlarge it, to better see the glitter glue.

Acrylic spray paint is available on store shelves, but I make my own, so I can mix custom colors.  (See the photo below.)  I buy spray bottles at drug stores (in the traveling supplies section); then I fill them with a mix of acrylic liquid paint, water and airbrush medium.  The ratio of water to acrylic liquid paint varies, depending on whether I want to end up with a heavy spray or a light one.  The amount of airbrush medium never varies -- it's always just a few drops per spray bottle.  I clean the spray nozzles after each use.  But if they clog between uses, anyway, then I use rubbing alcohol to clear them.

Because the dark bronze metallic cardstock is just that -- very dark -- I sometimes line the insides of the cards with lightweight papers, cut to fit.  

What the inside of my cards looks like, after the light paper is added.

At times, I skip that step and, instead, use white markers or pens to fill out the inside of these greeting cards.

Today's last Christmas card was made with my 4"x 4" Fern Fronds Silhouette Mini Stencil:

I made this final card by spreading heavy-body metallic silver acrylic paint across the stencil, on a substrate of dark blue paper.  Once the paint dried, I cut out the image with decorative Friskar scissors.  After gluing this to a white greeting card blank with an extra-strong gluestick, I outlined it with glitter glue.  I also used glitter on the red center of the candle's flame.  

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More Christmas Cards

Today's post starts with this Christmas card -- 

The above Christmas card was created with Winter Berries Mask; I used it both in creating the background as well as decorating the textured foil rectabngle that forms the pillar candle.

Winter Berries Mask itself looks like this --

The next card in today's post took more time to develop.

First, I gathered prints I'd made with two 6" x 6" stencils --  Marbles 6 stencil and Sprigs.

Secondly, copying an idea from a commercial greeting card, I drew three Magi on scrap paper.

My third step was to cut out each of the scrap paper figures.  One at a time, I used these as patterns -- I placed them over the stencil-prints and traced around their edges with colored pencils that matched the colors that had been used in printing them.  (Matching colors make the tracing lines look less obvious.)

Next, I used fine-detail scissors to cut out the shapes of the Magi from the stencil-prints.

I glued them to the cover of a greeting card blank to make the card below --

The far-left and far-right Magi were cut from prints made with 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs --

And the center Magi was cut from a print made using 6" x 6" Marbles 6 stencil...

The star was a freehand cut-out.  Or you can join StencilClub and buy the star-themed 3-part stencil set by Mary C. Nasser, which came out August 2017.

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More Giftbags

Today's first art sample is a giftbag decorated with a print on red foil cardstock, made with silver metallic acrylic paint and my 4" x 4" stencil Fern Fronds Silhouette Stencil Mini.

After using my Pioneer brand Embellishment Gluestick to add this cut-out to the white giftbag, I added a flourish using Rangers Industries' glitter glue.  Below is an enlargement showing part of the flourish.

Altho it's not visible in the next two photos below, I used the same glitter glue to add similar flourish lines around the trees--

The giftbag above features cut-outs from prints made with my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs* and (the bottom layer of the tree) Sassy Spray*, another 6" x 6" stencil.  And the glue glitter embellished giftbag below features a cut-out from a print I made on gold and white marbled paper, using my 6" x 6" stencil Mimosa 6, and I like to think this pattern makes a good Christmas tree!

Above:  another giftbag decorated with a print made with silver metallic acrylic paint and my 4" x 4" stencil Fern Fronds Silhouette Stencil Mini.

*In their entirety, Sprigs and Sassy Spray look like this:

Sprigs

Sassy Spray

Thanks for stopping here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Gifts!

Want an idea for a Christmas or Hanukkah gift?  Feast your eyes on these shoes decorated by photographer Kim Ross!  In this gift for her sister-in-law, Kim used acrylic paints and included prints made with my 6" x 6" Cats stencil.  Feel free to click on the photo below to enlarge it and better see details....   

And gifts mean giftbags -- the easy way to giftwrap!

Above:  a collaged giftbag, featuring a star cut from a print made with 6" x 6" stencils Sprigs and Trivet A.  Below is a close-up:

Above:  a collaged giftbag created with a cut-out from a print made using Quilted Flower Garden.  The center of each flower has been embellished with red glitter glue (Rangers Industries.)  Clicking on the photo above, you can better see details.

Below:  two photos of a collaged giftbag made with a cut-out from a stencil-print on gold metallic giftwrap paper using Tiger Lily, a 6" x 6" stencil.  The first photo shows the bag in its entirety.  The second shows a close-up taken from a side view to show off the gold metallic giftwrap under the acrylic paints.

Today's final giftbag is one of my favorites because it's collage paper is cut from another print on gold metallic giftwrap paper.  This time, I used my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Mask to make the print.  I especially like the way this pattern mimics garland around the tree.  The trunk is cut from paper printed with my 6" x 6" stencil Sprigs.

Many thanks for taking time to come here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

More Trees!

Continuing the theme of using my brand-new tree-celebrating stencil -- available here -- on creative backgrounds, today's post starts with two of these prints made on old calendar pages:

Moving on to other backgrounds ...

Note:  the art sample above was made first with the new stencil pointing downward.  Atop that layer, I painted another layer, this time with the trees pointing upward.

Above:  the goal of this print was to work toward an abstract image of some kind.

Thanks for stopping here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start  here.

Full-Sized 9" x 12" Stencil Prints with Detailed Close-ups

Today's post returns to the theme that I started in my November 16 post announcing the release of my newest 9" x 12" stencil, a celebration of trees shown here.

It's a simple theme -- merely a display of full-size prints on wild-and-crazy backgrounds; and, below each full-sized print, a close-up or two of areas to better show details.  Acrylic paints were what I used in every piece.  Backgrounds were created with a variety of techniques and foregrounds were made with sponge brayers loaded with heavy-body acrylics.

Note:  the two photos directly above show a background that I'd created with my 9" x 12" Winter Berries mask.

More to come in future posts -- to show the amazing difference between prints when a wide variety of backgrounds are used.

Thank you for taking time to visit my blog today!

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Experimenting with my Newest StencilGirl Stencil

Here you can see my just-released 9" x 12" stencil, designed to celebrate the glory of creation, standing in a forest or park and looking up.

Today I'm showing a sequence of photos that show my adventure in 3-dimensional art, using this stencil.

Below, you can see this stencil's already stained green from earlier adventures.  With masking tape, I've secured it to a red background -- a sheet of Yupo that had been previously printed with older stencils.  Across the top, I've used an art spatula to generously deposit a line of heavy gloss gel medium.  Above that line is a partial view of the advertising sheet of plastic that I'll use as a spreading tool.

Below:  With that plastic spreader, I've smoothed a layer of gel downward across the stencil and its pre-painted background Yupo.  

Above, you can see what resulted when I lifted off the stencil. Because I've used gel medium, it appears as a near-white layer, but after drying, it will be transparent because I used gloss gel.  I could have used matte gel, which contains a small amount of ground marble to dim its sheen.  Matte gel also moves toward transparency as it dries, but it never becomes as clear as gloss gel. 

In the upper right corner you can now see the earlier imprint that I'd made using M & Y, one of my 4" x 4" mini-stencils.  That imprint will disappear as I move forward in my art experiment, so I'm just ignoring it.  But for the time being, it's visible in the two close-ups below.  The close-ups show details in the gel once it's dried.  It's clear, so the way to show it is to let it reflect light.

Next, below, you can see my black Sumi ink and a sponge brush.

Above: I've started to spread the ink generously across the 3-dimensional gel, now that the gel has thoroughly dried.

 Below are two close-ups showing the way the black ink pools in textured areas --

Below:  With a rag, I've started to rub ink from some of the higher-level areas.  Altho it appears as if I've already added metallic gold, I haven't yet.  The pale gold area is reflection of light.

Now, I've decided to shift from ink to water-soluble solids.  First, I've rubbed watercolor pencils over the raised areas of the 3-dimensional surface....

Second, I've switched to Caran d'ache watercolor crayon:

Above:  My next step has been to spread a pale metallic gold across the raised areas, using a Shiva stick, as shown both above and below --  

Above, I have started to rub off some of the excess from the waxy Shiva stick.

Below is a close-up shot of the project as it has reached this stage of development.

I haven't finished this project yet, since the full-view shot doesn't please me as much as the detailed area above.  

I may let this piece rest while I move on to other art adventures.  Later when I come back to it with "new eyes," I'll continue my experiments.

Thanks for visiting here today!

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.