Stenciling Art Journal Pages

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Stencils have never really thrilled me; I’ve never believed I knew how to use them. While experimenting this weekend, I discovered what I’d missed–a simple, effective stencil technique that makes great art journal pages or, trimmed down and layered on … Continue reading →

Saturday Surprise: A Gift for You

Saturdays are play time on my blog. Today’s creativity-boost sites are about art journaling, because I’ve been having fun making new journal pages and postcards.

Stencils, tissue, and iridescent ink really give this page a deep-space look. Stencils from Stencil Girl.

I’m exploring the joys of tissue paper and collage. Watch iHanna making the most of tissue paper by painting it.  She also has a tutorial on making paper cloth. She uses a lot of color, and makes it bright and beautiful.

And if you want to get in on iHanna’s Spring Postcard Swap, join now, the deadline for signing up is March 24. I’m doing it again this year, and each postcard will be a wildly different one.

Some of those postcards will be using stencils, now that I know some secrets about stenciling. For months I’ve wished I could love stencils more. I have some interesting stencils, but I didn’t really know how to use them in art journaling. Part of my problem was that I did a lot of wall stenciling in the 80s (remember all those vines twining around the top of the walls? Yeah, I did that.

And today’s stencils are much more creative and wilder than ever before.

Denim, Titan Buff and gold are favorite color combinations for me. I like the color-on-color stencil I placed and sponged down in the upper left.

Art Instigator (and previous guest poster, writing about extreme self-care) Glenda Waterworth stepped up when I expressed my lack of skill. Glenda is the owner of the UK-based online store Chocolate Baroque–a store that designs and sells unmounted rubber stamps and a host of other products to help your creative urges.

Glenda created a how-to-stencil download for her website. I asked her to please give me some tips so I could enjoy stencils more. As she usually does, Glenda leaped ahead and made me (and you!) an incredible offer.

At the moment, the stencil how-to download comes free with a purchase, but Glenda is making the how-to a gift for readers of my blog.  It contains how-tos, tips, and beautiful examples of cards that Glenda made with stencils and a variety of techniques and materials.  There’s a coupon code so you can download the how-to information  for free until March 17.

All you need to do is go visit Chocolate Baroque, add the Stencil Inspiration leaflet to your cart, then enter coupon code QC3  in the coupon box which you will see on the shopping cart page or on the checkout page.

You will need to register on the website to purchase a product, even a free one, but new accounts are approved automatically so there’s no delays. And no shipping, because it’s a download. Instant stencil gratification!

Thanks so much to Glenda for sharing so generously for the joy of creativity! If you are a stencil lover, leave a link to your stencil work in the comments.

Have a great creative weekend!

--Quinn McDonald thrills in the generosity of creative people.

Stencil Play

Stencils are a simple and interesting way to add a layer to a journal page. But they can do a lot more. Used with different colors, stencils set a theme, create a pattern, help colors blend in interesting ways. They can also be used as a resist.

I love this stencil of numbers. I have another one, too, with numbers as a positive image. Both are from The Crafter’s Workshop.

In this straightforward use of this number stencil, I put the stencil down on a blank sheet of paper and sprayed inks onto the stencil, let the paper absorb the ink and removed (and cleaned) the stencil. In this case, the stencil acted as a resist against the white watercolor paper.

I then sprayed the paper first, then put the stencil down and sprayed over the first color. Blending two colors gives the numbers a softer look, but it also creates a background for anything having to do with measurement, counting, or money.

Collage is my favorite medium, so I used both the positive and negative stencils, created some gel-transfer butterflies, then collaged some “magic words” from the box of interesting words I keep. Using the words as major focal point, I discovered a John Ciardi poem fragment that used those words.

You can  create pieces of paper that suit you, no need to torture yourself looking up poems. I had to memorize hundreds of poems in school, many of which are stuck in my brain and surface randomly.

I wrote the poems between the word blocks. While I like the mix of words and numbers, this piece seems a bit busy to me. The gel-transfer butterflies are interesting and I’ll make more of them.

Finally, my favorite collage of the series. Using color and geometry as the vocabulary, there are no words. There are some incongruous elements–Monsoon Papers, ribbon, and the pieces from a hole punch. The combination works. I could add words to it, but for right now, I’m satisfied.

–Quinn McDonald is a creativity coach who will be teaching One Sentence Journaling at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly, VA on June 22 and 23.

Stencil Altering

Stencils make great backgrounds on journal pages, collage, or fabric. Stencils can be used with spray ink or paint, pan pastels, or chalk. I have a bit of trouble using them with paint (the color slips under the stencil and smears), so I use spray inks.

While stencils work well and provide a lot of versatility, some of them create a problem. They are set in frames that shouldn’t be part of the stencil, but always wind up on the page.

This 6 x 6 TCW  (The Crafter’s Workshop) Stencil of a spirograph shows the edge on a 5 x 7 page. No matter how I turn it the frame is still on the page. The edge is useful, though. I use it to pick up the ink-sprayed stencil and make a positive print on another piece of watercolor paper.

While I love the incomplete, dots-and-dash look of the piece, the frame came out here, too, and the heaviness really takes away from the piece. (Yes, I should have purchased the larger version and there would have been no problem, but I did and there is.)

To alter the stencil, I took a pair of scissors and trimmed almost all of the edging off.

The upper left-hand corner still has the frame. Not only does it help stabilize this stencil, it also give me a handle to place the stencil steadily and evenly.

Now, the stencil is far more attractive on a page. I can adjust the corner frame to place it so it doesn’t show up on the page at all.

I’m careful when I choose stencils, looking to find those that don’t need or have a frame. (I just purchased two stencils with numbers–a positive and a negative, but that will be another post.) Sometimes the one I want has a frame, but it’s good to know it can be altered and put to good use.

—Quinn McDonald is a creativity coach and an art journaler. She’s also the author of Raw Art Journaling, Making Meaning, Making Art.

Sand Castle Journal Page

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Now that it’s summer, wouldn’t it be great to build a sand castle? Don’t want to get gritty? Build a castle in your journal instead, with ink and a stencil. Use it as a background, or work it into a … Continue reading →