Stencil Girl THE BOOK Blog Hop!

Here is project that didn't make it into the book.

Mod Squad, inspired by Seth Apter.

Supplies:

Cutting Mat and craft knife

Contact paper or Freezer paper, tape

Sharpie Marker

Acrylic paint, foam sponges or dauber tools, brushes

Stencils, rubber stamps

Canvas Panel

Gel Medium, glue brush

1. Tape the contact paper or freezer paper down to your cutting mat.

2. Using the Sharpie Marker, draw funky shapes in the middle of the contact paper. Be sure and leave a framework around the edges and don't allow the individual shapes to touch each other. 

3. Cut the shapes out from the background. Save both parts.

4. Use either the shapes or the background on top of interesting text pages and stencil over top of them using acrylic paint. You don't need to remove the backing from the contact paper. The stencil tool is a foam dauber.

5.  Place the mask on top of the canvas panel so that it is blocking out parts of the panel (I removed the sticky backing so it would lay flat, this part is optional depending on whether you want to use this mask again). Spread acrylic paint across a rubber stamp using your sponge and stamp on top of the masked area. Repeat several times to get desired look.

6. Cut out shapes that you previously painted and consider assembly options. Play with the pieces as though they are puzzle and figure out different ways to arrange them.

7. Collage the paper parts onto your substrate using Gel Medium. Continue to layer by alternating between stenciled areas (the x's) and collage parts. 

Monday's Blog Hop List

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

Prize: One lucky winner will receive Stencil Girl The Book with exclusive bookmark stencil and (3) 6"x5" stencils designed by Mary Beth Shaw.

Giveaway will close: Sunday, September 21st @ 11:59PM Central TIme

Viva Las Vegas & StencilGirl Blog Hop

Before we start, keep in mind that I was humming Viva Las Vegas the entire time I wrote this blog. Since it is now stuck in my brain, I thought it should also be stuck in yours. See how I am?

These are the stamps I got from Via Las Vegas. They were all on one sheet and I cut them apart, but I probably won't mount them, I tend to be comfortable just grabbing them without a block and they work just fine. The quality and depth of rubber is terrific; these are well made stamps.

I started  on a blank journal page, this is one I had done with left over paint from another project, I had simply brayered it onto the page and added the white dots at the bottom. So it was ready for embellishment.

First up, I added several pieces of collage from my hand painted stash. You can see that I used Cascading Leaves stencil and Words to Live By, gluing them both down with my trusty Uhu glue stick. 

I used the largest filigree stamp in the upper left corner. This is a really gorgeous stamp and would enhance any piece of art, I think I will be using it a lot. The other collage parts are from napkins plus a strip of Washi tape.

This shot shows another stencil, Half Moon Slant. This stencil is one of my go-to regulars - I love how it creates a linear yet also organic border and the black helped to balance the piece. I enhanced the napkin parts with my Posca Paint Pens. 

But it needed a little something, hey, what about a bird!?! And yes, that was the perfect touch, a songbird from the Songbirds stencil. I am really happy with this quirky little page, see how I snuck another word in......Forget, from the StoryTime stencil. It had been a rough week for me, so my little bird will hopefully help me move on to better things. 

Hope you enjoyed this quick little step out. To follow along on the Blog Hop, here is the list for today:

Blog Hop Order-Monday

StencilGirl Talk

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

DeeDee Catron

Glenda Tkalac

Viva Las VegaStamps!

Make sure you check back with StencilGirl Talk every day this week, so you can see all the projects. And be sure and leave your comments each day so you can be entered in the give away.

StencilGirl and Eileen Hull Inspiration Team Blog Hop

I met Eileen Hull through Maria through the internet, then finally in person at CHA this year. She is quite the dynamo, that girl has so much talent and energy she just blows my mind. And the things she designs!
At any rate, she sent me this Bird House, which is from a die cut she designed. The world of die cuts is intriguing to me and I can't even fathom how her brain must work since she designed this in a flat format yet it folds up to make something so darn cute. I used some painted paper to collage the birdhouse and the roof. Doing the roof I created a problem for myself (don't I always!?!?!?) when I folded it and the paper split. Uh, not what I had in mind

But since improvisation seems to be my middle name, I made it work and embellished the final project with my paint pens. All I need is a bird and I am good to go!

Next up are the rubber stamps Eileen sent. She has a good handle on what I like (!) because she picked this completely awesome set for me (thanks, Eileen!!) that I used on a journal page.

 

These stamps are super nice, excellent quality and I love the versatility. Here is my journal page before and after I added the stamped section.

I especially like how the stamp frames up my mystery handwriting. See, here's the thing......while it is ok in the "before" picture, I was bothered by the fact the writing was essentially the same size as the square/circle section, see what I mean? Not good design. By adding the 'frame', I think the "after" picture is more complete. I also added more stamping down at the bottom to give that area more weight.

Thanks, Eileen, for the chance to play with some of your toys, I like them a lot :)

Monday's Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Linda Cain

Mary Beth Shaw

Shelly Hickox

Eileen Hull

Amy Bowerman

GIVEAWAY

All comments left for the entire week August 18th - August 22nd on all blogs in the hop will be eligible for the giveaway. One comment per blog post. 

Comments close Sunday, August 24th @ 11:59PM Central Time.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday, August 26th.

Stencil Girl The Book

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After I wrote Stencil Girl, I kept thinking of more and more projects involving stencils, I swear, it is like I have a disease (slaps self in head). At any rate, here is one of my 'extra' projects. 

The Copper Button Keeper

inspired by my friend Leighanna Light's beautiful work which is in the book

Supplies:

Piece of Copper

Novacan Black Patina

Matt Medium

Stencil, foam dauber

Q-tip or foam brush

Small canvas

Gel Medium (for glue)

1. Assemble copper, canvas and a stencil. Brush a strong glue on top of the canvas and apply to the copper. Cut around the edges and then 'wrap' the canvas with the sheet of copper, folding carefully and applying glue as needed. Allow to dry.

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2. Use foam brush to apply Matt Medium (over the stencil) on the copper covered canvas. This must dry thoroughly before you proceed. Once it is dry, use a Q-tip or foam brush to apply Novacan over top the copper. The design you have created with the Matt Medium will remain copper colored and the rest of the copper will turn black. This happens quite quickly.

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3. Play with embellishing as desired. I used a pigment ink pad to stamp some text across the tarnished copper, then I glued some fancy buttons across the front and added a ribbon behind. I love the instant gratification of using the Novacan and I'm so grateful to Leighanna for introducing me to this cool product.

PanPastel Hop

What a thrill to be playing with PanPastels! LOVE these products, I've been using them for years and I simply never tire of their intense pigment. I use the pastels in encaustic work, on my journal pages and here, when trying to 'save' an ugly background.
Now, after me posting a couple of my 'mishaps',  you might be wondering why I have so many ugly backgrounds hanging around?
Good question. Sometimes I am convinced that every piece of art must go through an ugly stage. Or maybe that's just me. Plus, I experiment a lot and am often messing around with products in ways they were not intended to be used, mainly because I don't have an art degree so I honestly don't know what you are supposed to do with some products. Ahem.....Needless to say, I sometimes end up with yuck.  Here is a picture of the 'before' with just two stenciled portions.

This was one such piece. I can't even remember what I was doing, but it got super dark on the corners. And it was F-L-A-T.
Ugh.
So I decided to add my texture via Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels. Now keep in mind, this Ground is not really a texture product, it is more like a super toothy gesso that is used to prep a surface for working in pastel. Yeah, I even mis-use products that I have been trained to use.
But, I liked the idea of creating stenciled parts to use with the Pan Pastel and the Ground held up well.

I found that, by using the Acrylic Ground for Pastel, I could pretty much 'dry brush' (or 'dry sponge') the pigment over the Ground and somewhat retain my background color. Of course I got going a little more wild and wooly and ended up creating several layers of Ground. All the color shown here (except for the little bits behind the bird heads and daisy) were achieved with PanPastel.
Can you say YUM!
Here are my tips for working with PanPastels:

1. Use the Sofft Tools, the texture of these amazing sponges is simply perfect.
2. Keep a clean paper towel at your side while you work. Before you change color, wipe the sponge on the paper towel until you no longer see any pigment color coming off. This will ensure that you don't contaminate the next color you use.
3. Use less color than you think you need. One swipe provides more pigment than you can ever imagine. 
4. Don't be afraid to experiment. I have created many cool effect with PanPastel and blending them out with gesso or other mediums. Remember, they are pigment!!
5. Check out the PanPastel website, specifically THIS PAGE, which I have found to be extremely helpful.  

GIVEAWAY

We know after you see all the techniques we show you this week you are going to want to play too! Enter the GIVEAWAY to be eligible to win the prize below. Just leave a comment and tell us if you use PanPastels with stencils and your favorite technique. You can also leave comments on all of the individual posts this week on all the blogs from our team members for another chance to win! All comments within the 4 day period are eligible.

GIVEAWAY closes Sunday, August 3rd @ 11:59PM Central Time.

One comment per post please.

PRIZE

Monday

StencilGirl Talk

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

Introducing NEW StencilGirl Artist Traci Bautista Blog Hop

I am excited to welcome my friend, Traci Bautista to StencilGirl Products, woo hoo!!! Her stencils are so her. So Traci, you could pick them up anywhere and know who designed them, she has such a strong artistic voice. I love that about her.
I've mainly been playing in my journal with the stencil masks - because that is what many of them are, masks. It is a subtle distinction in the stencil world. For me, I think of masks as the thing you reach for to cure all your mistakes, ha! I mean look at this page:

I had a bunch of color, no direction, this page was going nowhere fast. All I did was use the mask overtop the entire spread and sponged with gesso. Instant cute. I think it would be pretty cool to go back and do some doodles in those open spots. Or even journal words, patterned collage components, stencil over top or ? What would you do?
Here is another snippet, this time a painted paper towel, this is actually part of my upcoming webinar:

It is amazing to me how changing color and using only a portion of the stencil turned this into an interesting abstract - I took Traci's imagery and made it my own. Now *that* is good versatility in design.

Here is a collage of some of my pages, you can see some DLP here too, I am on week 2.....there is also a sneak peak at a project I did for The Mixed Media Workshop TV. 

Hope you enjoyed a peak into how I have been playing with Traci's stencils. 

Ready to HOP??

Before you do, make sure you enter the GIVEAWAY!!!!

We will pick TWO lucky winners!

Each one will get a complete set of Traci's 5 new designs!

What do you have to do?

Leave a comment here and the other blogs on the hop. 

The more comments blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!

(one comment per blog please)

Comments close Sunday, July 27th at 11:59PM Central Time.

GIVEAWAY will be open a full 2 weeks! 

WHY???

Mary Beth has a webinar on July 24th and her guest????? 

You guessed it!

Traci Bautista

Not signed up yet?
Get all the info HERE!

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Traci Bautista

Mary Beth Shaw

Carolyn Dube

Jennifer Priest

Gwen Lafleur

Kirsten Reed

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Mary C. Nasser

Julia Kellogg

Maria McGuire

StencilGirl Blog Hop Featuring NEW Artist Orly Avineri

Do you believe that stencils can heal?
I don't know if I actually believe that either, I mean they are just Mylar after all. I do know that the day I used Orly's new stencils, I was working through some issues and it seemed like they had a magical effect on me because I gained instant clarity into my situation. It must have been the stencils, right?
I'll be frank. Orly's stencils probably aren't for everyone. They are intense. They are raw. They are beautiful. The symbolism is rich. These are stencils that make me think and I absolutely adore them.
Here are some of the ways I've been using them.
First of all - to make backgrounds. Those intricate bits are so gorgeous, I can see using them literally all the time.

 Deli Paper anyone? I had some extra paint on my palette and made a collage bit.

And here is the spread that I did. I used several of the stencils and love the way they work together as well as separately. The drips are pretty darn fab if I do say so myself. You know with 'real' dripping you lose control.  (I mean duh, rigth?). This is different because you can place it exactly where you want. Does that make me a control freak, wanting to 'place' my drips? 

Take a visit to everyone in the Hop and be sure to enter comments for our contest. And if you don't win a set of the stencils, just hurry over to StencilGirl and get them for yourself. I think you will be pleased. You can see all of Orly's new stencils HERE.

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Orly Avineri

Mary Beth Shaw (you are here)

Seth Apter

Carolyn Dube

Mary C. Nasser

Kirsten Reed

Gwen Lafleur

Linda Kittmer

Janet Joehlin

Maria McGuire

StencilGirl, Linda Robertson and Enkaustikos Blog HOp

Last year I was fortunate to attend encaustiCON in Santa Fe, a meeting of the International Encaustic Association. I had been invited to present a demo/class on 'Addressing the Substrate' and felt truly honored to be among some of my encaustic heroes like Linda Robertson. She was so authentic and down to earth, I instantly liked her and felt a connection. Naturally I gave her stencils because I knew she liked them and wanted her to use ours.

Enkaustikos Linda Robertson set

Flash forward.  Linda was working with Kathryn Bevier from Enkaustikos to create a kit of materials and wanted to include a stencil, ultimately she picked Pippin's Dragon Flower.  

Imagine my delight when they went this awesome kit for me to try! Wowzers!! In addition to all the items shown in the picture above, this Set includes video downloads from Linda. And I am here to tell you they are awesome. She is a terrific teacher and her Set is well worth the money. 

Here are some shots of the project I made. 

I started out with the fantastic cradled substrate that was furnished (nice!!) and randomly use the Enkaustikos paint and medium to build up a background. These paints are SO loaded with pigment, they really go a long way and I enjoy the Snaps format, you can snap off a bit at a time so nothing is wasted. 

Being the abstract person that I am, I decided to use Squared On, a stencil of my own design that is a real 'go to' for me. I placed the stencil on top of my piece and painted the encaustic paint over top the piece, moving the stencil several times and fusing in between each layer.

Next up was the Pan Pastel. Oh my is this blue ever a gorgeous color! Once again, I place my stencil and used the Sofft sponge to apply the Pan Pastel right on top of the wax. It simply 'grabs' the wax in and a quick fuse is all you need to add this delicious pigment. LOVE using Pan Pastels with wax.

 I then played with the other tools furnished in the kit, namely the pointy tool and the scraping tool. These both allow you to pull back some wax and create interesting texture effects.

 Here is a close up of some of the texture I obtained.

And finally, here is the completed painting.

In my opinion, this kit is a wonderful value. It includes everything you need to obtain fantastic mixed media results with your encaustic work. The paints and tools are super high quality - no corner cutting here!! And you are going to love Linda's instruction. A class and supplies, what more could you want?

Before you leave, make sure you comment to win the prize from StencilGirl Products and Enkaustikos!

Giveaway includes:

(4) 9" x 12" Stencils from StencilGirl Products Retail Value $56

(3) Online Lessons from Linda Robertson (RobertsonWorkshops.com) Valued at $45

(1) Collection of Wax Snaps and Hot Sticks from Enkaustikos Valued at $75

All to ONE lucky winner!!

Giveaway will close on June 8th at 11:59PM Central Time. Every comment in the hop is eligible for the giveaway. The more blogs you comment on, the more changes you have to win. One comment per blog please.

Blog Hop Order

Linda Robertson

Mary Beth Shaw

Carolyn Dube

Julia Kellogg

Julie Snidle

Art Journal Love

OK, OK, you already know I have become obsessed with Art Journaling, in fact, you might be tired of me talking about it, I hope not though. 'cause I can't help but share. Journaling has seriously changed my life and provided me with an easy artistic outlet during this time when I haven't been able to be in the studio as much as I would like. I would normally be grumbling something fierce, but my journals (yeah, I am working across several these days) have saved me. 

Today my pages take advantage of new stencils by Terri Stegmiller. They are pretty darn awesome (the stencils, I mean). And you know what? I have never met Terri in person! She has been with StencilGirl for a long time, contacting us quite early in our journey. I am so glad I brought her into our li'l family as I love her aesthetic. You can find her new designs (and other new ones too! ) on the 'What's New Page of our website. 

But back to journals - they allow me to try products that I might not use in my paintings. Like GELATOS!!! Made by Faber Castell, I have known of them for a long time, but since they are water soluble I never bought any because I work so darn wet in wet when I am painting. I figured they would be wasted.
Guess what? They are absolutely PERFECT for journals! Oh.My.Gosh. I bought this little pack on a whim, when I was at Dick Blick last week, Assorted Reds (includes pink and purple though, yay!!!) and I also got a Double Scoop Mango. I am smitten in love with these Gelatos.

Fabulous results, they are so creamy and gorgeous, I can easily layer up color on my painted pages. They are just so-so yummy.

I also used irResistable Texture Spray. I heard about this from my friend Seth Apter and of course I had to get my hands on some too. If you enlarge the 1st and 2nd picture you can see where I sprayed some in the corners - it dries super fast and leaves a splattered texture which is very cool. I used it on some of my labels too (3rd photo).

Needless to say, I had a wonderful weekend. I pulled back from StencilGirl duties for a few days so that I could have a chance to relax and refresh with my family. I journaled to my hearts content, even journaled with my friend Mary Nasser on Saturday. FunFunFun and the Journaling is good.

I feel restored.

How about you? 

Hip hip for Pippin

My friend, Pippin Schupbach, has some new stencils out from StencilGirl Products and they are so appropriate for the season, it finally being biking weather here in the Lou.

There are cute stencils and I did a journal page with them just to play around.

See the right hand page, the interesting pattern at the top? That is the tiny bike border, I couldn't get over what a cool pattern it made! And you don't even realize it is bikes until you look closely.

Very fun - I think I want to make a t-shirt next, with the cruiser bike on it. 

In other news, are you signed up for my Webinar? HERE is the link. Even if you can't attend on Thursday, you get the recordings and step by step instructions that are yours to keep. It is a pretty good deal really, I packed a lot of info into it.

So......see you there!!

Of Surgeries and Art and Healing

What on earth have I been doing you might ask, seems like I am in and out and around and up and down and before I blink another month has ripped by me.

Part of a journal page

You remember my Mom had surgery and I traveled to be with her during and afterwards, she was a real trooper, I would love to be able to to show you some of the photos I took but she is so very private she would freak out. In fact, don't tell her I am even sharing stories, ok? Pictures like the one with the little ET-like contraption on her finger; she would point her crooked finger with its red glow, in a way that might be adorable except it was the wrong finger if you know what I mean. Or the photo of her walking hospital halls, all the 'devices' removed for the first time so she had put on a really cute nightgown I had bought her, she was wearing it with her stylish Birkinstocks don't you know, quite the fashion statement. Or maybe I could tell you about the absolutely hilarious post surgery bits my brothers and I soverymuch wanted to film, our doped up Mom flirting with doctors and cracking jokes left and right. She doesn't remember a thing.

Painted envelopes that I used to send Happy Mail

I guess what I am saying is it wasn't all bad. Sure it sucked, it was a damn serious surgery and she has the cruddy C-word, a rare kind that has been removed so we are told, but how does anyone know for sure, this sneaky disease that is known to jump from organ to organ. So we continue as the joking type people we are, when the going gets tough, we tend to crack often inappropriate jokes. Like weeks before surgery when I called my Mom on the phone and said, "Hey Mom, how's it going, you still got Cancer?" Lucky for me, she shares my extremely twisted sense of humor. And I believe these moments help us at least get some emotion (perhaps not the 'right' one?) out. I don't know but it somehow works for us. That plus my Art Journal. Art does save you know, I had my Mom painting collage pages just days after surgery. And I took doodle stuff for all my family. Of course they laugh at me, they are beyond the idea of indulging my every whim. But you knew that.

Another journal page, that is a tree picture I took

In art news, I did manage to film my latest Webinar during all this hullabaloo. HERE is a link to sign up if you so desire. I am proud of it, I did the filming and editing myself and am pleased to say that *I* would even sign up, I do think it is worthwhile.