Think outside the 'stencil' by Ros Aggett-Madley

Hi everyone.

It's so nice to be back after a little break in the Kit Club.

This month I'm sharing some projects using stencils.  I'm going to be trying to 'think outside the square' and find different ways to use them.

Can you remember when we first started going crazy for stencils.?  I use to need them all and they would be slapped on the page, making sure the whole thing was added.  12 x 12 or whatever size, not a bit left out.

Now there are so many different patterns and quotes, it can sometimes be instinctive to think it all has to be used.  For these 2 projects I've tried to look at them not as a whole, but as pieces that can build layers and provide different elements in my projects.

For my little journal page I started with one of my favourite ways to add a quick background.

I have mixed a little water and a small amount of Citrus Colour Artist Ink.

I simply tip this into the middle of a page and use the little tub to move it around.  Once my blob of colour is just how I want it, I use the cup as a stamp and add a few circles around the page.

After I dried this off I have added some molding paste through a couple of stencils.  For this background I chose to use the Keep Going and the 100% stencil.

Both of these stencils have quotes and words and nothing that matched what I actually wanted on the page.  What they do offer me though is a variety letters and different text.

Without thinking about what is written on the stencils, it's easy to get an interesting and textured background.  You don't have to keep them the right way up either.

Turn them around and have your letters going any way you choose, adding interest to your page.

I've then used the Live Life stencil and some Sunshine Colour Paste to add a few bees to some black card.

I thought that by adding it straight to the black card, there was no colouring needed. I made 3 bees and once dry, these have been fussy cut and glued on top of each other for dimension.

I also used the Live Life stencil on my background with some orange ink and a sponge.  Again, I have just popped random pieces of the text around my page.  All these layers that are added to your background give your piece, colour, dimension and adds interest.

In a couple of the corners I have added parts of the arrow on the 100% stencil and one of my favourite Scrap FX stamps.

Again, not using the whole piece of the arrow, it's not needed.  Just a little point from both sides of the page, drawing your eye into the middle.

My little layered up bee looks like a little 3d bee on my page.  💙

My next sample of 'thinking outside the box' with your stencils, got me a little gift card to add to my stash.

 Sometimes when you have a stencil with a lot of elements on it, it helps to section each piece off with your hands or some card and look at each part separately.

I did this with the Up Up & Away stencil and it became easy to then see that the basket from the bottom of a hot air balloon could be used as a base for so many things.

I've chosen to use it as a flower basket, but you could add anything.  Lollies, toys, hearts, fruit and breads are a few of the things I thought of.

This one stared with a little wash of Calypso and Marine Colour Artist Inks.  I have just used a wide, wet paintbrush to add this colour and heat dried.

Using a black sharpie and the basket in the Up Up & Away, I have drawn the basket onto this.

It seemed a little flat with the colour of the basket being the same as my background.  To solve this, I have used a small brush to pool water inside the basket and dabbed it up with some paper towel.  This removed some of the colour and lightened it up heaps.

The flowers and leaves are from the Flower Pennants stencil.  The flowers were sectioned off with some tape and added to some white card with Just Blue Colour Paste.  I've then carefully added the leaves with Apple of my Eye Colour Paste.  Once dried these were fussy cut and coloured with some Lime Colour Artist Ink for the leaves, and a mix of Bordeaux and Calypso for the petals.

The sentiment on the bottom of my card is from the Kind Heart Stamp Set.

I hope you've been inspired to look at stencils a little bit differently and think about how just because they say something, doesn't mean it has to be relevant to your project.  Use them to add interest to your creations, whether that be dimension or colour.

Cheers to adding more stencils to our stash 😂

Hope you've been inspired 💙