November Voice for Stencil Girl Products

Here I am with my second contribution for Stencil Girl Products.  Still equally as excited and thrilled to be participating.

The Stencil Club stencils are launched on 1st of every month.  November sees a set designed by Jessica Sporn.

You can see the launch of the stencils here on the blog: Stencil Girl Talk

You will see from the reveal that the designs are floral based.  Whilst very pretty and I'm sure I could do lots with them as they are, I decided it was time for a personal challenge.

It was time to look.....

deeper - sideways - upside down

and I found this motley bunch lurking

I'm still thinking if they are partying, or on their way home..

The one on the right is miffed for being the designated driver, or else has a curfew!

First of all I had a play, quick tracing of the shapes with a pencil, not very accurately, but the ideas came from it.  I immediately saw not a flower/seed head but shoes!

All of the stencils are used somewhere on this piece.

~ The background used the 6x6 - acrylic paint all over Daler Rowney 250 gsm Mixed Media paper.  Two colours of acrylic paint but I thought it a little bright, so brushed gesso over the top.

I made something for them to stand on, with acrylic paint and the large stencil.

~Then to the Girls.  I started with the feet and worked my way up

I coloured them in using Derwent Inktense pencils, made it very easy to get into the small spaces, then once wet the colour, boom soo much intensity.

Outlined with a black pen, but still needed something so this time, I added some sparkle, using Spectrum Sparkle pens  - black, gold and clear.

The only element which is me, are the eyeballs (not the eye shape) and the eyelashes, everything else is found within the stencils.

~ They were begging for some words - but I couldn't think what suited, until a magazine supplement arrived with loads of quirky phrases, so I cut one out and stuck on.

I have a feeling that at nighttime, when I'm asleep, they get up and cause mischief... what do you think?

Please click to see larger images.

Take a look at the blog here to see what the other Voices made with the stencils, and I'm not the only one to see characters!

October Voice for Stencil Girl Products

Hello – have you found me via the Stencil Girl blog?  I am so proud to have been chosen to be a Voice for the October Stencils, by Mary Beth Shaw. - which you can see announced here.

A little recap on me.  Primarily a creative stitcher, having stitched almost all my life – you will see at the top of this blog tabs to take you to the story of my formal qualifications in both Creative Embroidery and Paper Arts.  For me the two have made a very happy collision, as my preferred ‘fabric’ to stitch on is Paper… and I’d rather use paints than dyes.

Signing up for a monthly shipment of stencils from Stencil Girl Products has brought me oodles of happiness, the styles and inspiration are a good fit with me.  So, seeing the call for Voices, I thought give it a go.  I never dreamed I’d be chosen, being in the UK, and here I am,  having a play with the stencils for October.

I must admit I did play with all the stencils, and made lots of test runs and ideas….

So out came the Gelli Arts® plate and acrylic paints. a mix of Paper Artsy and Daler Rowney.

     Having played around with loads of ideas, the Gelli Arts® Plate had ghost images on it, from all the stencils.  So these became incorporated, rather pleasingly into this piece.

Using Two Plates  - on the larger I brayered three colours.  On the small I laid down the middle sized stencil and brayered through the ‘tulip’ shapes with black paint.  Removed the stencil.

Then I squished this Plate onto the larger, there is a mutual colour transfer. Colour across to the small, and black onto the larger.

I printed off the small Plate onto Cartridge paper.

Repeated this process two more times. So I ended up with this as an additional print.

I took the print from the larger Plate and ended up with the colour, the ghost images from previous printings, and ghostly ‘tulips’.

Added some of the pebble shapes to the bottom.  The piece was now screaming ‘flowers’ at me.

Using black thread and free machine (free motion) embroidery I stitched the flowers.  I didn’t draw these first, but used my machine needle to draw.  Adding in ‘flowers’ too.

Some more colour to the flower petals using Polychromos pencils, trimmed down and edged with a black machine stitch, to make a panel.

For this sample, I covered the plate in black paint, laid the large stencil on top.  Blotted off the black. (colour is from the unwashed stencil itself!)

Then I rollered (brayered) colours over the top.  Removed the stencil, and took a print on 160 gsm Cartridge Paper. (Not sure of the equivalent in US terms – but in the higher weights it’s a really good smooth paper for drawing/painting, but not of the heft of watercolour paper).

I fell in love with it, and decided to add more lines, by going over some of the black lines with a straight machine stitch, and filling in the coloured shapes with small hand straight stitching in colour matching silk threads.  Trimmed down and stitched around the edge, it became a rather pleasing panel, could easily become a book cover – but then I like looking at all the colours!

I love the effect of this kind of printing – so I made one in reverse – ie plate covered in colour, stencil, blot, roller on black paint, removed stencil and print.

I really enjoyed my challenge, so many ideas.  Please come back and see me again – especially as I have the November Stencils to share as well.

Thank you to Stencil Girl Products for this opportunity, I am so very thrilled to have been chosen, and I hope to have lived up to your expectations.

Thanks for looking.

EXCITEMENT

Just saying, well squealing actually:

Please click here

Creative Happiness Is.....

Time for happiness photos....

I've been buying, and things arrived in the last week or so..

I ordered these as a parcel bargain from

Pink Pig

should keep me going for a while.....

Also this week, my regular monthly shipment of these came

I belong to a Stencil Club in the USA

Stencil Girl Products

there is so much happiness in that envelope!

In the meantime though, I have all these, but not without problems.

I simply wanted a new set of flat brushes.

The clear handles were wrong order entirely -

so received 20% discount and could keep.

Another seller, purple -  what I wanted,

except there is a rogue blue round brush in there.

Currently awaiting the missing purple.....

So lots of indulgence stockpiling and replacing

what will happen with all of these, well I've got this to work through

Pre-ordered back in January and also came last week or so.

Had a quick look through, but its for savouring and enjoying.

Back at the start of the year, I opted for one of these

'word of the year'

things.  Not really me but...  you may recall I chose FUN

so all of the above needs to lead to more of this....

or some of this

or possibly a bit of this

not high art - just playing and having FUN.

See its all absolutely totally necessary purchases.

Only one thing missing....

chocolate, or may be

cake - or may be just

chocolate cake!