Have you seen Donna Downey’s Inspiration Wednesday video? Do you see those wonderful Tiny Circles by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer?? TCW361!!
Gorgeous, right? I love the way that lemon yellow sits on top of the surface like that. You can watch Donna’s video here or below. But make sure to stop over at her blog to read the whole shebang!
First, let me say that I’m not usually photographing women’s legs/thighs. But this was just so incredible that I needed to share! This is our sales rep, Kelly Grace. She lives in Canada and has so much energy and creativity that it oozes out of her. Here are her black pants that had a minor stain on them. So sad. So what did she do? She grabbed her TCW382 Garden Gate 12×12 stencil and went to work. She used her Lumière Graphite paint with a little black mixed in. Slowly and carefully dabbing onto the stencil, onto the pants. I think she said she used some wax paper inside the pant so that it didn’t bleed through. Then she used Viva paint pen for the final “texture” beads on top. Awesome!!
We are so lucky that May Flaum loves our stencils. So lucky!! And we are equally lucky that Shimelle adores May too!! Shimelle actually asked May to write a guest blog post. She introduced May as her “dear friend and crafty wonderment”. Love that! So without further introduction, here is a tidbit of May’s post listing 5 ways she recommends using stencils. You can read the whole thing here.
1. As a Background
Perhaps the most obvious way to use a stencil is as a background. You can repeat the pattern, just make splotches of pattern, or even layer more than one stencil. It allows you to This works best on cardstock or a subtly patterned paper. In this layout I used Heidi Swapp color shine mist on my stencil for a subtle design to compliment my photos. 
2.Outline and Color
This is the most time consuming, and one I don’t do often. First I outline the stencil with a thin black pen, and then I go back and color with markers, watercolor pencils, or anything else that works for the design. In this layout featuring Amy Tangerine papers my title is stenciled, colored, and coated with glossy accents to really help it pop.
3.Partial Stencils to Finish or Accent a Page
This is fast becoming my favorite! I’ve always loved using flourish stamps to finish off my layouts, and now I can use stencils in this way too. In this layout (featuring Elle’s Studio papers and tags) I used two different stencils with ink (applied with a foam blending tool) to add little accents to my neutral background. I love all of the detail it adds – and with no bulk!
4. Stencil onto a Die Cut
Whether it is a die cut, punched shape, alphabet sticker, or piece of chipboard don’t forget you can stencil onto more than just your layout directly. For this layout I knew I wanted to use my Webster’s Pages background paper but I didn’t really have much that went with it. I pulled out my flower stencil and colored a number of hearts and a butterfly punch that I then added to the page.
5. The Shaped Stencil
In the layout above you saw how I used a single heart (in a stencil that had many) on my layout by utilizing a good amount of tape. Another approach to doing something like this is to create a second stencil as I did in the video. For this card I did just that! I placed a heart shaped (homemade) stencil on top of a patterned stencil and colored a heart onto a blank card. The effect is stunning – and at first glance it looks a lot more complicated than it really is which always makes me smile.
Whether you go bold and finish layouts with a spritz of mist over your stencil or keep things more in control with a bit of ink on a stencil for a particular project element, know that there are a lot of ways that you can use those stencils. With intense techniques or simple applications, my stencils help me customize my projects and allow me the creative play that I always crave. I hope I’ve inspired you to try out a stencil on your next project. Oh, and one last note – if you have a punch, die cut, or electronic die cutting machine you can make stencils of your own! Oh yes, the possibilities are endless!
This painting is so peaceful. Thank you Kelly Foster for posting it on your blog. I love how you used the Flying Geese TCW332 stencil plus a few more. Be sure to click on her blog to read the whole process.
TCW332 Flying Geese
Louise Nelson (aka Loolabelle) took our Cell Theory TCW357 stencil and made it go WOW! Be sure to click on her blog to read more and see a few more photos!
Cyndi Bundy came to play at our demo station at the CHA show in Anaheim (this is a show open to retailers and professionals in the crafting industry.) We premiered some of Dina Wakley‘s new silhouette stencils as well as the new Viva Colour media that Splash of Color came out with. I think these came out really well!! Read more on Cyndi’s blog.
Great stuff on the Aussie Scrap Source website. Although they only sell to retailers shops, they have wonderful ideas and extraordinary designers. Here’s what was written about the above piece:
“Jill combined both the good and the bad that has been 2012 into a canvas featuring the Prima Craftsman papers and note cards, and the Crafters Workshop ‘Flower Garden’ template. Collaging the canvas and then layering paints, ink and mists over the template, incorporating autobiographical elements into your artwork is easy to do – not to mention therapeutic!” 
“As you probably already know The Crafters Workshop templates are a creative favourite for Louise. For this particular layout Louise has created an ‘embossed’ like pattern on her background, using the template, texture paste and gesso. The pattern of the template has been highlighted by the subtle use of Tattered Angels chalkboard glimmer mist behind and around the photo.” 
Isn’t this just so lovely? It’s by Louise Nelson, of course. She was working off of “The Color Room’s” palette #137…
The Color room always has great challenges. So if you’re stuck, looking for a little inspiration, pop over there. Or here (to Louise’s blog).
Every December, Ali Edwards creates an album just for December. She highlights this process in her “December Daily” blog. This year she’s getting a lot simpler by using a 4×6 Album. And, lucky us, she used our TCW246 Swiss Dot stencil to create one of her transparency pages using cream colored acrylic paint.
You can click here to see all of her December Daily posts.
TCW246 Swiss Dot
And here is a video that walks you through an overview of her Foundation Pages:
December Daily 2012 from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.
We received a lovely email from Wilma who has many of our stencils, even though she’s off in Switzerland. Far, far away from TCW Headquarters!! I like how she used our TCW191 Bricks stencils with molding paste and paint.
TCW191 Bricks
I also like how she found a way to make a layout that is trendy and masculine. I’ve often heard the complaint that it’s hard to find inspiring layouts for boys and men. Well here you go! It doesn’t get more masculine than this!! Thanks Wilma!!
