Hi there, welcome back friends 🙂
For today’s blog post, I will be showing you how to create a 3 dimensional effect using one stencil and some other bits and bobs to create a magical setting for a background. You can apply this in many ways to your own backgrounds.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Garden-of-Iris-13.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
**The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some products to create this project. The opinions I share, however, are solely my own. :)***
You can find the entire process video below but I will also guide you step by step to create this background.
Today I will be working on an A3 Watercolor paper, which I have used masking tape on to tape the edges to my glass working surface. I do this to keep the page down as I work, and also to create a beautifully neat edge when the tape is removed.
I drew out a girl figure but you can replace this with any other figure you want, like a cute bunny or fox would fit really well in here. I then scoop out some TCW Shimmery Goodness and add a touch of pink paint to it to make it a lovely soft pale shimmery pink color. I apply this to my entire background, leaving the girl figure blank.
The soft shimmery pink tones add that sunset magical feeling to the background.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-1.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
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Now that we have the soft pink tones in the background we can start working more on it to create that lovely 3D effects needed to create a enchanted forest.
To do this, I grab one of my favorite stencils from the previous release called TCW845 – Wisteria. I use this stencil the wrong way around, to make it look like the flowers are standing up, in stead of hanging down.
I use 2 colors to create the dept with this stencil. The first color is a rich purple color. I use Dina wakley Paints for the entire project.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-4.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
Make sure to add some height and overlap the stenciling to make it feel fuller.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-5.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
Adding the blue makes it feel further away.
Next I added some abstract flowers to the background. To do this, I simply took a small amount of gold paint and spread it out with my finger in a circular motion to create a thin layer of “glow”. Now on top of the gold glow, I added thicker dots of paint in various colors.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-6.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
As you can see, I have also now completed the features of the girl.
For the next step I wanted to add a quote to the page. I thing the TCW824 – Wild and free works exceptionally well for this look. I grab my stencil and TCW-Black Gesso and start stenciling over the girl. A bold move, but it pays off well.
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-8.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/tcwblog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Exploring-the-Enchanted-Forest-9.png?resize=800%2C800&ssl=1)
If you find your lines are a bit wonky like mine was, just go over it using a black sharpie marker to make it crisp again.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and got inspired to try some of this techniques for yourself.
Don’t forget to follow me on social media to see what I get up to. You can find all my links here: MY ARTY HEART
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