Not-So-Simple Stencil

Introducing wooden sign # 2 – Stenciling!

If you think way back (or simply look at my last post from May) you will remember that I left a To Be Continued picture of some leftover pink paint.  Here is what I did with that pink paint.

 

I know what you’re thinking, “Stenciling, really?  You haven’t stenciled before?”  And in actuality, no I have never stenciled.  I have seen it demonstrated, I have read about it, but I have never tried it out for myself.  So here we go…

Technique

Stencil: a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material.

This Wikipedia description goes into much further detail and if you’re interested in their more in-depth definition click on the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stencil

There are lots of good tutorials on the web to help you get started.  A simple Google search will yield any number of sources for stenciling.  Now you can purchase any number of plastic stencils at most craft stores and I have some in my craft room.  However, I wasn’t really inspired by anything I saw so I decided I would make my own stencil for this project.

Materials

Pre-cut wooden sign

Sand paper

Soft cloth

Pre-cut craft wire hanger

Paint (in a variety of colors)

Stencil brush

Assorted paint brushes

Pencil

Plastic stencil -OR- Piece of cardboard (plastic if you have it) to make your own

Exacta knife

Cutting mat

Masking tape or painters tape

Additional embellishments

Hot glue gun

Side cutter

Needle nose pliers

 

STEP #1:  As with the previous signs, you should prepare your surface for painting.  Lightly sand any rough spots on your wooden sign using a medium grit sand paper.  Remember to sand in the direction of the grain.  Take a soft cloth and wipe away any remaining dust.  Even if you purchase a pre-fabbed wooden item, it’s always a good idea to give it one last sanding before painting.

STEP #2:  Paint a base coat on your wooden sign.  I do recommend that you paint all sides and ends of the wooden sign with your base coat.  Remember this little picture?

 

Well, I immediately painted this wooden sign after I had finished my last project so it was already dry and ready to go when I finally got around to working on this stenciling project.

 

STEP #3: Time to make my stencil.  Trace or draw the image you will be stenciling onto a piece of cardboard or plastic.  If you want one continuous image simply trace the outline.  But if you want more definition in your image remember to create “connector” lines to add some “white” or unpainted spaces inside of your image.

“How did you decide what image to use?”  After some deliberation as to the content of this particular sign, I decided I would work with one of my favorite subjects – shoes!  Believe me deciding which shoe to use was no easy task with the multitude of footwear styles and designs out there.  I created a little inspiration page with images of shoes that I liked or I thought would be easy to draw.  Then after mulling them over for a while I narrowed my choices down to three.  I printed them approximately the size I needed for my sign and cut them out and tried them on the wooden sign.  Low and behold one image seemed the best option to me.



You can see the "connector" lines I created adding depth to my image.

 

 

STEP #4:  Using an Exacta knife cut the image from the cardboard or plastic.  Always protect your work surface by using a cutting mat.  Be very careful not to cut any “connector” lines.

 

STEP #5:  Tape your stencil to your sign so it will not shift as you paint and to cover up any parts of the stencil you may not want painted.

“Wait a minute your sign is really small.  How did you tape your stencil down?”  Well, I actually wasn’t able to tape my stencil in place.  I had to hold it very firmly as I worked.  If you are stenciling a large surface, like a wall for instance, taping the stencil in place is much easier and definitely more helpful on a vertical surface.

 

“Why are using a plastic stencil?  I thought you just made your own stencil out of cardboard?”  Yep, I did make my own stencil for the main image, but I also wanted some light stenciling in the background so I chose to use part of one of my plastic stencils from my stash.

STEP #6:  Load your stencil brush with some paint and take a paper towel or other soft cloth and blot off any excess paint by bouncing the brush up and down onto the paper towel.  You should have very little paint left on the brush.  Note, do not pre-wet the brush as this will cause the paint to be a little runny and possibly leak underneath your stencil.

 

STEP #7:  Position your stencil and bounce your stencil brush up and down over the section of stencil you wish to paint.

The nice thing about plastic stencils is they clean up easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEP #8:  Let your paint dry before repeating any additional layers.

“How long should I let it dry?”  Because you are using very little paint it should not take long to dry at all.  I think my paint was dry in ten minutes.

 

Layer number two…

 

Main image…

 

“WHOA!  What happened?” As you can see my main image using the stencil that I made did not come out so great.  I did not notice when I was cutting, but I partially cut one of my “connector” lines. So while I was painting the connector line came completely loose and I ended up with paint where I didn’t want it to be – YUCK!  I also only had a flat head or straight cut stencil brush that seemed to put a lot of pressure on the stencil, the results of which I was not happy with.  So next time I might buy one of the brushes with a more rounded head to see if that will soften the blow, so to speak, as I paint.  Now I had to fix my messy mistake.  I simply broke out my regular paint brushes and adjusted the image by hand.

I ended up using a fine paint brush and silver paint to adjust the image.

 

STEP #9:  Decorate! Any additional decorative painting can be done at this time.

STEP #10: Once you are happy with your decoration you can seal it using a thin coat of polyurethane or other finish.  This particular sign didn’t POP enough for me without a finish, so I used a little Mod Podge to seal it.

 

STEP #11:  Cut a piece of craft wire to the length you would like your hanger using a side cutter.  Last time I used the whole length of the pre-cut wire I had, but it was too long.  So, this time I cut it with my side cutter at 12 inches.  This is the perfect length for this size sign.

 

 

 

STEP #11:  Bend the craft wire in a half circle.  Push each end through the holes in the sign going from the back to the front.  Leave about 2 inches of wire hanging out the front.  Bend the hanger up in the back so that the wire is in line with the sign, creating a surface to “hang” from a nail.

 

“Your picture at the beginning shows beads on your hanger.  When do you put those on?”  I took one end of the hanger out of the hole in the sign, and then slid the beads on for embellishment.  I also used my hot glue gun to glue a couple beads on the front of the sign and secure the beads on the wire hanger.

 

 

STEP #12:  Use the needle nose pliers to twist the 2 inches of wire in the front of the sign, creating a curly-q effect.  And another sign completed!

 

This particular project, however simple it might have seemed, was tougher than I thought it would be.  I would definitely recommend using plastic if you are going to create your own stencils.  The cardboard cut and ripped too easily and it soaked up some of the paint which bled through a little bit.  But I also learned that it is an art to load the proper amount of paint on your brush.  This is definitely a skill that must be practiced to be perfected.

 

Have you had any projects that seemed so simple in the beginning but ended up a disaster?  How did you fix the mistakes?  E-mail me at quiltedcowgirl@gmail.com and you just might see your story on my “Ramblings”.  Happy crafting!

No-Mo-Jo Confessions

You all might be wondering what happened to the "Ramblings"?  It's been a long time since we've 'seen hide nor hair' from that girl.  Well, a few things have happened since my last post in May (yikes - 3 months ago!).  My hubby came home, my parents came for a visit, spring arrived in the PNW, and my hubby shipped out for a LONG deployment.  I must confess, mostly I have just had no mo-jo.  I mean none, whatsoever.  I even got organized and put a calendar up to track my projects, and still nada.  Not even a spark of motivation to actually follow through with the plan of action plastered on the wall.  Oh, I have had flashes and glimmers of mo-jo where I updated my calendar with new deadlines and dates, but still no lasting motivation.  Now in the last couple weeks I have been feeling better and much more inspired.  I wonder if this has coincided with the PNW summer, which decided to show up the last of July.  Food for thought...

So you also might be wondering, "What exactly were you doing the last couple months?"  Besides the aforementioned organizational calendar, I got spring fever.  Which is apt to happen to me with the slightest inkling of warmth, when the outdoors calls to me on the rays of sun and the rustle of the trees.  However fleeting those sporadic warm days were, I did manage to get a few things done outside in my yard.

On May 5 I attended a workshop on "Attracting Birds to Your Garden" at one of my favorite local garden centers, Sally's Garden in Coupeville, WA.  So, I just had to rush home and dig out my bird feeders (after making a few purchases at Sally's, of course).  Over the course of the next few weeks I added a new feeder and a homemade bird bath.

New Bird Feeder

Homemade Bird Bath

I also realized that the squirrels were coming off the mountain and the little infidels were pilfering my feeders.  After some basic Google searching I realized I had enough, eh hem pardon me, Mark had enough scrap lumber sitting around in the garage that I could make a simple squirrel feeder.

Squirrel Feeder

I had started a little garden earlier in the year.  There is a little garden plot that we prepped over the winter and there are several pots on the deck.

Picture from June - tomatoe, broccoli, sweet pea, onions



Picture from June - pepper, tomatoes, broccoli, marigolds

The sweet peas grew like weeds and I had almost too many for little old me.  This was my first time growing broccoli and I almost missed it before it went to flower.  I had beautiful lettuce in the front of the little garden bed, and just before I was going to harvest it the slugs and snails took it all in one night.  I was so disappointed, and I still haven't figured out how to deter the pesky critters.  Slugo didn't really help at all, but I've heard they like beer and to try putting out a can in each corner of the bed.  I will have to expirement with some cheap brew.

Besides the regular mowing and weed eating, this is really all I have had time for as of late.  But I now feel my mo-jo returning to full force so keep your eyes open for something new from the Quilted Cowgirl on the "Ramblings".

Cheap-O Crackle Paint

To get back in the groove I thought I would start with a small project that I had already begun (no backsliding this week!).  I believe my list included several wooden signs that needed some paint and decoration – ok there were 10 to be exact.  So, my goal with the wooden signs is to try a different technique that is new to me with each of these.

Some of you might be wondering, “Why do you have so many signs pre-cut”?  Well, not only do I have the wooden signs pre-cut but I also have all of the wire hangers pre-cut.  I believe it was in May of 2011 my husband, Mark (hi MarkJ), and I were displaying our crafts at a local craft fair.  The craft fair sponsor asked for volunteers to present workshops during the fair, so I signed up and of course I wanted my workshop to be interactive.  Mark and I prepared 20 or so kits that had everything you would need (minus paint and needle nose pliers) to complete your very own mini-sign.  During the workshop we provided the paint and pliers for the participants to share while I demo’ed.  This craft fair turned out to be a small fair and so I only had around ten participants – a big thanks to all my peeps for coming out that day and crafting with me!  Thus, a plethora of kits remained… and have sat on a shelf in my craft closet ever since.

TECHNIQUE

Crackle painting: using paint and medium to create a network of fine cracks on the surface of an object creating a weathered and aged appearance

Thank you Dictionary.com for helping me find my own definition of this technique (I was having trouble finding a simple definition, so I derived my own!).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crackle?s=t

I have never actually crackle painted and I know the little jar of crackle medium at the local big box store is pretty expensive.  So, I wondered if there was a less expensive way to create the same crackle effect.  After a quick search on the Internet I found it!  Now some of you may already know about this, but I was really excited to find out that you can create the same cool crackling effect with regular old acrylic paint and white school glue.  Now at the Elmer’s Glue website they have some basic instructions, but really it’s just 4 simple steps without much explanation.  You can view their instructions here:

http://www.elmers.com/diy/project/crackle-finish

They used wood glue, but frankly I didn’t want to rummage through my husband’s garage looking for some wood glue.  So, I just used the white stuff in my craft closet.  I think the results are just as good.

MATERIALS

Pre-cut wooden sign

Sand paper

Soft cloth

Pre-cut craft wire hanger

School glue (you know, the white glue you used to eat in elementary school)

Paint

Assorted paint brushes

Side cutter

Needle nose pliers

STEP #1: Prepare your surface for painting.  Lightly sand any rough spots on your wooden sign using a medium grit sand paper.  Remember to sand in the direction of the grain.  Take a soft cloth and wipe away any remaining dust.  Even if you purchase a pre-fabbed wooden item, it’s always a good idea to give it one last sanding before painting.

STEP #2:  Paint a base coat on your wooden sign.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, remember we are going to paint over the top of this in a different color.  However, I will recommend that you paint all sides and ends of the wooden sign with your base coat.

“BUT WAIT!!! Why is your sign already painted?!?!”  Well, I have this little habit of not wasting anything whenever possible.  So when I am painting if there is any significant amount of paint left on my pallet I will grab a ‘canvas’ (such as an unpainted, pre-cut wooden sign) and slap a base coat on using the leftover paint.  Once it’s dry I throw it back into the abyss of the craft closet.

STEP #3:  Squirt some school glue onto a paper plate, piece of paper or really anything you don’t mind piling glue on.  Using a 1 inch brush (preferably one you are not too attached to, or care if it gets sticky) paint the school glue on top of your base coat.  Use random strokes in all directions for the best effect.  A note here on thickness, the thicker you load your brush the more dimension and texture you will have in the pattern.

STEP #4:  Let the school glue dry long enough to still be tacky to the touch.

“Exactly how long is that?”  For my little 4 x 6 inch sign, in relatively low humidity, it took about 10 minutes.

STEP #5:  Using a different 1 inch brush, paint your top coat using long even strokes.

STEP #6:  Let the top coat dry thoroughly.  You will start to see the crackling appear in about 10 minutes.

“And how long did drying take this time?”  This time it did take longer, because not only does the top coat need to dry but the school glue needs to finish drying as well.  I believe it was dry to the touch in about an hour, but you can always leave it over night to be certain.

You can see that the glue was a little thin on the lower right corner.
There is not much crackle in this spot as compared to the lower left corner.

STEP #7:  Decorate!  Here’s where the fun really begins.  Use your own creative juices to decorate and personalize your sign.

“How did you decide what to use as decoration?”  You will notice that the colors I end up using on my final product do not appear in the materials picture.  That’s because I almost always start with a loose idea of what I am going to do and let the design come alive organically as I create.   So, the idea I might start with may not be anything like the end product!  Here is how this design came to life…

Since my signs are all pretty small, I wanted to make a simple design that was meaningful.  Right now letters are really a hot trend, but the shape of my sign didn’t really work for a single letter.  Initially I decided to just simply write a single word in a clear cursive script.  Then I reminded myself that my cursive is not the best.  So, I turned to one of my favorite brainstorming locations – Google.  Yes, you heard me right.  I will go to Google and I will type in what I am thinking of and, because I am very visual, I will look at “Images” to get fresh ideas and inspiration.  After searching simply by the word, I did not find much.  Next I searched by the first letter of the word and found loads of ideas.  (Hint, I typed the following phrase to view images of a letter “the letter d”)  I really liked the images that had blocks around the letters with pattern inside the block.  So, I decided on using a stylized first letter in a simple, but universal word – dream.

Crackle paint has been associated with the shabby chic movement, and I always associate shabby chic with being… well… girly (or feminine, if you prefer).  This is why I chose to use the color pink – gasp!  That’s right, all you who know me are gasping because I rarely use or wear pink.  I am not opposed to the color pink at all, I just happened to have made some poor shade choices as a teenager that have caused a psychological aversion to this particular color – but that is another story (and hopefully no pictures are in existence of my poor clothing choices).  But the color pink does lend itself to certain themes and projects, in this case, a girly little sign.  Here’s what I ended up painting:

STEP #8:  Once you are happy with your decoration you can seal it using a thin coat of polyurethane or other finish.

“Do I really have to seal my project?”  I do not actually do this with my signs.  My signs are purely decorative and not meant for outdoor use, so I skip this step because they are not touched, bumped, or moved on a daily basis like a piece of furniture.  That being said, if your item gets heavy use on a daily basis I would recommend sealing it.  If you are intending your project to go outside you should seal it with an appropriate outdoor sealant to protect it from the weather.

STEP #9:  Cut a piece of craft wire to the length you would like your hanger using a side cutter.

“Exactly how long is long enough?”  This depends on the size of your sign.  I cut my craft wire at 18 inches, which ended up being a little long for this size – 12 or 14 inches would have been more appropriate.

STEP #10:  Bend the craft wire in a half circle.  Push each end through the holes in the sign going from the back to the front.  Leave about 2 inches of wire hanging out the front.  Bend the hanger up in the back so that the wire is in line with the sign, creating a surface to “hang” from a nail.

STEP #11:  Use the needle nose pliers to twist the 2 inches of wire in the front of the sign, creating a curly-q effect.  And voila – you are done!

What would you do differently with this project?  E-mail me at quiltedcowgirl@gmail.com and you just might see your ideas on my “Ramblings”.  Happy “crackle” crafting!

To Be Continued...

Mother's Day Corsage

Today we honor that very special person who made life possible - mom.  Yes, I will be straying from my previous post and doing a new project.  I know, I know, some of you are already thinking, “what a backslider”.  But if there is to be any exception to my rule, there is no better reason that Mother’s day, for without my mommy none of this would be possible!

As I have been thinking about Mother’s Day all week I started to remember some of the simple things we did for our mothers when we were children and how much joy those simple gestures meant.  One project came to mind that is so simple, and yes dads you too could help your kids create this gift for their mom J  Do any of you remember when you used to be able to buy facial tissue in an array of colors?  Maybe they are still available, I just do not remember seeing them lately but I also haven’t been looking for colored facial tissue.  I remember there being many color choices – pink, blue, yellow – usually in pastels.  I distinctly remember one year during Sunday school we made these super simple, pretty corsages for our mothers out of colorful facial tissue.  I decided that I would make a corsage for my mom like the one I did that Mother’s day in Sunday school so long ago.  Now, I wasn’t about to go out and search every store for colored facial tissue, so I just used the white ones on my counter and because I always have a box of handy kid friendly supplies I didn’t need to buy the pipe cleaner either.

MATERIALS:

Facial Tissue

Pipe Cleaner

Scissors (optional)

STEP #1:  Pull out 5 to 10 tissues from the box.  The more tissues you use the fuller the flower will appear.  I am using 10 tissues.

 

STEP #2:  Stack your tissues on top of each other.  This is where you can be very creative with the colored tissue by alternating the colors to get different colored “petals” on your flower.  Your stack doesn’t have to be perfect just neat enough to fold.

 

STEP #3: Fold your stack of tissue accordion style in 1 inch sections.

STEP #4:  Take a 12 inch pipe cleaner and fold it in half.

STEP #5:  Slide the pipe cleaner around the center of your accordion folded tissue.  Pinch the fold of the pipe cleaner to make it tight.

STEP #6:  Twist the pipe cleaner at the bottom of the accordion folded tissue to hold the tissue securely.  It is helpful to pinch your tissue while twisting to bunch it up for a firmer hold.

STEP #7:  Twist the pipe cleaner ends so they are perpendicular to the accordion folded tissue.

STEP #8:  Gently pull the top tissue up and away from the rest of the stack creating a “petal”.  Pull straight up on each side of the pipe cleaner so that each side stands upright and the sides touch.  Be very careful – you don’t want to rip the tissue!  Repeat with each layer of tissue until you have a full flower.

STEP #9:  Now you have a choice.  You can leave the pipe cleaner long and wrap it around your mother’s arm for a wrist corsage, OR you can use your scissors and cut the pipe cleaner then pin to your mother’s blouse for a traditional corsage.  I left mine as a wrist corsage.

Can you imagine what a beautiful corsage this would be using different colors?  Since I will not be able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom, I will have to give this corsage to her when she visits in a couple weeks.  Later today I will call her to say I love you and thank you for being a friend and confidant all these years.

What did you do on Mother’s Day?  Did you receive any great handmade gifts from your children?  E-mail me at quiltedcowgirl@gmail.com and you just might see your Mother’s Day happenings on “The Ramblings”.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY and as always, Happy Crafting!