The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 24

You can see the final prompt for #thestencilfiedjournal below. And I didn't entirely stick to it. I did put tape on the pages but did not cover it completely as that word was missing from the prompt!

Instead I made the background for this spread (in a 9 x 14xm journal) using a variety of paints together with stencil L635 Tiger Lily by Stencilgirl  Products® as well as the large stencil from the October 2018 Stencilgirl®Club. Once the background looked right I added the brown trees using stencil L635 Winter Trees Bark also by Stencilgirl®

Then I grabbed my rather overwhelming collection of washi tapes and started to populate the forest with animals, mushrooms, birds and I also found a washi tape to add leaves to the trees.

 It was great fun specially as I  found a suitable vintage text to accompany it all. 

This is the last prompt for this fun project, organized by Tina Walker (who also made the prompt tags) and Stencilgirl  Products®. It's always sad when projects finish but I'm sure I'll find other ones and, shock horror, I could just make spreads for the fun of it!

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 23

We're almost coming to the end of #thestencilfiedjournal project. After this post there is just one more prompt to go. This was a joint undertaking by Tina Walker and Stencilgirl  Products®. Tina also made the Prompt tags.

For my non-traditional medium to stencil with I selected Distress Crackle Paint in the Brushed Pewter colour. Really pleased with the effect and will definitely keep it in mind for future use.

For the rest the page is covered in elements all coming from just one Stencilgirl® stencil i.e. L600 Mosaic Flowers. There are so many wonderful patterns on this stencil and that makes it very versatile. I also added a lot of acrylic ink for good measure and like the way it interacts with the crackle paint.

The text comes from a vintage book that teaches students how to touch type (oh my word, I passed the exam myself in the far and distant past!) while at the same time issuing "the girls" (they always were) with moral encouragement. The book dates from the early 1930s so at least it's well before I took my test.  Great to know those days won't come again although will grudgingly admit I did enjoy my typing classes and as a result am a veritable wizard on a computer keyboard. The book  called 20th Century Typewriting is a treasure trove of text for art journalling and for my art cards.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 22

You can read our instructions for prompt 22 of #thestencilfiedjournal below and I'm almost embarrassed about the simplicity of my spread in the 9 x 14cm art journal.

I used just one stencil after painting the entire spread with black gesso. It was stencil L477 Versailles from Stencilgirl®, designed by Nathalie Kalbach and I used titanium white paint to stencil with. It had been the plan to do more but once I had done the stencilling I suddenly saw a face looking back at me. A bit like the Green Man sculptures you find hidden in cathedrals and the like.

The face was emphasised  a bit more by putting pupils in the eye shapes and then I collaged on the word ESCAPE from a magazine as my contribution from a friend. It's not quite as per the instructions but we tried writing on the page and it just didn't show up. I also overstepped the black and white brief as I simply couldn't help myself and had to outline with a red gelli pen. So a lot of rule breaking here! But I think it makes for effective pages and suited my mood at the time.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 21

Prompt 21 for #thestencilfiedjournal asked us to used numbers 1, 2, 3.... and for some reason I immediately thought of the battle cry of The Prisoner: " I am not a number, I am a free man" (or woman, of course!). The Prisoner was a tv series way back when in the 60s and yes, I remember watching it then. And I wouldn't mind watching it all over again. It seems as pertinent for the world today as it was originally. So I embraced this opportunity to put the quotation in my art journal (sized 9 x 14cm).

The background was done using the medium stencil from the December 2017 Stencilgirl®Club as well as stencil L471 Hamburg stencil designed by Nathalie Kalbach for Stencilgirl  Products®. To this mix I added rubber stamping with both a circular stamp and a stamp featuring numbers both from PaperArtsy, designed by Everything Art, as well as collage with tissuewrap (Tim Holtz) with numbers on it.

The large black words were stencilled on using Stencilgirl®'s L748 I Get to Choose stencil. Then I glued on the postage stamps with the numbers 1, 2 and 3. The final addition was the quotation that was stamped onto vintage paper using a variety of alphabet stamps.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 20

As you can tell below, our latest prompt for #thestencilfiedjournal told us to us office supplies to embellish our pages. I used little round tags as well as washi tape. All my spreads for #thestencilfiedjournal are done in a 9 x 14cm art journal.

I started by making the background, using acrylic paint with the large stencil from the September Stencilgirl®Club set and I added rubber stamping as well as collage with tissue wrap and vintage text. I stencilled on top of the previous layers using blue acrylic paint and  Stencilgirl® L471 Hamburg, designed by Nathalie Kalbach.

The little round tags were coloured on a gelli plate, rubber stamped and then stencilled with white paint using stencil L606 Soulful Scribbles Flourishes, also by Stencilgirl®. The pattern was outlined and then I added words to each tag. The tags were adhered to the background using the string they come with and washi tape.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt Nineteen

Prompt 19 of #thestencilfiedjournal project told us to stencil a page and write one word over and over. As you can see I used the word memories

The background of the page was made using the stencils from the September 2018 Stencilgirl®Club and I collaged on some pieces of a vintage music sheet as well as a piece of deli paper that had been printed previously on a gelli plate using stencil S290 Deconstructed Zinnia

I also sprayed on some gold Perfect Pearls Mist Sunflower Sparkle which sadly you can barely discern on the pictures but gives a very satisfying (to me) effect on the pages. I added some rubber stamping with the text Destination Unknown to combine with the memory words, as well as the text on the music sheet.

It makes sense to me and tells a story but it's open to whatever way you want to interpret it! As is all art.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 18

As you can see Prompt 18 for #thestencilfiedjournal told us to stencil a piece of tissue paper, crumple it and add it to our journal. I spray painted the circles through Stencilgirl® Club's medium stencil of  August 2018. I crumbled it and then made the background on a spread in my 9 x 14cm journal.

The background was made using spray paints as well as stencils L467 Amsterdam, and S433 Amsterdam 6, both by Stencilgirl®. I also did some rubber stamping of circles and text, and when all was dry I added the crumpled piece of tissue paper with the red circle to the centre of the spread. Nicely wrinkled as you can see. In fact it's only fair to admit that not wrangling it when glueing it on would be a greater challenge.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt Seventeen

 #thestencilfiedjournal project is continuing with another 8 prompts and I have begun a new journal for these. It's the same size as the previous one, 9 x 14cm, and again it is a Clairefontaine one from their 1951 Back to Basics range.

You can read the prompt above and the tags, as always, were made by Tina Walker. 

I worked in reverse order and made the spread with the stencilling first and then drew some shapes on a piece of paper, cut out the shapes and then marked them on the pages with a permanent black marker. The shapes were kept and the rest was blacked out with the marker.

To make the texture in the shapes I used the large stencil from the August 2018 Stencilgirl®Club as well as the small stencil from the October 2014 Club set. This last one is one of my favourites. It has circles in a variety of sizes, which makes it very versatile.

I finished by outlining the shapes with a sparkly blue marker and added white lines as shown as well as the vintage text.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt Sixteen

It is time for the latest prompt (no. 16 already) for #thestencilfied journal, a project organized by Tina Walker in conjunction with Stencilgirl®. You can read the prompt beneath. All tags are done by Tina.

I'm only showing you my pages (in a 9 x 14" journal) as they looked before I wrote my letter and glued them together as once that was done they disappeared never to be seen again!

The background was made with the L491 Organic Roots Large stencil by Stencilgirl® followed by rubber stamping and stencilling with titanium white paint and the medium stencil from the July 2018 Stencilgirl®Club.

Secrets seemed a suitable theme for these pages considering the prompt and she is sure to keep her secrets now!

Originally this was our last prompt and together they have filled up my 9 x 14cm journal. However we are continuing with another 8 prompts and I will working a new journal but exactly the same one as before. Below is a picture of the one that is now done.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 15

Our latest prompt for #thestencilfiedjournal asked us to add an envelope to our pages, and stencil it.

I first made a background for the envelope and used a variety of paints, collage with tissue wrap (by Tim Holtz) as well as removing the paint again through the large stencil from the October 2016 Stencilgirl Club.

I then remembered I had some vintage envelopes and keeping my fingers crossed I hadn't destashed them, went looking for them. They were eventually located in one of my vintage postage stamp albums and I choose the one with the stamp that best matched the background colourwise.

 After glueing the envelope into my 9 x 14cm journal I added stencilling by using stencil L646 Floral Mandala Lace, also by Stencilgirl Products. Using their stencils is one of the conditions of #thestencilfiedjournal project. The project is an initiative by Tina Walker who also produced the beautiful tags with the prompts.

The quotation was done on transparent tape and a Dymo writer. It's by Byron and it says: "Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company".

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 14

You can see the latest prompt for #thestencilfiedjournal below. It was good to make a simply journal spread without bathing or stamping on the journal I'm working on (sized 9 x 14cm). So I grabbed the chance to use some of my favourite colours as well as my favourite quotation (from the painter Magritte).

The background was made using rubber stamping (stamp designed by France Papillon), collage with tissue wrap (by Tim Holtz) and a paper napkin, plus of course stencilling using the following stencils by Stencilgirl Products: L439 Stripes, L501 Letters on Box as well as the large stencil from the August 2015 Stencilgirl Club. 

I had already made this spread before the journal dived into the tea but fortunately it stood up very well to all the dampness! If you want to see all the spreads I've made so far, simply click on thestencilfiedjournal tag below this post or in the sidebar.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt 13

After dipping our journal in tea, it was a  relief to only be asked to step on it! I made a background using acrylic paints, the large stencil from the October 2016 Stencilgirl  Products®Club and some tissue wrap.

 Once I was happy with that I grabbed a pair of my crocs and covered the sole of one of them with white matte emulsion paint. I put stencil L566 Woodcut Blossoms Inverted on my journal and then stepped on it hard.

The result was quite satisfyingly textural as you can see above. The shape of the shoe was outlined with a black Stabilo All pencil.

I had already found the quotation (by Chief Seattle) and it was added by rubber stamping with a variety of alphabet stamps on vintage paper, tearing it and glueing it in.

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt Twelve

Finally it was time to decorate the outside of our #thestencilfiedjournal. I am using a 9 x 14cm Clairefontaine one from their 1951 Back to Basics range which is stitch bound. It originally had a pink Perspectives Paralleles pattern on the outside, that can still be seen vaguely through all the paint layers. I started those by using white gesso all over the pages.

The next step was to add colour using acrylic paints and the L646 Floral Mandala Lace stencil by Stencilgirl  Products®. More circular patterns were added using the small stencil from the October 2014 Stencilgirl® Club. 

 I added some acrylic inks and collaged on pieces of Tim Holtz's tissue wrap. Then I stencilling the title onto vintage paper using a mix of alphabet stamp sets.

The final step of the prompt was quite frightening and with a lot of trepidation I put my journal into the tea. I should probably admit to spraying all the inside pages with a fixative. Is that cheating?! Perhaps but I couldn't help myself. Here is the result of the soaking:

 I went for a total submersion in a bowl with teabags! It came as a bit of a shock (what did I expect?!) that the journal was totally soaked and the paper very soft inside so a lot of towels came to the rescue and the journal then spend some days in the airing cupboard with all the pages spread out in a fan shape.

As you can see the damage to the cover was minimal but the same was not completely true (completely untrue in fact!) for the inside spreads. They needed some remedial action. The main upset was that everything adhered with an archival glue stick had come undone (matte medium glued items stayed put!), so I glued them back in after salvaging them from the wet pages. But it's something I will keep in mind although I don't anticipate putting my journals in warm liquid ever again!