It's a Blogiversary Celebration ~ Day 2 of Technique Tutorials!!

Hello, again! It's our second day of technique tutorials and I was thinking we'd give a new technique a try.... Stencil Painting with Color Burst!! I recently saw a video of Ken Oliver demonstrating this technique and I thought it would be so much fun to give it a try. Let's get started.

First, you'll need a stencil and watercolor paper. I'm using Canson XL watercolor paper... it's 140 lb weight paper. I cut mine down to fit the stencils that are 6x6 inches. Then place your stencils over the paper as shown above.

Now, you'll need your color burst. I grabbed a bunch of different colors... for the leaf stencil, I chose Orange, Sepia, Yellow Ochre, and Alizarin Crimson. Sprinkle the pigment powder in the open spots of your stencil.

For this big floral stencil, I chose Merlot, Fuchsia, Lemon Yellow, and Violet. I think I also sprinkled a bit of Orange in the center of the flower.

For this fun wintery swirls stencil, I chose just one color... Violet. I had wanted to go with a monochromatic theme for this one, but you'll see later that I changed my mind and a oopsie changed the whole project... ohhh, suspense! Ha!

Now, for the fun... it's time to mist the papers. Now it's important that you just mist the papers. The pigment will react and 'burst'... the intensity of the 'burst' depends on the intensity of the water being sprayed. I think my leaf stencil got spritzed rather than misted because some of the color leaked under the stencil. You can see in the picture above where the Sepia color went under the leaves.

Now, carefully lift the stencils up and see what you've created! How fun is this?! I love the intensity of the colors on the flower and in parts of the swirls! 

Here's a closer look at the violet swirls. The stencil for this one is actually by Echo Park and it's called Flurries.

Here's a closer look at the fall leaves. The stencil for this one is actually by The Crafters Workshop and it's called Mini Climbing Vine.

And, lastly, a close up of the beautiful flower. I love the mix of colors on this one! The stencil for this one is actually by The Crafters Workshop and it's called Mini Zen Flower.

I mentioned above that my plans for the wintery swirl didn't go as I had originally planned. A mishap with a die cutting wonky will change plans, for sure! I improvised and found a tag die that would salvage a big enough piece to work with. I added a bit of blue to the watercolor piece and smoothed out some of the lines with my water pen. I put that aside and stamped this adorable snowman from Unity Stamp Company's kit called Rolly Polly Winter Joy in VersaMark and heat embossed him in white on some vellum card stock. 

I colored him in with my Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut him out and set him aside. I then stamped the sentiment using VersaMark and heat embossed it in white on a piece of vellum card stock that I cut out with the same tag die. I ran the vellum tag through my Xyron sticker maker and adhered it to the stencil painted tag so I wouldn't have an issue with adhesive showing through the vellum. I then adhered the snowman to the tag. I punched a hole in the top center and added a bit of sweater trim ribbon from my stash. Not my original plan, but I like how it turned out!

This stencil painted panel really made me start thinking of Thanksgiving and being grateful for so much. But why wait for Thanksgiving... start each day with a grateful heart... I love that! The sentiment is a sticker from the Tim Holtz Small Talk pack that I stuck onto a piece of kraft card stock and fussy cut out. I really wanted to showcase the stencil painting so I cut it out using a large die. I put it on a kraft mat die cut from the same set of dies - Blueprints 14, which by chance are also part of my giveaway pack mentioned on my Happy Blogiversary post. Aren't they awesome!?! I adhered the whole panel onto a 5x5 inch kraft card base. I added a few drops of gloss white Nuvo crystal drops and popped up the sentiment. I love how this one turned out!

Now, out of all three stencil painted pieces... this one is my most favorite! I did go over the flower a bit to wash some of the paint and cover the white space. I also painted some blue around the outside of the flower. I really love it! I definitely struggled with cutting this one down but I pulled out my trusty Blueprints 20 dies from My Favorite Things and cut out my stencil painted panel. I adhered that panel to a mat of Royal Velvet card stock and then I adhered that piece to a Hibiscus Burst scalloped rectangle from the same die set. The entire panel was then adhered to a white card base. The sentiment was another sticker from the Tim Holtz Small Talk pack that I stuck on a strip of Royal Velvet and fussy cut a banner end. Isn't it pretty?!

Here's a picture of all three together. I think if I did the snowman tag again I would emboss him in black. Sadly, he gets lost in the background. But overall, I love how they all turned out! I hope you do, too!! I had so much fun doing this stencil painting with color burst technique that I am definitely going to do it again!

That's the second technique tutorial for my Blogiversary celebration! 

Please leave a comment letting me know what you thought and if you haven't already, click on the Follow button on the right hand side so you won't miss the next technique tutorial!!

 Did you comment on my Happy Blogiversary post for your chance to win a prize?!  Check out the details ---> here!

And if you missed the first technique tutorial, you can find that ---> here.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal