Tutorials

DIY STENCILS

Lately I have been doing a lot of Journaling and mixed media. I wanted to share a tutorial on how I make my stencils. It's really easy and with a few supplies you can make your own too.

What you need:               

Cardstock
scissors
xacto knife(optional)
punches(optional)
hairspray or acrylic gloss
Pencil/pen

1. Start by punching out shapes with your punches, or if you are not using punches, draw designs on your cardstock.

2. Use the xacto knife to make a hole in the paper where you are going to cut. Use the scissors to cut out the shapes. Don't cut from the sides make sure you just cut the shape, that's why a Xacto knife is 

helpful if you don't have scissors with a sharp point. You could also use a Xacto knife to cut out the shapes but make sure you have something underneath like cardboard to keep from cutting into the surface of your table.

3. once your shapes are cut out spray both sides of the cardstock with acrylic gloss or hairspray. This helps keep your stencils lasting longer, wait till one side is dry before spraying the other. I suggest two coats of spray on each side just to be safe.

And that's it! Simple right?

If you want to see what I make with these stencils or have any questions leave your comments below. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!!!!!

________________________________________________________________________________

MIXED MEDIA BOOKMARKS

Hi all. I wanted to share a easy bookmark tutorial with all of you. I love bookmarks they are so much fun to make and use. They make great gifts also. 

Here is what you need

paper
acrylic paint
glue or  Mod podge
embellishments(I used washi tape and scraps from my painted background papers)
pen, marker or stamps for the words
thread 
laminate sheets or clear packaging tape
paint brush or credit card
sponge
stencils
ruler
scissors or cutter
hole punch

   Start by covering your work space with newspaper or something that the paint can get on so you don't ruin your table.

Squeeze paint onto your paper(use like colors so you don't make mud. ie. warm colors together, dark colors together). Use a paintbrush or credit card to spread the paint around randomly to cover the paper.Here I used a sponge.

Let the paint dry and use your sponge to paint over your stencils randomly to make a colorful background.

let the paint dry then glue or mod podge scraps of paper randomly on the paper. I used my paper scraps from my painted backgrounds.

It should look something like this with scraps of paper but the background still showing in places.

Let it dry and then turn it over. I have made my book marks 2 inches by 6 inches long. If you are using clear packaging tape you will need to make them less than two inches across to make sure 

The tape covers the paper completely unless you have wider packaging tape. I would say for regular wide tape to make your bookmarks 1 and 1/2 inches wide. Measure your paper with your ruler and then cut out your bookmarks.

Here is where the fun embellishing part starts. I added washi tape first. You can cut out hearts like I did or paper and stamp or write words. Again I used scraps of my background papers

I then painted the back of my bookmarks with acrylic paint and a sponge. and let it dry.

Once the paint and glue are dry  then it's time to add the laminate plastic or tape. Make sure their are no air bubbles and add laminate to both sides of the paper .It's ok if the laminate goes over the sides you cut it off later. 

Cut your bookmarks so that a very thin strip of laminate overhangs off the sides. Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark and add your thread. You can also add a tassle.

There you have it Artsy bookmarks for the book lover!

Have a wonderful day and see you soon!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAINTED MAGAZINE PAGES WITH PAINT RESIST

Hi there for my this tutorial I wanted to share one of my favorite techniques for making collage papers. I do a lot of collage and these are fast and easy, and a plus they are from recycled magazines!

1. First gather your materials, you will need;

           brushes, sponges, or your fingers

           magazine pages(dark colored works best)

           white acrylic paint or gesso

           your favorite color acrylic paint

           stencils, mark making tools, or stamps  

           your imagination!

 2. Using your white paint/Gesso make marks on your magazine page. I used stencils with a sponge on mine. I have used stamps and found mark making tools before as well.Let the paint dry before you move on to the next step.

3. After the white paint has dried mix a couple drops of water with your acrylic paints. Use a sponge, or paintbrush to go over the top of the white paint. Completely cover the page with color. If the white is not showing through as much as you would like you can wipe the color back a little with a paper towel(save your paint stained towels for other projects).

You can see from the pictures below that darker colored magazine pages make the white show up better.

4. Let the paint dry and there you have it! Super easy right! Here are some of the other papers I made using this technique.

That's it for now, I'd love to hear from everyone, let me know what you think in the comments!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PAINTED BACKGROUND VIDEO TUTORIAL BY GYPSY JENN                      Click pic. to go to video.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OVAL PAPER BEAD TUTORIAL

Click pic. to go to video.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Foam Stamp Making Tutorial

Hi all it's time for a tutorial. I have been playing with different stamp making techniques and I decided foam stamps are my favorite and they last the longest. I have tried using a styro foam plate, cardboard pieces, and foam.
                                              These are some I have made 

You need ;

a craft knife

scissors

cardboard scraps

craft foam

glue

pen

Start by cutting some cardboard into squares the size you want your stamps to be. I like my stamps about the size of the palm of my hand.   

Draw your shapes you want onto the craft foam with your pen, and cut out each shape. I don't worry to much about it being perfect. I like the look of uneven stamps when I create background paper

Next glue down your foam onto the pieces of cardboard. I use tacky glue because it lasts a long time

Let you need to let the glue dry completely before you use your new stamps. Here is a picture of all the ones I made. All together it took about 45 minutes to cut and glue everything.

See super simple and now I have a lot of new stamps to play with. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, see you soon!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________