Stencil Hop!

A few months ago, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer contacted me about participating in a blog hop featuring her new stencils. Well, of course!

The two stencils I used are called Clouds and Rain. I really enjoyed the open-ended design possibilites. 

The first thing I did was lay the rain stencil on a piece of muslin and trace around the raindrops with a turquoise sharpie. Then I hung the cloth and sprayed it with alcohol so that the marker lines blurred. When it was dry, I sandwiched the fabric with tissue, old book pages and glue.

Then out came the fusible web, an iron and some groovy fabrics picked up in Judy Gula's (Artistic Artifacts) booth at Art Is You. 

I cut out a whole bunch of raindrops/teardrops/feathers/leaves. Some of then wound up on an old black shirt that needed a facelift and some are on the paper cloth piece. I'm stiching away ...

The clouds were calling me next. I started out using the cloud stencil as a border around a journal page. I used Inktense pencils to trace the stencils and then Crayola markers to push the melting pencil around.

Ok. Not so happy with this so the gesso came out.

"Oh hey! are those little houses marching around a town square?" Yes, I thought so too. Time for pencil and watercolors.

I really enjoyed playing with Julie's new stencils. They are available at The Crafter's Workshop. There are a bunch of folks playing along in her blog hop today. You might enjoy having a look at some of their ideas and blogs. Here's the list for today!

Lori Vliegan
Bianca Mandity
Claudine Hellmuth
Kerry Lynn Yeary
Samantha Kira Harding
Mou Saha
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer 

Here are the clouds and rain stencils I used.

Thank you, Julie, for inviting me to play along! 

Comments

[Kirsten Alicia]

I LOVE these!!! The little houses are so cute & the colours are gorgeous.

[Theresa]

Wonderful! Love your work Diane!

[Michelle Bernard]

So creative! Love your final designs :o)

[claudine hellmuth]

I love how you incorporated fabric!

[Johanne L.]

These are great projects. Love them. Thanks for sharing,

[Marylinn Kelly]

The layers with fabric and papers - a way of combining materials I would not have considered. I also admire the way you showed the adapting of a result that didn't please you to something bright and playful that did. A treat to see your samples.

[lori vliegen]

your colorful raindrops and "cloud town" are absolutely spectacular!!! what a fabulous and creative way to use julie's stencils!! :))
p.s. (i want to live in your sweet little cloud town!!)

[MargieH]

WOW! Love your designs and medias you used! Love when a happy result comes out something totally unintended - great houses! LOL!!

[Lisa]

Love the leaves you made out of the raindrops--the fabric is way cool, and the embroidery makes them so dear! And those houses??? OMG! Love! I grew up in Northern California, where we'd often see what we called "The Flintstone House" from the freeway http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20294897_20652347,00.html. Your village brought back a great memory! Thanks!

[Connie]

I absolutely love how you used the cloud stencil as part of your background and added to it. I think it looks great!!!!

[Janet B]

Wow! What a great way to use these stencils. Thanks for the tips.

[Wendy]

...and when the rainbow worm came up in the centre of the town square she knew she was going to be most welcome.

"All this for me!" she thought. "I wonder who told them I was coming? Surely they don't always paint their houses like this?"

But of course in this enchanted little town, they do.

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for commenting Kristen!

[Diana Trout]

Thank you Theresa! come back any time.

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Michelle! The stencils were a pleasure to work with

[Diana Trout]

Thanks Claudine! Ive been thinking about your piece. I love that little raincloud - such fun!

[Diana Trout]

Thank YOU for commenting, Johanne! The stencils were such fun to play with.

[Jeannie]

LOL! I love the houses! If you use the raindrop stencil, I bet you could create a bird to live in the neighborhood. Thanks for sharing your art. You always, without fail, make me smile. Thank you!

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for commenting Marylinn. I always hope that it helpful to my readers to see the process ...

[Diana Trout]

Oh ho! off we go for a party in cloud town :)

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for your lovely comment! It IS fun to work without an outcome in mind

[Diana Trout]

Oh now that is funny. They ARE like little Flintstone houses. Thanks for commenting and the link - too funny

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for commenting Connie. Didnt know where that one was going until it went there :)

[Diana Trout]

You are most welcome, Janet! The stencils were a real joy to use. Thanks for commenting!

[Diana Trout]

Oh BIG smile here! Wendy, you are the best. I love this little story :) Thank you

[Diana Trout]

And back atcha, Jeannie. Thank YOU for all of your lovely comments. Ooooooo ... birdies! love that!

[Darlene Propp]

Wonderful pages.!

[Cheryl s.]

Oh so creative! Love what you did with the stencil and making your little houses!

[Katje Lehrman]

How wonderfully inventive! I love how you used the cloud stencil to create the robots.

[pegg]

Gorgeous! I love how your showed these on muslin - I've never done this before and am so inspired to try something new.

[carol sloan]

Diana, I thought that the houses kinda looked like a bunch of robot heads just pretending to be houses...
I absolutely LOVE those them! I am a real house mouse too so, those are great. I love the intuitive way that you work. I also work that way. It's always a surprise to see where it takes you, isn't it?

[Diana Trout]

Isnt it funny? Sometimes I get to the end with no clear idea of where I started or why. Yes, someone else said robots and I could see that to. The houses have eyes - ooooooo scary :)

[Diana Trout]

Thanks for commenting, Darlene. Im so glad you enjoyed the stencil hop pages.

[Diana Trout]

Those stencils are a blast, arent they? Thanks for your comment, Cheryl

[Diana Trout]

Looking at real clouds, Ive rarely seen robots :)

[Diana Trout]

I hope that youll try it, Pegg. I used a a heavy weight durabond (it was on hand) and wish that Id used a light weight. It is easier to stitch through. I suppose I could have basted them on and used NO iron-on. I hope youll try it!