Sunday 24 September 2017

"Wild and Free" by Melissa Struhs


Thanks Goodness for Sunday's! A time for our family to enjoy some down time together and also to take some well deserved solo time. There is nothing I love more than an afternoon of scrapping in absolute silence with a peppermint tea. And last weekend was just that. Lately, there has been so many people commenting that they are too scared to stencil with their pastes directly onto their photographs. Definitely, with 4 terms with the Design Team, I can do it without any mishaps but do have a few must do tips that help ensure a perfect finish every time.


I began with a super sized black and white photo with a sanded edge. I wanted to utilise some open spaces in the image. I have so many stencils in my stash and there was several that I wanted to use but only a little of each so this is how the overall look was achieved.


From Left to Right: 
1. This stencil had the title of Wild and Free
2. The most open space was located to the right of my son's foot
3. Using some washi tape, I masked around the words to eliminate the leaf pattern
4. I positioned the masked stencil over the image and taped them both onto my Non Stick Craft Mat to stop any movement
5. Using a palette knife, Just Blue Colour Paste
6. You can see that I have not tried to scrape the excess paste away at this stage, this is to eliminate any seepage under the stencil...


and it fills the space beautifully and will eventually dry to that fabulous electric blue colour. I like to set it aside on my designated shelf to dry naturally. 


Left to Right:
1. I wanted only a small section of the circuitry panel stencil so again it was isolated by the washi tape
2. It was positioned to the right of the stencilled title
3. Small amounts of tape were used to secure the layers together
4. Deep Water Colour Paste was applied to that small area
5. When spreading the paste, take your time and smooth it across rather than scrape it
6. The paste has the clearly defined lines that I was after to represent the gaming in the image


Once my stencil was thoroughly washed and dried,
Left to Right:
1. I flipped my stencil over so I could slightly alter the look of the pattern
2. Positioned the stencil again but this time on the left side of my son's foot and masked off a smaller section
3. When I was happy with the placement again an extra piece of washi held it all securely.
4. The coverage of Colour Paste only ever drifts on to the washi tape and can be easily washed off for using repeatedly too


By now, you can see how I am repeating those same tips over and over again, this time with a star stencil and it frames a graffiti quote in the background of the photo. It was eerily on point with how life is with my teen and really spoke to me so I decided to highlight it.


I also used a Steel Colour Paste and dot stencil around the edges of black cardstock but forgot to take a progress shot, you can see it in close up shots of the layout.


With just a few finishing off embellishments needed, I reached for some of the items on September's Challenge Products....
Left to Right:
1. Metal cogs were wet with an embossing dauber
2. And dipped in Steel  and Just Blue Colour Embossing Powder and heat set
3. More cogs were inked with clear Versamark ink
4. And dusted with Cool Mint Colour Mica Powder
5. When dry, the cogs were layered together in clusters
6. A little flick of colour to make the black cardstock stand out
7. Just Blue Colour Shimmer Cube activated with water with a long bristle brush helps with the splatter effect
8. Steel Colour Shimmer Cube was added too
9. I love the colour combination of these together


And here are a final few close up shots, I think it is well worth the time to mask off your stencils if you are concerned about trying the technique. The first time I tried it, I worked with photo's that were destined for the bin or scraps that I had cropped off for other layouts.


The Colour Mica Powders have been so under utilised in my stash but I intend to drag them out a lot more since I have forced myself to play with them.


Hope your weekend is a creative one, till next time
Mel




















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