Design It

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Michaela

Life is full of so many opportunities to grab a hold of and run with. When the opportunity came to stencil and blog for Just A Trace, I thought, “Why not?!” It’s been a fun ride, but unfortunately this will be my last post. I have enjoyed learning about stenciling, since I really knew nothing about it, and I am grateful for the opportunity.

My last project is one I plan to put in my Interior Design office to inspire me daily. It will remind me of how once you start stenciling, it’s really hard NOT to think of what you can stencil next! Happy Stenciling Everyone!

- Michaela

I found wooden letters at a craft fair and decided on the word “design”. I am obsessed with the color mint green and any variation close to that color right now, so I thought that color scheme would be perfect!

Items you’ll need include wooden letters, paint, paint brushes and foam pouncers, and maybe tape. (I ended up not using tape and held the stencils down with my hand.) You’ll also need the Small Palazzo Pattern Stencil, Mini Mamma Giraffe Pattern Stencil, Mini Baskerville Pattern Stencil, Small Camille Pattern Stencil, Mini Dangle Pattern Stencil,and Mini Pinwheel Two Pattern Stencil.

I began by painting all of the letters gray. I chose gray instead of black so that the color wasn’t as harsh on the eye.

Because these wooden letters did not have a smooth surface, I thought, why not embrace this?! I chose to go for more of an ‘antique look’, which means I dry brushed the cream paint onto the wood instead of applying a smooth layer of paint.

The beauty of going for an “antique look” meant my perfectionist personality went out the window, and each letter became unique and a piece of art on its own.

I lined up the stencil and tried to get a very small amount of paint on my foam pouncer.

I found holding the stencil down with my hand worked better than trying to tape it down to the surface.

As soon as I finished one letter, I moved right on to the next letter and stencil!

I chose to use 3 different colors of paint so I alternated the colors that I used on each letter. Above, the Small Palazzo Pattern Stencil and Small Camille Pattern Stencil were painted with the same color.

The Mini Mamma Giraffe Pattern Stencil and Mini Dangle Pattern Stencil were stenciled on the E and G.

And the Mini Baskerville Pattern Stencil and Mini Pinwheel Two Pattern Stencil were painted in their own color as well.

Here is the finished product! I chose to keep the letters loose, but they could also be glued or attached together with a staple gun and a stripe of wood.

Stencils + Cinnamon = Ornaments

Posted on November 2, 2012 by libbylu

I promised a craft that involves cinnamon AND stencils and here you have it. Read the details below!

You’ll need:

This recipe for Non-Edible Cinnamon Ornaments, and all the ingredients
A stencil (I used Tweeties, Mini)
Counter space
A drinking glass or some other shape for cutouts

Mix all the stuff. You want it to be as dough-like as possible. Add applesauce or cinnamon to get it to the right consistency. Because they’re not edible, it doesn’t matter how much of either you add.

Dust a flat surface with cinnamon and make a ball (use your hands). Then dust the ball with more cinnamon. Use something flat to flatten it out. A rolling pin would be fine, but I happened to have this plaster mold handy.

Using a drinking glass or other shape, cut out a circle.

Now, there are two methods I tried. One way was pushing the stencil down so the mixture came through the cutout. The other was to use the stencil to lay down glitter.

Method 1:

Position the stencil over the circle. If you want to use just part of the stencil, tape over the parts you don’t want to use. Then press the stencil down on the ornament.

If the mixture is thin/gooey enough, you can even get some good detail — like those tiny bird legs.

Sprinkle glitter over the cutout. You’ll need to use a fine glitter for this. The coarse kindergarten glitter won’t show detail as well.

Gently pull up the stencil. Take your time! If you go too fast, you’ll lose detail and get glitter everywhere.

Using a straw, punch a hole for the hanger.

Method 2:

Position the stencil over the ornament, as above, but don’t press it down. Well, press just slightly so it sticks, but not so the mixture comes through the stencil.

Use a little bit of applesauce (I mean, the size of a pea or two) and smear it inside the stencil cutout. You want just a fine layer so it’s wet, but not gooey.

Sprinkle glitter over the cutouts. Don’t overdo it, because it’ll be hard to control in the next step. But a good, solid covering is nice.

You can experiment, of course. I used cinnamon as the “glitter”, I tried sprinkling glitter down before placing the stencil, I put glitter on after the fact… Just try things.

The last step is my favorite: put it on parchment paper, on a cookie sheet, and bake in the oven on 200 for about 4 hours. Your house will smell AMAZING.

If the edges are a little rough, you can use sandpaper to smooth them out.

Here’s the final product:

Another Stenciled Pumpkin

Posted on October 22, 2012 by libbylu

Here’s another way to stencil a pumpkin. I’ve never carved a pumpkin in this style and thought it turned out pretty darn well.

Here’s what you need:

Stencils! I used Garbo Small and Garbo Mini.
A permanent marker. Fine-pointed works best.
Knives/carvers. There are many, many tools available for pumpkin carving. I used an X-acto blade and a couple different linoleum-cutting tools.
Some time. Depending on your design, this can be a quick craft or a weekend process.
Olive oil. More on that later. (*See note below!)
A pumpkin.

First, clean out the pumpkin. If you’ve never done this, I recommend looking it up online really quickly (it’s easy) and saving the seeds to munch on later. Please be careful with sharp objects. This is not an activity for kiddos (sorry!).

Draw whatever you want on the pumpkin. You really don’t have to be all that perfect about it, but you want to be able to see the lines clearly.

Start cutting! I used the X-acto blade to trace around each shape first. The pumpkin will cry a little. It’s okay. Beauty hurts.

Then, I scooped out the inside of each shape. I used different blades to get just the right depth and to refine the edges.

I used an old strand of Christmas lights to test the depth of my cuts as I went. The deeper the cut, the brighter the light coming through.

Because you’re working on a vegetable, I recommend coating all your cuts in a decent layer of olive oil. As the cutouts begin to dry, they shrink up and warp your image. Olive oil will keep those exposed parts moist — for a little while, at least.

And there you have it! I was surprised at how easy this technique is. Give it a whirl and let me know how it goes!

~ Libby

*UPDATE: Wouldn’t you know, that sucker started molding within a couple of days. If you want your pumpkin to last longer than it took you to carve it (I’m not bitter, no…), consider soaking it in water first and using petroleum jelly, use a bath and some kind of plastic wrap, or take a picture — that lasts the longest. Usually when I work with food, I eat it immediately, so preserving something edible isn’t usually this complicated.

Show & Tell!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by libbylu

I received the coolest picture from a customer. She used the Tweeties – Mini Pattern Stencil in her kitchen. Doesn’t it look great?? Thank you for sending this picture!

If you have a picture you’d like to share, Email me. I’ll feature you right here on our blog! You’ll be famous!

Ideas: Pillows!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by libbylu

Want to add a flourish to your couch? Your patio furniture? Stencils make decorating a breeze.

Check out these simple, solid pillows from IKEA. They retail $4 each, and are easy to stencil. Using some acrylic paint and the Emblem (huge) and Tweeties or Tweethearts (medium) stencils, these pillows are suddenly chic and adorable. Imagine them on a bed with the birdies facing each other. Awww…

Quick instructions:

Cut a small hole in the bottom seam of the pillow and pull the stuffing out.
Lay the fabric flat and stencil.
Restuff.
Restitch.
Done.

Just A Trace

Patterns & Other Pretties

Tag Archives: decor