StencilGirl Blog Hop: New Traci Bautista Stencils!

I'm so excited about today's blog hop! I love Traci's work and I was pretty psyched when I found out she had stencils coming out. For today's project, I received Circles Circles to play with. If you know me at all, you know I love me some circles! So I couldn't wait to use this. And I used it a lot!

If you follow Traci's work, you know she has a new book that just came out called Printmaking Unleashed so, inspired by the idea of printmaking, I used this stencil to make a mini art journal with background pages full of lots of prints and mark making using this awesome stencil.

The finished book measures 5.5" tall by 4.25" wide, and there are 40 pages packed in there! There's a thumbnail gallery of all of the inside pages at the bottom of the post if you want to see the whole thing. In the meantime, here's a peek into the process of creating it, along with some of the different techniques I used.

First, I got 11 sheets of paper roughly the same size (one will be the inside cover.) I had cardstock, deli paper, cut up manila folders, and some Rives BFK printmaking paper that I cut from scraps from another project. I also pulled out my Gelli Plate and brayer since I knew I wanted to do gelli printing as the basis of most of the pages.

Next, I got out three colors of paint and started rolling them out on my plate. (Remember to make them colors that blend well together - complimentary colors make mud!)

Here's where you want to have all of your paper handy ahead of time. I put the stencil down on the painted plate and then used a sheet of paper to print through it, and was able to pull a second print as well.

Then you lift off the stencil and put another sheet on the plate to print the reverse of the stencil with the paint that was under it. Sometimes you can also get a print off of the stencil itself. I got some faint ones that I built on top of. I repeated this several times, and changed my color palette halfway through to add some variety. On some of the papers, I didn't print, but instead cleaned my brayer on them to just lay down a wash of color... you'll see how I used that further down.

Once the pages are printed, it's time to start adding more layers! I put away my gelli plate and got out stamps, inks, rubons, and more stencils. I'll share just a few of my favorite ways that I layered on top of my prints.

First up, part of why I love circles is because they create these happy little spaces just waiting to be filled. For this one, I used the Hunab Ku stencil by Mary Beth Shaw along with a foam stamp that I made out of it to fill in some of the circles.

Next, one of the options for how to use the papers that just have paint straight from the brayer. I layed the stencil on top of the painted surface and then used my blending tool to ink over it so that the color showed through.

Another fun way to layer... I got my Circles Circles stencil back out as well as the Runes stencil by Jessica Sporn and layed the circles on top with the Runes underneath and then inked through them (being careful to keep the circle stencil in place as I moved the smaller one underneath.) Then I went back over with my blending tool and ink to add a bit more color to some of the areas that needed definition.

Above is one reason why it's cool that these stencils are so thin, and below is another! This time I used one of Traci's stamps to stamp through the openings in the stencil (I lined it up with the print underneath.)

And one more layering photo... in this one I just used paint and a sponge to daub through one stencil directly onto the page. I just watched the lines to keep it within the circles, but you could also layer the stencils like I did with the Runes stencil above.

The other layering I did was stamping, more stenciling, paint (and some reduction stenciling,) inking, and adding rubons which you can see in the finished book.

Once all the pages are done and dry, you can do a quick and easy binding technique to make a little pamphlet book. I fold all of the pages individually with a bone folder, stack them inside each other, and then use an awl to make the holes going through all the pages at once. I used binder clips to hold my pages together while I did this.

Then you make the cover. I took a piece of thin chipboard (I save the pieces that I get in the mail if I order paper or anything. The envelopes you get when you order from StencilGirl work well too - just sayin' ;) and cut it so it was about 1/4" larger than the pages on all sides. Then I fold it in half and center the paper that I've chosen for the inside cover and adhere it with gel medium.

Once that's done, find a piece of decorative paper or another print for the outside - it should be about 1/2" bigger on all sides than the cover. Center the cover and adhere with gel medium, and then clip the corners as you see in the photo below so that you don't get lumps of paper in the corners when you fold the flaps around. Once that's done, center the inside pages and use them as a guide to poke holes in the cover, and then tie it all together. I used a piece of waxed linen thread.

That's it! Now I have a great little mini art journal with lots of pages that have completed backgrounds ready for me to build on.

The other stencils used in the book not yet linked up are:

• Timeless stencil by Seth Apter
• Journal Texture #1 stencil by Pam Carriker
• Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet stencil by Cecilia Swatton

Here's the thumbnail gallery, and make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for the next blogs on the list and a giveaway!

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Links for today's blog hop:

StencilGirl Talk

Traci Bautista

Mary Beth Shaw

Carolyn Dube

Jennifer Priest

Gwen Lafleur <-- You are here

Kirsten Reed

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Mary C. Nasser

Julia Kellogg

Maria McGuire

And... of course, it's not a blog hop without a giveaway!

Update! The winners for the blog hop prize have been announced... congrats to the winners!

Comments

[Linda Penny]

Great ideas and I love...love...love the stencil!

[textilerecycler]

Que bonita! I LOVE LOVE LOVE how you used the stencils and gelli plate...

[Kathy Gledsdale]

That is so pretty and I am loving the new stencil.

[susan reiser]

Love the circles and using them on every page. Great idea and beautiful book!

[Caroline Duncan]

Awesome handmade book! Know the gelli printing was fun and I need to remember to use my stencils more for that.

[Janice]

Love what you've done with the stencils! Beautiful colors.

[Jeannie B]

I love the mini art journal. I'm getting ready to go on vacation and I think I'll make one to take with me.

[Linda on the Prairie]

Very colorful and explores the full potential of the stencils

[Bea savellano]

Love the book. It is a great way to show off all the variations of using the stencil...bea

[Gillian Pearce]

What a great variety of prints from using one stencil. I'd love to have a go at making a similar book so would be fun to win the set.

[Cheryl]

This stencil is my favorite of the bunch. I love the designs you came up with using monoprinted backgrounds...you make me want run to my studio and stay there for days!

[Janice]

Love what you've done with the stencils! Beautiful colors and ideas. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Lissa]

Thanks for teaching how to make that fabulous book with those awesome stencils!

[Barbara cobb]

I love that you used the gelli plate... it adds such great color to the page, along with Traci's stencil, it is super cool.

[Cath Sheard]

The thumbnail gallery looks amazing - the prints you've done would look stunning all hung on the all together.

[Wendy W]

man, that 'circles circles' stencil has boundless possibilities!! Great ideas and inspiration. Thanks for the chance to win some!!

[sherry]

Your journal is amazing. I luv it. The colors r fab!!

[Dianne VanderMeer]

I love that circle stencil. Hope I win! Your work is so interesting.

[Carmone Macfarlane]

I love how you created all of your pages!! The color is so energizing!

[Laura]

I haven't used stencils yet, but this blog hop has me intrigued!

[Kathryn Harpold]

I LOVE to make lots and lots of pretty papers into lots and lots of ready to roll journals so your post today made me feel right at home!

[Suzanne B]

There are soooo many things you can do with stencils. Loved seeing everything you did and all the beautiful colors.

[Liz]

What a fun little book! I love all the stencils she designed, but the circle one is my favorite!

[Genevieve]

Traci's new stencils look very cool. I especially like the circles!

[Cindy]

I would never thought of layering one stencil over another. Brilliant!

[Shari Czerwinski]

Love these stencils, so glad I found this blog! Thanks for the chance to win :)

[Jacklyn Young]

A lovely book! So pretty how you filled the circles with stamped images.

[Suzanne]

Such an incredible work of art!!! Looove how you used one stencil for the theme and came up with a stunning art journal. So simple yet inspired! tfs Blessings, Suzanne :)

[Cathy Gray]

Love the bright colors and everything circles, love your book

[Helen]

Just purchased a Gelli Plate a few months ago. Still learning all the ways to use it. Love the way you used the stencils on top. Thanks for a great giveaway.

[Lorna S.]

Thanks for working with the Circles Circles stencil - I enjoyed your process! it's the stencil I am planning to start with if I am a blog hop winner - if not, i'll have to wait for payday to purchase it!.

[Saranne Valentine]

WoWza! I really like your book!

[Marcia D.]

Love Traci's new stencils. Thanks for the chance.....