I'm super excited today to announce that I'm releasing two new stencil designs with StencilGirl! There are a whole bunch of new holiday stencils coming out today, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!
My Christmas Cardinal & Holly stencil and the Christmas Poinsettias stencil are both hand-drawn designs that were inspired by Christmas with my family at my parents' home in Northern Virginia where I grew up (and still go back every year to celebrate with them!) You may also recognize this cardinal from a hand-carved stamp I made a year or two ago... I loved it so much that I took the original drawing, enlarged it, and made it part of this stencil!
The cardinal always reminds me of my mom, plus in Virginia, we see quite a few of them flying through the yard in the winter! Holly also grows wild along the paths in the neighborhood in sharp, tangled branches that reach out at you as you walk by. The Holly and the Ivy is also one of my favorite carols, so it seemed natural to include it here.
Here you can see how I've used both elements from this stencil to make a colorful and elegant handmade greeting card.
I stenciled the cardinal with black ink, then filled it in with colored pencils. Here you can see it a little more closely:
In the background, I used layers of Distress Oxide and regular Distress inks along with some gold foil, then I stenciled the holly with gold pigment ink and heat embossed it with gold Emerald Creek embossing powder. I love the subtle impact - it's there and works with the feel of the card, but doesn't detract from the bird as the focal point.
I also did a whimsical little "Dear Santa" page in my small art journal, using the holly design to frame the journaling space. (The journaling will come later, once I'm ready to add my Christmas wish!)
I stenciled in black ink and colored in the images (and added some glitter glue berries, of course!) and then outlined everything with a gold gel pen.
The Christmas Poinsettias stencil was inspired by all of the poinsettia plants - of all sizes and colors - that my mom always has around the house in December. Even in my own home, it's not Christmastime without at least one poinsettia as part of the decor!
I designed these so that you could use them singly with the option of multiple sizes, or layer them. I made this "JOY" banner out of large manila tags and added stenciled and layered poinsettias on top.
Here you can see a close-up of one of the tags, where I again used pigment ink to stencil the design, then heat embossed it for a slightly dimensional tone-on-tone background.
For the flowers, I stenciled them individually, then cut them out and layered them and added some glitter glue accents. For the center tags that spell "JOY," I used my Art Deco Alphabet stencil for the letters, then cut those out as well and adhered them on top.
One final project with the Christmas Poinsettias stencil... I used it to make a border along the edge of a page in my large, 11"x11" art journal.
I created masks for the two different sizes of flowers by stenciling them on copy paper and cutting them out, then I masked off some of the stenciled flowers and added others around them - I like the effect this gives so that it looks like they're overlapping.
That's it for my projects... I'm so excited about these new stencils - I'm just thrilled with how they came out, and I hope you like them too! Make sure to stop by StencilGirl Talk today to see all of the other new designs being released - they're all wonderful!
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Love your new stencils and their versatility, great examples of what to do with them!
Posted by: Sandsee Setliff | October 05, 2017 at 07:50 AM
Beautiful stencils with so much possibility! I love your Dear Santa page! I know I could fill one of those up pretty quickly. Your projects are inspirational.
Posted by: Lynda Shoup | October 08, 2017 at 01:28 PM
Huge Congratulations Gwen!! These new Christmas stencils absolutely rock! And I have my very own!! woo hoo!!Thank you!
I have to tell you, the first morning I sat here and looked at these pieces I was overwhelmed with excitement of the designs you created and the inspiration I was receiving to create some of my own! I may have to "borrow" that banner idea!
And now again this morn, I can't wait to get into my studio to play!
The cardinal card is delicious! The richness of your colors and that background- stunning! I thought that you had carved out the spot for the bird until I looked closer, the dimension you have on that piece is incredible- love the embossing!!
Your dear Santa page is darling,might have to borrow that as well! lol
and that banner, I just love it, as you probably guessed! The layered flowers,and your letters- oh how I love your artwork!
Your last page, again with your layering is spot on beautiful! Such a great design with these stencils-I love layers!
Absolutely inspiring post- thank you!
Jackie ")
Posted by: PNJackie | October 10, 2017 at 03:24 AM