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From the Archives: Bag + Paint = Happy

Art Journal Every Day: Tutorial: Cut Your Own Stencils

ArtJournalEveryDayLogo-150If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.  If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post.  Thanks!

Art journals and stencils go together like macaroni and cheese.  I get a lot of questions about using stencils, but also about making your own.  In particular, people often want to learn how to make their own plastic stencils.  Well, there are lots and lots of different ways to do it.  My current favorite method is to use quilter's template plastic and a craft knife.  It's quick and easy.

STEP ONE: Use a permanent marker to draw your design directly onto the plastic.

1-sketch
STEP TWO: Trim the plastic down to size with scissors and then use a craft knife to cut out the design.

2-cut
Be sure to work on self-healing mat.  Go slowly.  And turn the template plastic so that you're always cutting towards yourself and not at some weird angle.  Curves are the trickiest.

STEP THREE: Play with your stencil!

Halfcircletags-wm
If you cut out larger shapes, it's easy to use those pieces as masks.

3-positive&negative
3-positive&negative
3-positive&negative
And here I've used the stencil:

StenciledLeaves-wm
If you accidentally cut something you didn't mean to...

4-badcut
...don't worry about it!  It's easily fixed by applying some Glossy Accents to both sides of the cut.  

5-GlossyAccents
This waterproof adhesive will simply seal up the cut without adding any bulk to the stencil.

If you don't feel comfortable drawing a design freehand, you can always trace one instead.

7-numbers
7-numbers
7-numbers
7-numbers
Finally, here's an art journal spread I made with my new stencils!

AJ-wm
AJ-wm
Happy stencil cutting!

Here is this week's linky list:

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