Art Journal Every Day: Melita Loves Stencils

If 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!

Today we've got a guest post from Melita Bloomer.

Hi guys! My name is Melita Bloomer and I am super excited to be joining you all here today. I’ve been a long time fan of Art Journal Every Day, so when Julie invited me share some of my creations I couldn’t resist!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a slight obsession with my art journal, and consequently my art supplies. Without a doubt, my favourite of those supplies would have to be stencils. The versatility and amazing range available really makes creating so fun and easy that I rarely work without them. I’ve got a couple of my favourite stencilled spreads to share with you today, so let’s take a look!

This first spread is my current favourite. I started with a collage of messy under papers, and then used an alpha stencil to create a bit of interest, followed by a spritzed yellow sunburst. To top it off, I chose my favourite stencil to play with, Blazonry, by Miss Julie herself!. Using my finger, I smeared magenta acrylic paint within the stencil, and followed that with an oil pastel outline, smudging it just a little. The title here was also done with a stencil, a bargain find at my local dollar store.

I was smitten the second I saw Julie’s new face stencils and could not wait to play with them. I knew I wanted to stick with clean look of the face, but wanted to go all out with the background, so after collaging some book text, I dug into my stencil stash and let my imagination run wild! I’ve used a vintage doily and turquoise spray in, a chevron stencil with open acrylic, and a spotted stencil with flexible modelling paste. I topped it off with Julie’s Three Quarter face stencil and black acrylic, along with a little stamping and fun magenta drips.

My final page today is loud and proud. This is the result of a bundle of new stencils arriving in the mail, and the urge to use every single one of them. In total, there are five stencils used on this page! I added the stencilled designs, using acrylics and a cosmetic sponge. There was no real thought to this process, just random stencilling layered in with a little stamping. The silhouette was added last, using Sharpie paint pens, and my trusty Pilot Permaball.

As you can see, I absolutely love working with stencils in my journal, in a variety of ways, and I really hope that my pages have given you an idea or two on incorporating stencilling into your journal. Thanks for letting me play along Julie – it’s been a blast!

My name is Melita and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I am a WAHM of two gorgeous girls, and am happily married to my high school sweetheart. I am a total bookworm, completely addicted to all things craft, love my movies, and can’t resist a good tune!

I have always been a crafty person – scrapbooking, art journalling and many more, but these days I am primarily a mixed media artist, working with just about any medium I can get my hands on. I love sharing my creations and processes and Artful Fancies, my little corner of the web, is a great platform to do so.  I am loving this creative outlet, and the online art community has given me a chance to ‘meet’ so many new friends – I wouldn’t change a thing!

• Blog: http://melitabloomer.wordpress.com/ 
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/melitabloomer
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/litabells 
• Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/melitabloomer/

Here is this week's linky list: