TAP Transfer Artist Paper on Fabric...Another StencilGirl Blog Hop!

Don't you love when things just come together perfectly?

I was asked to participate in this week long blog hop with StencilGirl and Lesley Riley's TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) and I was already planning to experiment with creating a graffiti style piece inspired by this adorable image of Yoshi, my future dog guide foster puppy. 

 

I've always got TAP in my stash, and knew it was the perfect tool for what I was planning! I took the image into Photoshop, cropped it and played around until I had the graffiti look I was going for. Then, following the instructions that come with the transfer paper*, I printed my image and transferred it to a piece of muslin (I wanted the off white colouring for Yoshi's face).  

*I won't go into details because Lesley does it much better than I could. 

See the links at the bottom of this post for more information about TAP.

Here is what the transfer looks like on the muslin. I love the bright, vibrant colour and clarity!

I knew I wanted to stretch this piece over a canvas frame, so I added some elements that would go off beyond the main image so that they could be seen on the sides of the finished stretched canvas.  I fussy cut some bricks and auditioned them in random places. (tip: I use my iPhone to take pictures as I go so I can compare and select the placement I like best and then remember how to get back to it!)

I also cut out Yoshi's name in navy fabric to make it stand out a bit more.




It was now time to add some stencilling using acrylic paint.

I used Terri Stegmiller's Broken Circles and her Heart Grid stencils. In order to have control over exactly where I placed the elements, I masked off individual elements using post-it notes.

I added the acrylic paint using a sponge brush.

I realized a needed something else, so I pulled out Seth Apter's Inside Out stencil. Seth has some wonderful stencil designs that are perfect for graffiti work!

Once the paint dried, I was ready to fuse on the bricks and letters. (IMPORTANT: use the release paper included with the TAP if you are going to iron over the transferred image!)

Over to the sewing machine...I layered the piece with batting and free motion stitched around the bricks, loosely doodling the lines. 

Next, I set the machine to do satin stitch, but I kept the free motion foot on and the feed dogs down so I could get a more 'grungy' look to my stitch as I outlined the letters for Yoshi's name.

It's now ready to be stretched and stapled to the pre-stretched canvas. 

I really like the look of the elements that carry over to the side of the canvas. 

This was really fun and I'm thinking of working on a bit of a graffiti series, perhaps making a piece like this for each of the puppies I foster. First on the agenda will be to go back and get a favourite image of Dime, my first foster puppy!

Here are the other stops on today's hop:

StencilGirl Talk

Kirsten Reed

Linda Kittmer - you are here!

Julia Kellogg - next stop...

If you missed the other stops on this week long hop, head back to Monday's StencilGirl Talk post so you can find them all!  Have fun!

Don't forget to leave a comment at each of the blog hop stops for a chance to win these fabulous prizes!

Links:

StencilGirl Website

Lesley Riley Website

Purchase TAP

Free TAP Videos

Paid TAP Instructional Class

Blog Hop - Mary Beth Shaw's Book: Stencil Girl

The inspiration for this piece came from Mary Beth Shaw's book, Stencil Girl (and when you buy the book, you get an exclusive stencil/bookmark with it!). Mary Beth uses paper for a wonderful paper batik 'quilt', but since I have other plans for the finished fabric I have used cotton muslin instead of paper.

Since it was a cool day and we needed a little fire to warm up the cottage, I melted my wax on top of the wood stove.









After melting the wax, I kept it at temperature using an electric melting pot while I worked on the kitchen counter.  I layed the stencils over the fabric and applied the wax with a brush. I used soya wax since it was all I had on hand, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. If I do this again I'll go back to a combination of bee's wax and paraffin. I've used this combination for batik before with good results.

Once the wax was appied I used these liquid dyes in little misters to apply the colour.








This image shows how the soya wax let some of the colour through.  Not quite what I was going for, but the end result is pleasing non the less.

The pieces were put into little ziploc bags and left over night.

 The pieces were then hung to dry outside on the line.



Unfortunately, when they were rinsed the colour became a little more pastel than I was counting on.  Oh well, they're still lovely bright colours.  These next images show the quilting that was done, inspired by the stencil patterns.

 And these images show a few of the stencils that were used. Some of the pieces didn't turn out as well, so the original stencilled image was lost.

Stencils used:

Buildings Stencil by Carol Dube 
Gears Stencil by Mary Beth Shaw
Greek Key Stencil by Mary Beth Shaw
Dots and Dashes Stencil by Jessica Sporn
Trees Stencil by Mary Beth Shaw
Pods Stencil by Jane LaFazio

My plan for this wonderful piece of quilted fabric is to make myself a carry all puppy 'diaper' bag for all the things I need to have with me for my Future Dog Guide foster puppies. I'm still designing the bag, complete with lots of pockets inside for maximum organization.  I'll post a picture of the finished bag when it's done.  Until then, thanks for visiting and joining in another fabulous StencilGirl blog hop! Please make sure you visit all of the other blogs on this wonderful week long hop!

Giveaway: 

One lucky winner, chosen at random, will receive Stencil Girl the book with exclusive stencil bookmark and (3) 6" x 5" stencils designed by Mary Beth Shaw. 

All comments left on all of the blogs will be entered into the draw.  
Giveaway will close: Sunday, September 21st @ 11:59PM Central Time

Good Luck!

Hop Stops:

StencilGirl Talk

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Linda Kittmer - you are here!

If you missed the first few days of this week long blog hop go here to find the start.

Didn't win the giveaway...buy this incredible book here

Stencil Girl Week Long Blog Hop...

I'm excited to be participating in another fun, week long blog hop, featuring Mary Beth Shaw's inspiring book called Stencil Girl. My day isn't until Thursday, but I thought you might like to get in on the fun today.  Start by going to StencilGirl Talk and then you can follow the links from there.

One lucky winner, chosen at random, will receive Stencil Girl the book with exclusive stencil bookmark and (3) 6" x 5" stencils designed by Mary Beth Shaw. 

All comments left on all of the blogs 

will be entered into the draw.  

Giveaway will close: Sunday, 

September 21st @ 11:59PM Central Time

See you on Thursday!

Blog Hop - VIVA LasVegaStamps and StencilGirl

I'm excited to be playing along in another StencilGirl blog hop, this time with VIVA Las VegaStamps.

Although my summer studio is confined to a tiny table on the deck and a small bin of supplies with which to work, it has a stunningly beautiful view and a lovely breeze off the lake!  In addition, with gates at both ends of the deck, it acts as a giant playpen to contain Yoshi, my Dog Guide Foster Puppy so that I can work without worrying about her getting into trouble!  She's even got a little wading pool to play in. LOL

I chose to work with VIVA Las VegaStamps Plate O' Rubber #1399 (Mary Vogel Lozinak's design) and Mary Beth Shaw's Gears Stencil.

I started by randomly putting paint down on my page using blue, orange, black and a bit of green.

Then, using a semi-dry brush technique and an antique white, I applied paint using a small brush and the Gears stencil.

I love how this worked...not as heavy as if I had filled in the entire stencil with paint, but still giving me all of the wonderful detail of Gears. I don't usually use the entire stencil on the page, but in this case it was exactly the background I was going for!

I tore a couple of strips of marbled dyed paper I had in my stash, tearing from the front to achieve that bit of a white border along the edge.  Those were adhered to the page using matte medium.

I stamped some of the stamp images onto deli paper, using dark brown ink.  I then tore them out, added them to dictionary paper using matte medium and an old credit card, and when they were dry I tore them out leaving a bit of a border around them.

Before adding the stamped images, I traced around them and painted a blue background to help them pop a bit more.  They were adhered to the orange strip so that they'd look like they were rolling downhill.

I decided to trace some of the key features of the stamps with a permanent black pen to give them a bit more definition.

Some white lines were drawn in (see last image) to represent motion.

Using my paint bottle as a pen, I wrote the large text. This took a long time to dry because of the thickness of the paint.  If you try this, be patient so you don't mess it up by touching it too early!

When that was dry I doodle outlined the letters with a fine permanent black pen.











And here's the final page:

GIVEAWAY!

All comments on the hop (ALL WEEK) are eligible for the giveaway. 

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win. 

GIVEAWAY will close on Sunday, August 24th @ at 11:59PM Central Time.

GOOD LUCK!

Here's the blog hop order for today...enjoy!

StencilGirl Talk
Gwen Lafleur
Kirsten Reed
Linda Kittmer-You are here!
Karen Knight
Amy Lassiter
Viva Las VegaStamps!

If you missed the beginning of this week long blog, head back to this link on StencilGirl Talk to find the links to the first day!

Day Three of the Sizzix and StencilGirl Blog Hop Featuring Eileen Hull Designs

I'm excited to be part of this fun week long blog hop featuring Eileen Hull and StencilGirl!

It's always fun to be able to combine a variety of products and techniques to create and today I'm doing just that!  I'm playing with a variety of StencilGirl stencils, Sizzix Die Cuts and Eileen Hull stamp designs.  You can see the full list of products I used, along with links below.

I decided to make a little memory album for a friend who just had to return her future dog guide puppy for her formal training as a Service Dog (SSD).





I started with the easel.  I used spray ink and the Curvy Ladder stencil.  I continued to layer on paint using different stencils and stamps, keeping to various blues. My final step was to add some white circles and random rub-on letters.









I used the Dots and Dashes stencil as the initial layer on the memory book cover, layering Bubbles stencil over it. The inside covers were done with the Inside Out stencil and off prints using the Dots and Dashes again. The accent pieces were painted with a brush and then I doodled on them using permanent black and white pens.  

I repurposed a piece of scrapbooking paper to create the accordian centre binding that holds the pages in the book (Sissix provides a PDF showing you how to assemble the album).

The inside pages of the album were cut from my collection of Gelli printed, marbled and painted papers.

It was fun selecting the photos to used in the book.  I had them printed at a Kodak kiosk for a great price.  This is a really freeing exercise since you can go ahead and cut up the photos, knowing that they can be worked around other features on the page. Some pages invited a bit of hand lettering to comment on the images.

And, when closed and in the easel, I think it would look really cute on a mantel or shelf!

Products Used:

Sizzix ScoreBoards Pro Die - Ease

Sizzix Bigz Die - Labels & Buttons

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - Album, Photo

Crafitti Direct - Eileen Hull's Picket Fence Stamp Set

Curvy Ladder Stencil by Julie Snidle
Dots and Dashes Stencil by Jessica Sporn
Inside Out Stencil by Seth Apter
Bubbles Stencil by Paticia Baldwin Seggbruch

GIVEAWAY: 

StencilGirl will be giving away one 

stencil per day, randomly chosen from 

comments left on all blogs participating that day.

Deadline for comments is Sunday, August 24th @ at 11:59PM Central Time

Good Luck!

Blog Hop Stops for today:
StencilGirl Talk
Jennifer Priest
Linda Kittmer-You are here
Tracy Evans
Rina Gonzales
Evgenia Petzer

If you missed the earlier blog stops in the week, check back in at StencilGirl Talk for the entire week's links.  Have fun!

StencilGirl Blog Hop...Introducing Designs By Orly Avineri

June has been a great month for blog hops, and today I'm excited to be back to launch the wonderful new designs by Orly Avineri.  I used Orly's Sticks and Bones stencil to create this page in my journal. The page was inspired by something I overheard while in a restaurant recently.

 

I started by randomly painting my page with three different colours. Then, using Orly's stencil, I stenciled the skeleton using black paint and various elements from the stencil. To create the spine between the ribs and pelvis I simply isolated the spine part of the rib element. I off set the stencil slightly and over stencilled it with white paint. I like the suggestion of dimension that this overlay produced.


Using some rub on lettering I had in my stash, I added the main text, which was the comment I overheard a very anorexic looking young teenage girl saying to her mother..."Why is everyone always trying to get me to eat?"

To emphasize the word 'eat' I tore it out of magazine lettering.

I used a white pen to journal some thoughts about the sad statement the girl was making, and about healthy body image and the portrayal of young women in media.

Using some 'found objects' and more acrylic paint I made some marks to fill in some of the empty space and to sort of echo the general shape and feel of the spine.

We will have a giveaway on StencilGirl Talk. 

All comments on the hop are eligible for the giveaway. 

The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win. 

Giveaway will close on Sunday, June 29th at 11:59PM Central Time. 

PRIZE: 5 lucky winners will each get one of Orly's new releases.

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Orly Avineri

Mary Beth Shaw

Seth Apter

Carolyn Dube

Mary C. Nasser

Kirsten Reed

Gwen Lafleur

Linda Kittmer-you are here

Janet Joehlin-next stop on the hop

Maria McGuire