In this lesson, we will be learning:
- How to create a stencil using Scrap Girls products and freezer paper – Both for hand cutting and cutting with the Silhouette Cameo Electronic Cutting Machine.
- How to create a currently popular background technique using regular art supplies.
- How to create the “Aura Knot” Pattern I used for the internal flower designs. (Via a UTube video…link provided)
Digital supplies used:
ScrapSimple Tools – Shapes: Build a Flower 6303
Craft supplies used:
Freezer paper
Dylusions Ink Spray
Pitt Pens (black), Gelly Roll pen (white), water color pencils
Let’s begin!
HAND CUTTING METHOD:
Step 1 – Open a new document in your photo editing software (I use CS4) the size of your journal page, then open the file that contains the designs you will be using…select the ones you want to use & open. Bring each design over to your document individually and size accordingly to your page and design plan. (see photo 1)
Step 2 – Since I only want the outline of the shapes…I used the magic wand tool & clicked in the background (white) area. Marching ants will appear. Click on Select, then Inverse. Click on Edit, then stroke, setting the width to 5, color to black and the location to outside. (see photo 2)
Click on delete, then select-deselect.You will now have a perfect outline! (see photo 3)
Step 3 – Cut a piece of freezer paper to 8.5″ x 11″. Lightly iron it (medium setting) to a piece of copy paper, shiny side down.
Step 4 – Print, making sure the the print is on the freezer paper.
Step 5 – Cut out, using scissors. (See photo 4)
SILHOUETTE CAMEO CUTTING METHOD
Step 1 – In your photo editing software, create a document the size of your journal page. Open the file that has the designs you want to use in it. Then bring each design over to your document individually, size accordingly to your page and design plan.
Save as a jpeg. (I save it to my desktop so I can find it easily)
Step 2 – Open your Silhouette software. Click open, then click on your design file that you saved.
Step 3 – Click on the Trace icon located at the upper right of your screen. Click on select trace area. Select the design area.
Step 4 – Turn off the high pass filter and move the threshold slider to the far right. Click trace outline. Move your original file out of the cutting zone and delete. Your cut lines will be red lines.
Step 5 – Cut a piece of freezer paper to 8.5″ x 11 inches”. Stick it on your cutting mat shiny side up. Set blade to 2 or 3, speed to 3. (I like a slow cutting speed, but you could cut faster.) Cut.
PLAY TIME!
Step 6 – Iron your cut-outs (medium setting), shiny side down, to your journal page.
Step 7 – Put a paper towel underneath the page and hold a piece of cardboard vertically in the spine area with the hand you won’t be spraying with. Take you’re Dylusions Ink Spray and …well, SPRAY! Don’t worry that the ink will soak through your cut-outs! Remember that the shiny side is waterproof.
Step 8 – When dry, gently peel off your cut-outs.
Step 9 – Design to your heart’s content! Think of all the great templates and digital brush images in the Scrap Girls boutique that would work great for making your own stencils!
If you like the Zen Tangle patterns that I did within the flower shapes, here is a video tutorial by Rick & Maria (the originators of the Zen Tangle) that shows you how to do it. This video was how I learned to do the “Aura Knot”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTdKlc6gXmI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I used my fine black Pitt Pen for the drawings, watercolor pencils for the color, and the white Gelly roll pen for the highlights.
Have fun with these addicting techniques! And don’t forget to post what you have done in the Scrap Girls Hybrid Gallery….I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Don’t forget that the Scrap Girls Boutique Is an amazing resource for stencil possibilities! In my next lesson we will be exploring some of them, along with learning another background technique.
See you next time!
Jerrie
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