Stencil on Images journal page, made with Silhouette Cameo

I love Stencil Girl and The Crafters' Workshop, and making my own stencils won't replace their wonderful products; however, I wanted to try making stencils from my own designs so I bought a Silhouette Cameo. For those of you who have never heard of a Silhouette Cameo, it'a small machine that cuts shapes out of paper, vinyl film, card stock, fabric, and some other things, including plastic stencil material. I tried three or four different kinds of stencil materials, none of which worked with the machine, until I found this video on YouTube by Jamie Tardif. She recommended Show Offs stencil blanks, which can be purchased only at Hobby Lobby, and that is what I am using.

I still haven't made a stencil from my own design -- I need some remedial training on Adobe Illustrator or the software that comes with the machine. I did make the beautiful stencil pictured below, though. It's a design that I purchased from Silhouette called Echo Park Doily. The stencil material is not a lovely shade of lavender, that's from the Dylusions spray that I used. Read on ...

Silhouette Echo Park Doily

I used the chipboard setting on the Silhouette to cut this out. You have to do a lot of fiddling to get the machine set so that it will cut properly. 

Gelli printed collaged deli papers with stencil applied in purple

I put my Images journal in my non-OSHA approved paint booth (cardboard box) and got out the Dylusions Crushed Grape spray ink. You can see the stencil design at the bottom left corner of the top right quadrant. I deliberately sprayed only a part of the stencil. I did not want the doily to be the focal point on the page. I wiped some of it off after I sprayed it.

The page I sprayed on was coated with either Liquitex Liquid Matte Medium or ModPodge, I can't remember. The Dylusions beaded up a bit but I rolled a roll of paper towels over it to pick up the excess.

This design is on the paper towel that I put underneath.

I usually put a paper towel or piece of paper under the object to be sprayed. I have some beautiful papers that started life as a humble drip-catcher. I think I'll try tissue paper the next time I spray.

So there's today's quickie peek into the Silhouette Cameo and stenciling. If you want to learn more, watch Jamie's video (link in first paragraph). You can always leave a comment if you have a question and I'll try to answer it.

Now go make something daring. It doesn't count unless you make a mess.