Finish an art journal perfectly with a fun cover using stencils and DecoArt Media products.

SUPPLIES

• water container
• palette or plastic plate
• paper towels
• 3/4" flat brush
• 1/4" flat brush
• baby wipes
• black ink pad
• cosmetic sponge
• low-tack painter's tape
• journal book with watercolor pages
• old credit card
• stamps

INSTRUCTIONS

NOTES:

Let dry completely between painting steps.

Stenciling: Load paint onto a cosmetic sponge, pounce off excess on a palette then lightly pounce through the stencil openings.

Blending Colors: Apply paint with folded baby wipe by rubbing lightly in a circular motion, fading the edges as to not leave a hard line.

Glazing: Load paint onto a folded baby wipe and apply by rubbing lightly in a circular motion.

1. Apply Gesso to both front and back cover. Allow to dry completely. Tear small unevenly shaped pieces from the text sheet in the Vintage Silhouette Decou-page Paper. Apply Matte Medium to the surface, place a piece of paper down and immediately top with another coat of Matte Medium. Repeat for each piece of paper, randomly placing them on the cover yet leaving several empty areas.

2. Use Cerulean Blue to stencil randomly placed portions of the Mandala and Distressed Harlequin stencils.

3. One way to seamlessly blend areas of color to use a "wet over dry" technique. Begin by loading Green Gold onto a folded baby wipe. Apply by rubbing lightly in a circular motion, fading the edges.

4. Apply Cobalt Teal Hue around the previously applied color using the same method. Be sure to overlap the previously applied color and soften the outer edges.

5. Fill in any remaining areas with Primary Cyan using the same method.

6. Stencil Translucent White in random areas using Shedded stencil. Overlapping previously stenciled images will strengthen the layered effect.

7. Isolate the letters A, R, T from the A to Z stencil by placing painter's tape over the openings around letter. Place each letter to spell the word "art" on the cover and stencil with White Gesso.

8. For the "bump" stenciling technique, replace the stencil over the dry completed image and move it slightly to the left.

9. Stencil the image again using Black Gesso. This will create more dimension in the image.

10. Create another layer by stenciling randomly placed words from the Inspiration and Motivation stencil with Primary Cyan.

11. Using a permanent ink pad, randomly stamp the image of birds from the Nature stamp randomly. Slide the edge of an old credit card lightly through a puddle of Black Gesso. Drag the edge along the surface leaving uneven lines in the corners. Create a wash by diluting Black Gesso with water. Load a stiff bristle brush and lightly spatter black over the covers. A thin wash of Black Gesso will create tiny spatters, while a thicker wash will create larger drops.

12. Apply two coats of Ultra Matte Varnish on both covers to protect your work and increase durability.

RELATED PROJECTS