StencilGirl® Stencil and Texture Mayhem

Hi, servus and welcome to a short invitational post, everyone!

After a short return of icy cold winter two weeks ago, the sun is now back at warming my garden (and me) again! The bees are already busy buzzing in and around my little willow tree, the crocuses add dots of colour here and there and tulips and almond tree are waiting in their wings. 

I really love this time of year, when I feel like little Mary, who has just discovered the Secret Garden...

...and there is also a lot to discover over at the StencilGirl®  Talk blog, where I am sharing my latest project and post, which provide what the title of my post here is already giving away...as well as this little sneak peek...

As always you get to the post by clicking HERE.

Hope to see you over there soon!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

Self Made Winter Decoration with Tim Holtz dies and Quarterly StencilGirl Column Invite

Servus, dear creative friends!

I hope you've all had a good start into the new year! 

Today I am sharing a little self made winter decoration and I am also inviting you over to the StencilGirl Talk blog, where I am sharing my quarterly project and post as a columnist. The picture below shows the stencilled map papers I have made and used for this project (just to lure you into clicking the link at the end of this post to learn more about the how and what I did). 

The three months before Christmas have been meaning a lot of struggle for me in these last years - mainly caused by hormonal imbalance and menopause issues not going together well with my thyroid illness. But this year I've made progress at how to deal with that and I have managed not only to do a little seasonal crafting but also bake three sorts of Christmas cookies (which is three sorts more than in the last years actually ;) - despite trembling hands and panic attacks.

Even though I am not crafting a lot these days I still fall in love with a lot of Tim's 

dies and feel I am spoiling myself by buying them. ;) Especially the two Paper Village dies sets were a must-have for me (honestly - who does not love tiny houses?).

I have also been hoarding some wood chunks that came with the firewood for our fireplace and that I had other ideas for than burning them, as they had a special shape that reminded me of little hills. There were also some wood discs in my stash that I wanted to use as bases for two or three small advent home decoration pieces. 

In the end I decided to keep it quite simple and let the raw substrates do their own magic and just add a little snow and a red dimensional star (the smallest from Tim's "Dimensional Stars" dies set) and a small faux fir branch (bought at a dollar store) to the scenery. 

I did some more of these to give away as little presents. They were all done the same way: 

I die cut the parts of the houses from heavy Kraft cardstock (varying window shapes and positioning, as the dies sets offer this possibility), assembled them using tacky glue and glued them in place using the tacky glue quite generously around the houses' edges. I later covered any traces of dried glue with Opaque Distress Grit Paste and also added more of that to the roofs and bases to create the look of snow. To add even more texture to the paste I mixed in a bit of bird sand. 

The tiny houses on the wood discs also got a little red star to accompany them. I used two die cut star shapes to create one dimensional star and then just put the assembled star into the still wet grit paste. As the wood discs were flat I did the same with the assembled houses, so no additional glue was needed here. 

To fix the fir branches to their spots I first drilled a hole (using a hand drill) to insert the cut to size branches into, filling the hole with tacky glue. I also added more grip paste around these little "trees" as an additional support. 

I really like how the wood, the Kraft cardstock and the texture of the Grit Paste snow go together with the bark of the discs and the wood chunk! And the hints of green and red make for pretty highlights that add that bit of Christmas feel. 

Now I wonder how a summer-y version could look like.... ;) 

 

And here's the promised link to the StencilGirl Talk blog. 

Hope to see you over there too. 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia 

xxx

A Short Creative Update

 Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by! 
I hope you are all doing well and are looking forward to enjoying a lovely Advent season! 

I have been having a hard year to be honest - health-wise. Luckily the new home in our house near the lake and my garden are great sources for happiness, so gardening, hiking (or rather taking walks), riding my kayak and simply being out in nature have been helping with keeping me healthy on the mental side at least. 

I have also taken on a new hobby that is a perfect means to deal with inner restlessness - archery! My husband and I found we have an archery club nearby and it is located in a most beautiful corner there a ten minutes drive away. Spending time on the shooting range (or the 3D shooting course), trying to focus on the perfect motion sequence and the tension of your body and then letting go just feels so calming and it brings the shaking of my hands and mind to rest. 

I have also started to write again - poetry mainly. It also is something that calms the mind and it is a creative process too - I am painting with words in a kind of way. 

I haven't spent a lot of time in my studio this year - being ill for such a long time, crafting and being creative with stamps, paints, stencils and all the other mixed media goodness just wasn't what appealed to me and my restlessness and shaky hands weren't helpful either. 

BUT...I still have been creating projects for StencilGirl Products and PaperArtsy and is always quite a rewarding thing to do. I mostly do home decor pieces for the new home at the moment and being able to plan and make these in my own pace also makes it easier for me to not get panic attacks the moment I enter my studio. 

So to get to the core of his little update, I would like to present both new projects and the links to the according posts on the StencilGirl Talk blog and the PaperArtsy Blog: 

For StencilGirl I created a little canvas, collaged with stencilled tissue paper elements. I needed something to go on the wall near the fireplace that matched the colours of the metallic grey and the rocking chair grey as well as the wooden wall...

And I am really happy with how my "little village close to the mountain"-canvas turned out! 

A detailed step by step and all the stencils and products used can be found here: 

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2022/10/haiku-canvas-by-claudia-neubacher.html

The other project that has just gone live on the PaperArtsy Blog is a cloche displaying an autumnal arrangement of stamped leaves, paper beads and dried seeds and twigs. 

That was a project I also enjoyed making as the lovely PaperArtsy stamp sets designed by Courtney Franich finally made it possible to use (faux) autumn leaves in a project without having these crumble away and lose colours after some time...

I also used their fabulous Rusting Powder and some Infusions. How? Find out by clicking here:

Paper, Seeds and Twigs - Autumnal Cloche

There's some cool techniques there to check out and of course a lot of steps and detail images as well. 

I hope to see you there! 

Stay healthy and enjoy the last days of this beautiful autumn! 

Claudia

xxx

A Stencilled Staircase Showcase - a StencilGirl® Project

Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by today! Over on StencilGirl Talk I am sharing my latest quarterly column and before I start with telling you a bit more about it, I feel I need to thank Mary C. Nasser for the "Stencilled Staircase Showcase" title  - I was struggling with coming up with a good title for my column and project and she helped me with that (this way we found out that we both just loooove alliterations ;). 

Our timber house's staircase needed some wall decoration I found - and my recent new "dental adventures" had meant a little set-back concerning my panic attacks and shaking hands issues - so I needed some creative me-time where I could practise some mindfulness during the creative process. 

The main idea for the wall art piece originated from this strip of press board that I rescued from going to the waste disposal site (it was a protective "sheet" that came with a piece of furniture). It was a perfect fit for our staircase wall and its width to me seemed the perfect "frame" for a lovely collection of ATC sized collages with stencilled papers. 

I stencilled and stippled a lot and especially enjoyed the relaxing repetitive nature of the whole project - perfect for getting into the flow! To find out about the finished project, stencils used and how it looks on the wall of our staircase, simply click HERE to get to the blog post with steps images, some hints and more eye candy. 

Hope to see you over there!

Stay safe and creative!

Claudia

xxx

A Glam Grunge Pencil Case - for StencilGirl Products

 Hi, servus and I hope you are all well and safe these days and enjoying a beautiful autumn!

I am sharing an autumn inspired project over at the StencilGirl Talk blog today. A lot of images and a detailed how-to are waiting for you to be checked out! Simply click HERE to get taken to the blog post. 

I found that a bit of bling goes awesomely well with a truly grungy background and design! 

I did some stencilling, also some printing with stencils and layering to create my Alpine Glam Grunge pencil case - and it was such great fun! The how-to explains in detail what I did and which DecoArt paints and media I have used on my blank cotton pencil case to transform it into a glam grunge Alps Lover's fashion statement ;) 

Hope you'll like the inspiration! See you over there! 

Claudia

xxx

Affirmative Matchbook - a StencilGirl Project and Instagram Hop

 Servus, everyone!

It's in the middle of the night over here and I am posting about my latest project for StencilGirl Products as we are having an Instagram hop with two giveaways for you to win (which starts in about twenty minutes at 10 p.m. their time seen from now that I am writing this post - which is 5 a.m on the next day at my place ;) . I hope to see the deer (that have recently started visiting our garden) in about an hour, before I go back to bed and catch a little more sleep. 

But back to "business" - the Instagram hop and my little matchbook! 

Our wonderful boss, Mary Beth Shaw, has recently sent all on the team little surprise parcels with paints, media, mixed media tools and other little goodies and the plan was to use these on a project that would get shared in an Instagram hop - which is where we are right now. Thank you once more, boss, for the great goodies - love them all!!!! xxx

The picture shows all of these to the right and the StencilGirl stencils and die cut matchbook (using the Tim Holtz "Matchbook" die). 

I used stencils designed by Tracy Evans, Wendy Aikin, Kristin Williams and Seth Apter. 

I started with adding black and natural white chalk paints for a first layer. The black paint got scraped on using a palette knife, then the white was added on top using the architectural stencil and a stipple brush. 

That was followed by scraping on some yellow chalk paint with the palette knife again and adding marks in brown here and there...

I then continued with a layer of sprayed on Cerise IZink spray ink die using Seth Apter's latest Grunge Strips & Borders stencil. 

The ink mixed beautifully with the yellow and natural white layers underneath and created awesome tones from intense pink to warm bright orange. I really loved that!

The sticky cork dots I was given were perfect for adding depth and texture! I painted these yellow and white...

...and while these were set aside to dry I stencilled the lovely faces to the inside of the matchbook (which I had primed with black chalk paint). Next I used some of the Sharpie and watercolour brush pens to add marks to the cork dots. 

Once these had dried I glued them to the matchbook cover and added black shades around them using the watercolour brush pen and a detail brush to smudge the drawn lines around the cork dots. 

To finish up the project I added some word stickers with affirmative quotes and outlined the stencilled faces with the yellow Sharpie. 

Et voilá!

All the infos on the Instagram hop and how to win one of the two giveaways are to be found on Instagram (of course) - simply look out for #stencilgirl and/or #winstencils. Good luck and have a lovely day! 

Claudia xxx

GrungyFlower Still Life - a StencilGirl Project and Video Tutorial

 Oh, well...hey there....long time no see...so thank you even more for stopping by! ;)

As you may have noticed I haven't been spending much time in my studio(s) during the last months but now and then inspiration still likes to strike (at least a little) or one or the other design team project "forces" me to indulge in some creative me-time and I really always enjoy that (and am thankful for it as it keeps me going and in touch with my creative side). 

I am still in the middle of exploring and re-defining myself and my life, being in a new location and also health (or rather meno-pause)-wise forced to find new approaches to enjoying myself and everyday life. The new home close to the lake and the mountains helps a lot with this and I am enjoying my little garden, riding my kayak and exploring new sections of the lake's shore. Hail from one of the last heavy thunderstorms has done some superficial damage to the house and garden, but it is definitely nothing compared to the massive damage farmers and market gardens are dealing with! 

This weekend my son will get his second dose of Cov-19 vaccine and then the three of us will all be on the safe side and relaxed. So we are all well and safe - I hope you and your loved ones are too! 

I am sharing a flower still life with a video tutorial today - done for StencilGirl and with their wonderful stencils of course. If you hop over to their StencilGirl Talk blog, you will learn about what subconsciously influenced my painting - I was amazed myself how much I am obviously visually influenced by my new home and surroundings! 

The ten-minute video shows the whole process and also offers hints on composition and other helpful information on paints and tools used - so I hope you will like it! Enjoy your summer! 

Stay safe!

Claudia xxx

Time to Reinvent - a New Studio and StencilGirl Project

 Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by my little (recently quite quiet) creative corner!

Today's post is not just  a kind of update on my creative journey that has come to a sort of halt last autumn but also an invite over to the StencilGirl Talk blog, where I am sharing a new project (slowly getting back into the saddle it seems) and tutorial but also a short video tour around my new studio in my new countryside home at Lake Atter! 

We're keeping our Vienna home and my studio there too - so moving in the house and setting up another studio from scratch there is quite a challenge - especially as I need to decide which materials and tools to leave in Vienna and which ones to move to the new studio in the countryside. 

Deciding which of these to take to the house or leave in the flat still is a challenge I need to meet. Generally I find it hard to nail criteria for dividing stash by as it means you need to know first which kind of projects you will prefer to do in one spot and which in the other. But how do you do this without the feeling of limiting down yourself in both places? 

(impressions from the new studio - more details in the video over at StencilGirl's blog)

So far I have come to the conclusion assumption that I will rather do nature-inspired projects in the new countryside studio and focus on Distress and stencil techniques in the city studio...but what to do with the stencils that are nature themed for example?...I think I will have some items that will need to travel in the future. ;) 

 For now I have put together a kind of base equipment that will allow me to tackle a variety of themes and project types with some of my favourite techniques, inks, paints and products, but I also re-discovered items while browsing my stash that I had either forgotten about or that were among my first acquisitions when I started this hobby and got (mentally) replaced by newer ones over the years. I found these were well worth using again - so I hope they will get to be loved again in the new studio. In the last years I slipped into the habit of "needing" - needing to try out this new product or that new technique or theme...which led to some themes or loved items slipping out of focus...some having been real loves of mine. 

I re-discovered a lot of old texture and nature themed stamps that have been accumulating dust in some forgotten corners in my studio. By forgetting about these I also forgot of themes and project types that fuelled my imagination in the first place...and that still do. 

I have also been feeling lately that I've reached a kind of dead-end with my creativity in many ways - maybe that happened because I somehow lost track of the creative path I originally started on but then found myself trying out too many side trails at once and also designers highways where the urge of new high speed impressions replaced in-depth adventures and a journey that would lead to myself rather than to feeding the "needs" artificially created by something quite shallow - something that is ruled by online marketing thoughts and strategies and not needs of a creative spirit. 

So I am quite thankful for the health crises I am struggling with at the moment, as that forces me to think over a lot of things and re-invent myself and the way of how I want to live my creative side. Setting up a new studio in a new home that also brings me a lot of joy and inspiration from the beautiful nature it is surrounded by is the perfect help! 

  

The new project for StencilGirl was done in the Vienna studio though (remember - stencils stay there or will travel with me) - and gladly it was a project that brought back my joy in creating after the long break, too. Just me, myself, the beautiful designs, my favourite DecoArt paints and products and the joy of playing with colours and putting together something new to use in my new studio! 

 I hope you will visit the StencilGirl Talk blog too to take the short studio tour and check out the tutorial for this desk tidy! 

Stay safe!

Claudia

xxx