by Pat Merewether

Created on: August 07, 2008   Last Updated: July 05, 2010

Stencils are great ways to create special effects in a wide variety of arts and craft projects; personalizing articles with names and numbers, decorating windows for the holidays, adding interest and uniqueness to scrapbook projects and photo albums and many other uses.

First select your theme or design such as holidays, birthdays, seasons, sports,weddings, etc..

One of the best places to find designs for cutting stencils is the kids department of a library or craft shop because the shapes are very basic. Coloring books for young children are excellent for stencil making. Unless you are great at drawing or an artist, this will save you loads of time and frustration. Leaves, pet paw prints and cookie cutters also are great for patterns. Use a glue-stick to hold leaves to the stencil material and trace around them.   Paw prints are easy, just use non-toxic water-based paint and press against your pet's paw into the paint and then onto the stencil.  Cookie cutters are among the easiest to use and come in many themes and patterns as well as rubber stamps.

Poster board or mat board are excellent and  inexpensive choices for making stencils.They are heavy enough to hold up under multiple uses but not too heavy to cut through easily. There are plastic sheets available but more expensive, so practice on a plain sheet of printer paper first. The cardboard from cereal boxes are also useful.

An Exacto knife is easiest for cutting intricate designs. They are sold in a kit with several blades which you can change. Craft stores, hardware stores or chain discount stores all carry them.

It's often hard to find the right size for your stencil, but you can scan your design into a computer and make it larger or smaller. Many programs for this are available for free on line. If you need a very large stencil, cut out each part on separate pieces of paper and do each section separately. If you're doing a large apple or one shape, cut out sections that can be stenciled together in sections and then dab paint over any lines or voids that happen.

Patterns that are drawn free-hand are often more interesting and easier to do than you might think. Flower, leaves, stars, moons, and many shapes are fairly easy and will add your own special flair, so give it a try. Slight imperfections often make a project more appealing than a perfect shape. Make background or filler stencils like a page of small squares, circles or stars of various sizes to add interest around your major design.

After your stencil is completed, play with various paints or inks and use sponges, stencil brushes or markers as each will give you a different look. Use painters tape (blue masking tape) to hold your stencil in place on paper or a glue stick on fabric or other hard surfaces.

Use several colors and stencil sections of your project with shades of the same color or contrasting colors for a more interesting approach. Red, yellow orange; sky blue and aqua, purple, pink and yellow or green look great. Let each color dry between layers so they won't run together as you can get a muddy look this way - unless that's what you want.

Have fun with them , for instance sprinkle some glitter on the paint while it's still wet, I'm sure you'll come up with all sorts of creative ideas once you get started!

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