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Using a gel plate and a stencil to make rainbow sneakers tutorial by Carolyn DubePaint Couture…fun to make and fun to wear!  Turns out finding a rainbow colored pair of shoes isn’t as easy as you might think so I decided to make some rainbow shoes!  Clearly, I did not cobble them myself but simply painted a cheap pair of canvas sneakers.

Even though you don’t see triangles all over the shoes, the triangle petite plate from Gel Press was used for the entire shoe, including stenciling the stars using the new Stars Inspired by Matisse stencil.  You can see the whole process in the video including how I managed to keep the white rubber so white (hint baby wipes).

Watch Gel printing and stenciling sneakers on YouTube.

Want to win the stencils used in this video?  One lucky reader will win all 7 of my new stencils.  Leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win.  Want more chances?  Leave a comment on each of the giveaway posts (Wednesday’s, Thursdays, Saturday’s and today’s posts!) See all the details at the end of this post.

What types of paint do I use to paint shoes?  Any acrylic paints that I had in arm’s reach.  After all, any time I spill paint on my clothes it is hard to get it out.  I could have used fabric paints but these are cheap shoes that probably couldn’t stand going through the washing machine too much anyway, so it being washable over the long haul isn’t an issue to me.

Using a gel plate and a stencil to make rainbow sneakers tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Why use a gel plate instead of a brush to apply the paint?  The slight variations and color minglings from a dirty plate are tough for me to duplicate with a paint brush.

Using a gel plate and a stencil to make rainbow sneakers tutorial by Carolyn Dube

The stars from my Stars Inspired by Matisse stencil were added using the gel plate.  Why that instead of a cosmetic sponge?  The plate was right next to me and it also allowed for the paint minglings of the dirty plate to happen on the stars too.

Paint Couture, not something you’ll see at Fashion Week in NYC but one of the side benefits of wearing shoes like this is that every time you wear them, you are reminded of the fun that was had making them!

Using a gel plate and a stencil to make rainbow sneakers tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Giveaway Details

Want to win the stencils used in this post?  One lucky reader will win all 7 of my new stencils.  Leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win.  Want more chances?  Leave a comment on each of the giveaway posts (Wednesday’s, Thursdays, Saturday’s and today’s posts!) See all the details at the end of this post.

I want everyone to have a chance to win, so International folks are eligible too!  Of course, if you win and you’ve already ordered any of the new stencils, you can pick any of my other 50+ stencils at StencilGirl. Giveaway ends on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced the following day on the blog.

Want more chances to win?  Bonus entries for sharing any this post on  Facebook, or Pinterest, or Instagram! How will I know you did it? Just come back and leave a comment telling me where you shared it.  Random.org will be picking a winner from the 4 blog posts on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced on the blog the next day.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!


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How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil

PanPastels are vibrantly full of pigment…and work wonderfully with baby wipes so I decided to build an art journal page of castle towers with them.

Want to win the stencils used in this video?  One lucky reader will win all 7 of my new stencils.  Leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win. ***Giveaway now closed***

Watch how to seal them with a mini mister 

Using my Once Upon a Time stencil, I created the background towers all about the same height.  Why?  To fill in the page since I have that aversion to white space.

The towers on the stencil aren’t as long as this page but with magic I made them as long as I needed. Not really magic as you can see in the video…I just moved the stencil down.

How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil

The middle towers were created the same way as the background ones but more hodgepodge in their heights.

How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil

For the final row of towers some planning had to happen when it came to the colors.  Planning because I tend to forget what I thought a minute ago, so in the video you’ll see how I made sure I remembered what color I wanted where.

How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil

Up until this point, the stencil part had been used.  To get the windows on the towers, the masks (that are included in the stencil) were placed on top and then PanPastel’d with white.

How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil

How do I seal PanPastels so there is zero smudging?  There are a couple of ways I like to do it.  One is with a homemade spray and you can see the video here.  One with with a Gel Press plate.  You can see that video here.

Is this art journal page complete? Not quite yet.  I’ll set it aside and when the muse is ready, she’ll let me know what comes next on this page- and of course, I’ll share it here!

How to use PanPastels and a baby wipe with a stencil Pan Pastel Workshop with Carolyn Dube using StencilGirl Stencils

I’ll be teaching a PanPastel Art Journaling Workshop at Artiscape in  April, 2017 in Columbus, OH.  Love to see you there!

Giveaway Details ***Giveaway Closed***

Want to win the stencils used in this post?  One lucky reader will win all 7 of my new stencils.  Leave a comment on this blog post for a chance to win.  Want more chances?  Leave a comment on each of the giveaway posts (Wednesday’s, Thursdays, this one, and Monday’s posts!) See all the details at the end of this post.

I want everyone to have a chance to win, so International folks are eligible too!  Of course, if you win and you’ve already ordered any of the new stencils, you can pick any of my other 50+ stencils at StencilGirl. Giveaway ends on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced the following day on the blog.

Want more chances to win?  Bonus entries for sharing any this post on  Facebook, or Pinterest, or Instagram! How will I know you did it? Just come back and leave a comment telling me where you shared it.  Random.org will be picking a winner from the 4 blog posts on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced on the blog the next day.

***Giveaway Closed***

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!


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How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Why do I love crayon rubbings? Is it the historical significance that brass rubbings played in medieval times?  Is it the memory of first grade making leaf rubbings? A little bit of those but the biggest reason is crayon rubbings are immediate gratification.  No waiting for anything to dry.  The only prep work is taking the paper off a crayon so this is my kind of play!

New to watercolors?  In the video, I share how coloring them in with watercolors enable me to get lights and darks of the same color by just changing the amount of water I used as I color in the crayon rubbings made with  Triangular Pathways and Trio of Thorns.

Watch Making crayon rubbings with stencils and watercolors on YouTube.

All you need is a crayon, a stencil, and a piece of paper.  I chose book text for the added pattern of the words peeking out but you can use any paper you want!  I wondered if book text would be too thick of a paper to do this, and it worked wonderfully but I imagine each paper is a little different so if you have any problems you may want to experiment around with a variety of weights of papers.

How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Those bargain boxes of Crayola crayons from back to school time are quite handy when it comes to making rubbings!  Here are the steps to making a crayon rubbing:

  1.  take the wrapper off the crayon
  2. put a piece of paper on top of the stencil
  3. rub the crayon on top of the paper (you can tape it all down, but I prefer to just hold it with my hands)
How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

A big perk of using a crayon is there is zero waiting for the crayon to dry and it won’t smear if you use something like watercolor on top of it.  The crayon acts a bit like a fence and keeps the watercolor in, so it looks like I painted carefully, but you know I am not that detail oriented!

How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

What if you don’t have watercolors?  Try substituting with a spray ink.  In the video, I used a green Dylusions spray ink to get a similar look.

How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

Use one color or multiple colors- the choice is yours and can give you a variety of looks.

How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

All the color variation is simply adding more water to the watercolor or less water.  The less water that was added, the stronger the color. The more water that was added, the softer the color.  Instant variation!

 

How to make crayon rubbings with stencils on book text video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

 

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!


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