Words are so versatile. That’s why they always seem to end up in whatever I’m creating. They can be a source of inspiration, a design element and add meaning. My latest word collection at StencilGirlProducts.com includes random phrases, sayings, sentences, and miscellaneous words. So I bet you can guess why this is called the Random Thoughts collection!

Can you find the “typo” on one of the stencils? No regerts. Well, it’s not exactly a typo. The original was for the tattoo artist who meant to write regret but here it is totally intentional. That epic tattoo OOPS is a reminder to roll with it, even when things don’t go as planned.

Words add meaning

An example of using words for meaning is the art journal page below. Adding that bumfuzzled to the speech bubble summed up the meaning of the page with such a chaotic background and the look on that kid’s face.

Words are flexible.

Use them as they are on the stencil or rearrange them to fit your needs! The phrase, that envelope had my future in it, is all in a row on the stencil. But when you know a shortcut, there’s an easy way to reposition the words vertically. In the video above, you can see how I used the stencil to do the heavy lifting of equally spacing the words.

Ever draw a total blank on what to create?

That was where I was when I started this art journal page. I started by reading over the words and phrases on the Random Thoughts stencils and noticing what words jumped out at me. The word envelope inspired me to grab and envelope and start playing.

Words as a design element

What happens when you use only parts of a word? You get a great grungy layer! When I’m stenciling bits of text in several places on a page, like below, each area uses a different part of the stencil. That an easy way to add to the random look.

The spacing between the lines of text was intentional for two big reasons.

First, it lets you use a cosmetic sponge easily to stencil just a word. Second, it lets you create a design element by stenciling it twice. The letters will stack, just barely touching the rows above and below.

Here’s a closer look at how they stack.

Using reverse stenciling on tissue paper lets you create bold words that make great titles! How do you do reverse stenciling? I’ve previously made a video on that process and you can see it here.

The tissue paper I love to use with stencils fades into the background and is easy to work with because it comes in flat 12×18 sheets that I just cut in half. This is an affiliate link so that means I get a small percentage but it doesn’t cost you anything!

Love texture and want some dimensional stenciling? Then modeling paste is a great medium to use-it’s so customizable too! I’ve got an upcoming video where I go into depth on the full process for how to use modeling paste with stencils, so get signed up for my newsletter and you’ll be sure to know as soon as it’s out! Plus, there’s a weekly free download in there for you too.

Something to Say, the speech bubble stencil, was inspired by all the thoughts that pop into my head, the loud and soft voices heard, and all the distracting noise that seems to be filling the world right now. The colorful art journal page you see below is in progress and yup, there will be a full video sharing the simple trick for doing this as well as where it goes with the next layer!

Something to Say also includes all 8 masks.

The rectangular speech bubbles are adjustable. You can easily make them as tall or wide as you want. In the video, you see how I adjusted the width to make room for the words I wanted to use on this page with Trena Brannon’s Couture collection of playful paper dolls. Check out all of her designs here.

Create colorful conversations by overlapping the speech bubbles. I love that Trena’s Couture Models come in two sizes (and 3 shapes) which allows the orange and blue conversation to represent one that a person is having with herself!

These colorful speech bubbles were inspired by a quote – this is a very easy technique and you bet, there’s a video coming on this soon too! There are just so many ways to play with these stencils to fit in one video!

These are the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with stencils! The entire Random Thoughts collection is available at StencilGirlProducts.com. I’ve got lots more videos with them to share with you, so stay tuned! And when you get signed up for my newsletter you’ll be in the know about new videos!

Choosing the paint that is right for you is a very personal decision. It is all about what colors you enjoy, how they feel when you use them, and what’s in the budget. Below are the paints I reach for most often, my tried and trues. Is this every brand and type of paint I own or use? Nope. I’ll try any paint, but these are the ones that I use most frequently.

There’s a reason why I don’t buy craft paints very often at the end of this post.

The links below are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage and it doesn’t cost you anything extra!

For gel printing, Amsterdam paints are my go to. One perk of them is the nozzle you can buy to put on their 120ml tubes. These are caps that seal so you can just leave them on there. I’ve had them for months and they haven’t clogged yet. The benefit of these is that you have much better control when you’re squeezing out paint to get a little or lot depending on the look you want.

A paint similar to Amsterdam in feel and consistency is Liquitex Basics. You can see all their colors here, but my favorite in theirs is this bright and light green.

Liquitex Heavy Body paints

Liquitex Heavy Body paints are thicker than the Amsterdam and are an “artist” grade paint. What that means is it has more pigment in it which is why it costs more than non-artist grades of paint.

Why I don’t buy craft paints often

When I started using paints, I feel in love with a certain blue. Not a shocker that as a favorite the 2 oz. bottle of paint was used up. So I went to the store to get more of it. To my horror, it was discontinued and no longer available. I didn’t like that a color I loved was not longer available.

That led me to start using paints paints that have colors that are always available so that I could trust that I could find the colors I love any time of year.

Does this mean I will never buy a craft paint again? Nope. They just aren’t my go to paints.

So what is the very best paint to use? It’s always the one you have within arm’s reach. So whatever you’ve got, whatever colors you enjoy, I hope you have fun creating with them!