Kid Made Stenciled Artwork

Greetings from Australia!  Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  We're currently visiting family in Brisbane, so posting will be sporadic till we get back.  Since I had a couple of free moments today, I thought I'd share these handmade gifts that Chuck and I made for this trip.  Chuck currently enjoys painting, so we created some lovely pieces of contact paper stenciled artwork.  We gave them as gifts and I think they're extra special because they were handmade by Chuck.

Kids' Contact Paper Stenciled Artwork

Keep reading to see how we made them!

Materials to Make Contact Paper Stenciled Artwork:

• Canvas 
• Paint (We used Acrylic)
• Brushes (We used paint brushes, sponge brushes, and Q-tips)
• Contact Paper
• Scrap Paper
• Pen
• Scissors

Directions to Make Contact Paper Stenciled Artwork:

1.   Cover your work area.  Put a smock on your child.

2.  Paint your canvas.  (I let Chuck choose the colors.  He started off with greens and yellows, but then ended up really wanting to paint everything black. )

3.  Create your contact paper stencils.  Trace your canvas onto a scrap piece of paper.  (I used a brown paper bag.)  Then, cut it out.  Use a pen to create designs on your scrap paper. Cut out your stencils.  Then, trace them onto a piece of contact paper. Cut them out.  (Alternatively, you could just sketch out your design directly onto a sheet of contact paper that's the same size as your canvas.) 

Now remember!   Any part of the canvas that is covered by contact paper will not be covered in paint during the next step.

 4.  Peel the backing off of your contact paper and then carefully place it on your canvas. Make sure it is tightly secured and smooth out all of the bubbles.  You don't want paint seeping through.

5.  Then, paint over your canvas again. 

6.  Once your paint dries, peel off your contact paper stencil.  Then, add on any extra details.  (I painted the white and black ovals in the middle of the flowers to make them look like Marimekko flowers.)

Pretty, aren't they?

Now, some of the finished pieces of artwork didn't look quite right because of the colors that we chose.  But no worries!  We simply painted a bit more paint over our design.  Then, we tried stenciled another simpler design on top.

This time I created a really easy contact paper heart stencil using the same steps as before.

Tada!  Heart Stenciled Artwork!

The process was really fun and the results were quite lovely. 

Psst- Interested in other gifts that kids can make for others?  

Check these links below!

• Aluminum Foil Stained Glass Artwork
• Eggshell Mosaic Pots
• Flower Printed Cards
• Mosaic Styrofoam Picture Frames

Happy crafting!