Gift-Worthy! | StencilGirl® Team Blog Hop

Hello friend! 

If you have found your way here to my blog for the first time as part of the StencilGirl® "Gift-Worthy" blog hop, welcome! My name is Sue Plumb and live in the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains in Queensland, Australia with my hubby, three children and my cat. If you are unfamiliar with my work, you should know that I love colour - something you will see for yourself shortly!

For this blog hop the Creative Team was tasked with creating something "gift-worthy" using StencilGirl® stencils. I decided to create two simple projects that anyone at home could easily replicate or change to suit their own tastes. 

First up, I decided on an art bag for my daughter, who often wants to take her art supplies with her when leaving the house. I had a plain canvas tote bag that I thought would be great to slip her sketch book, markers, watercolour paints, etc into.

I began with a simple canvas bag and a variety of Ranger Dylusions acrylic paints. (I adore these paints with their bright, vibrant colours!) I started by cutting a piece of thick cardboard from an old pizza box and slipped it inside the bag so that I had a nice flat surface to work on. (This also protected the reverse side of the bag in case the paint bled through the fabric.)

Starting with the warm tones first, I spread each paint colour randomly onto the bag using a silicone spatula. (One of my absolute favourite tools for spreading paint - and only $1.50 in the kitchen section at Kmart!) I made sure the warm tones were dry by using a heat tool before switching to the cool tones - because nobody likes mud!

Once all the paint was completely dry, it was time to add my stencilled design over the top. I used the gorgeous Paint Tin and Butterflies stencil designed by Cathy Taylor. 

This stencil measures 9x12" and is one of my absolute FAVE stencils - butterflies AND art! I couldn't think of a more perfect stencil choice for an art bag, can you? 

I stencilled my design directly over the top of the colourful painted background using black StazOn ink applied with a sponge dauber. 

My little miss was very happy with her gift, although getting photos of her modelling it for me proved to be more of a challenge than I thought...sometimes it's just too hard to be serious.

For my second project I decided to create something special for my mum, who recently celebrated her birthday. (And is one of the hardest people to buy gifts for!) Instead of buying something, I decided to re-purpose an old coffee jar and turn it into a beautiful hand-painted rainbow cookie jar.

To create my jar I started by stripping the label from the jar and cleaning it thoroughly. (Tip - use eucalyptus oil to remove any sticky residue prior to washing in hot, soapy water.) I then painted the jar with two coats of white gesso to prep the surface for the acrylic paints I was going to use.

Once the gesso had dried it was time to start applying some colour. I used cheap student grade acrylic paints for this project, simply because it was more economical for the amount of surface area I had to cover. Starting with the lightest colour from my rainbow (yellow), I painted the lid of the jar and then applied the paints in a gradient down the jar.

With the colours all dry it was time to add my stencilled design. I chose the Rose Bouquet stencil designed by Jennifer Evans for my mum - because all mums deserve flowers, right? 

This stencil measures 6x6" and was the perfect size to add to my jar. As with my previous project, I used black StazOn ink to stencil my image which I applied using a sponge dauber. I began by applying part of the design to the jar lid.

I then taped the stencil to the front of the jar and stencilled the entire design onto the front. I love how much the black design pops against those rainbow colours! 

To finish off my jar, I took a white Posca paint pen and added a few white highlights to the stencilled images.

Once it was finished I filled the jar with an assortment of cookies and tied a black satin ribbon around the top.

I am happy to report my mum loved the jar and I am already planning on decorating a few more of these for my children to give as teacher gifts at the end of the year.


Now, be sure to hop over to each fantastic project and leave a comment for the artist! 

The more comments, the more chances you'll have to win $50 worth of StencilGirl® stencils! Good luck!

You are here >>> Sue Plumb's Cookie Jar and Art Bag

Claudia Neubacher's Tote Bag

Sunila and Aditi Mahajan's Treasure Box

Peg Robinson's Necklace

Shel C's Journal Set

Jennifer Gallagher's Paper Mache Gift Box

Linda Edkins Wyatt's Beach Memories Painting

Jill McDowell's Twisted Treasure Pouches

Carol Baxter's Advent Calendar

Contest closes 10-8-19 at 11:59 p.m. CST (US). Winner notified by email 10-9-19.


I hope you have enjoyed seeing these projects today and that you might be inspired to try something similar next time you need to give a gift...or perhaps even a gift to yourself?!