Hi Stencil Artists! As the new marketing director of Royal Design Studio, I have to admit that I am a complete newby to the world of stenciling. I am an HGTV addict and love home décor magazines, but I never knew there were these amazing stencil patterns that you can make even cooler with different decorative painting techniques! Instead, I was the frustrated shopper that could never find what I was looking for unless I spent WAY TOO MUCH at the stores. Now, that I see that I have the ability to make various home decor items on my own, I’m thrilled!
When I first saw Melanie’s amazing staircases in our office, I knew that I was going to fix the worn out varnish on my coffee table in my family room by staining a new stencil. But, when October quickly turned into November, my thoughts drifted to my Christmas shopping. See, I normally have a $3,000 budget for the holidays. A lot, huh? Well, it includes everything. From wrapping paper and Christmas cards to festivities, as well as our Christmas tree and of course presents. But this year, my husband and I are being so frugal because in May 2014 we are going to start house hunting. I needed to bring my holiday budget way down and that’s when stenciling gifts came to mind. After all, at the office, we have been talking about how great stenciling is for holiday decorations. So, why not stencil some holiday decorations and give them as gifts!
Now, the only thing left was overcoming the intimidation factor. My boss, Melanie Royals, makes everything look stunning and with seemingly little effort. Me? I create marketing campaigns not beautiful decorated crafts! Well, there was only one way to start, right? Jump in head first. So, with less than $30 worth of red and green taffeta and flannel fabric from JoAnn’s, I was able to use the following materials from Royal Design Studio:
- $15 Embroidered Star Moroccan Stencil
- $17 Victorian Grillework Stencil
- $8.95 Antique Gold Stencil Crème
- $8.95 Pearl Oyster Stencil Crème
- $4.75 ½” Stencil Brush
Bringing my grand total of 10 gifts to $84.65 + tax or about $10 a person! So, I have my supplies, now it is time to take a deep breath and start stenciling. I purposely did not getting any coaching from Melanie. I simply watched her during her Hometalk for the Holidays on Google+ and copied what she did. I knew I was going to blog about this and I wanted to have the full experience that you had. And guess what? I DID IT! Yep, it was that easy. As Melanie said in the video, the trick is to off load extra paint onto a paper towel. I also lined up the easy-to-use registration marks. And that was it! I ended up with some very professional looking designs that even impressed my husband.
Then I chose to sew my taffetta to some felt for a nice backing to the table runner. This was also my first time sewing. My girlfriend and DIY blogger, Corinne from Practically Martha, and I had a sewing party. She let me use her Husqvana Viking for the project. Have to say, I’m also a big fan of that too. It was so easy to keep my seams straight and it never caught once on 10 table runners.
I was ridiculously impressed with myself when I saw the finished product and I can’t wait to surprise my family with their gifts. They won't believe that I did it myself. But to be honest, what I’m most excited about is that it looks like my days of endlessly shopping for the perfect item is coming to an end. Now, I have the confidence that I can make it and it is going to come out great!
Here are more holiday gift ideas for you!
- Wrapping It Up with Stencils!
- Stenciled Lace Pillows to Give AND Keep!
- Crafting a Great Stencil Gift
