Pencils & Stencils a Halloween card tutorial by me Kat Hazelton

🎃PUMPKINS FOR SALE!🎃

Welcome to my new tutorial series based on Pencils & Stencils!

I recently dug out all my watercolour pencils of various makes and ages and thought I really need to make use of them instead of them sitting around in their various tins and pencil cases but to be honest I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I had recently bought some new Tim Holtz Halloween stencils and wondered rather than inking or adding mixed media paste through them if instead I could somehow use them with my pencils? So from this moment of coffee fuel thinking the idea of Pencils & Stencils was born! 

Today's tutorial is to create a Halloween scene perfect for card making, tag making or for framing as a piece of art. 

For this Pencils & Stencils  project I am using Tim Holtz new Halloween stencils, water colour pencils and fine liner pens.

The stencil used for the pumpkins is Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Jacks THS186 by Stampers Anonymous. 

Using the stencil I drew inside the pumpkins with a watercolour pencil. Then using a watercolour brush I added a wash of water to colour in the centres of my pumpkins. 

I then decided to add a wooden shelf for them to sit on as part of a display. I did this free hand with a brown watercolour pencil. 

I then added some simple grass details with a green watercolour pencil. Once I was happy with the coverage I added a wash of water over the top to soften and to add more colour. 

Using the pumpkin stencil I added the little pumpkin faces and line details using a Windsor & Newton fine liner pen the stencil helps to place the face where I want it to be. 

Then using the same pen I slightly altered each face to make each pumpkin a little more unique.

My little pumpkins now have little faces! 

I then wanted to add some sort of background. So I decided to add a simple moon and evening sky. To do this I die cut a cardboard circle, drew around it with a purple watercolour pencil.  Then using a water colour brush added a wash of water to add a light purple wash for the sky and some clouds over the moon. 

I then realised that even though I like my picture so far I really wanted the scene to fit on a smaller card. So I cut off the left side of the pumpkin shelf and fussy cut( cutting with scissors ✂️) two of the pumpkins from this discarded strip.

I glued the fussy cut pumpkins onto the shelf, nicely nestle in with the others.

I then added a little shading underneath to blend them into the scene, fussy cutting can leave a sharpe edge especially when using white cardstock.

I then decided my moon definitely needed some rather cool bats! These fabulous bats are were created by using Tim Holtz Batty stencil and a fine liner pen. Simple as that! Something that can be quite addictive, so I might be adding bats on everything over Halloween! 😆 🦇 

'Pumpkins for Sale!'🎃

To finish off my scene I added some dark purple water colour pencil around the edges of the card and some little details with a fine liner pen such as highlights and little blades of grass. Then for a bit of added fun I used a sign post from Tim Holtz Idea-ology which I coloured in and added Pumpkins for Sale with a Posca pen! 

Finished piece of work. 

A little reminder of the stencils I used:

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Jacks THS186 

&

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil -Batty THS184 by Stampers Anonymous.

I bought mine in the UK from Art From The Heart. 

I hope my step by step tutorial inspires you to have a go at making your own art and crafts and encourages you to use those pencils lurking in pencils cases! 

More makes coming soon......

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

🎃Happy Halloween! 🎃 

Little message to say I do crafting as a hobby and get no money for mentioning anyone on my blog or on my Instagram page. I just do it for fun and because I like sharing on Instagram with other like minded craft lovers.😊❤️