DIY: creating your own stencils

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may have seen my recent excitement over freezer paper stencils.  I recently tried them for the first time and LOVED the result.

Want to see what I made? OF COURSE you do!

I created the stencil for this lovely "Happy Day" cotton muslin gift bag to MATCH the Happy Day gift tag printables I shared with you a few weeks ago! As promised, I'm sharing a couple of fabulous tutorials so that you can make your OWN freezer paper stencils!

I had seen the technique used on various crafty blogs in the past and have had freezer paper sitting around my house for months just *waiting* to be used.

I think my very first introduction to freezer paper stencils was from the blog Elm Street Life.  Whitney offers a very simple and easy to follow tutorial for creating a fabric-covered canvas print, with the end result being this!

Image source: Elm Street Life

(You might remember that I also followed another of Whitney's tutorials to create the Subway Word Art for part of a friend's wedding gift!)

Here's another freezer paper stencil tutorial from oh joy! blog (a guest post by the ever-talented Jordan Ferny)

Image Source: oh joy! blog

The post features an easy step-by-step photo tutorial and supplies list.

Just a few key points to help you along your way!

(+) Where can you buy freezer paper? Check your local grocery store in the section with aluminum foil etc.

(+) Choose a simple design - either a solid image, or one without a lot of detail.  As you can see from stencil that I created, I've chosen to leave the inside of the letters "solid" (I happen to love the look but it was kind of an accident - as in, once I started cutting out the letters, I realized it was going to be difficult to keep the insides of the letters intact)

(+) Make sure you have a really sharp knife.  I highly recommend some kind of craft knife like the one I wrote about here.

(+) Patience is key for the cutting - but the results are really great, so go for it!

Happy crafting and gifting!!