Are you hoping to incorporate snowflake, deer, or love-themed images into any of your art or paper craft projects?
If so, Stamperia’s winter-themed Love stencil is just what you need. This large stencil features several different design areas, giving you a selection of choices that can be used together or separately, depending on your needs.
The uppermost image on the stencil is a border that incorporates alternating deer head silhouettes with antlers and a branch of foliage.
The middle image on this stencil is a border design made up of sophisticated snowflakes.
The lower image on this stencil features two cute deer, a buck and a doe, standing facing each other, nose to nose. In between the deer is lettering that spells out the word “Love”. A heart motif accompanies the lettering.
Other Winter-Themed Craft Supplies That Coordinate With This Stencil:
This stencil is part of the Winter Tales collection from the Italian manufacturer known as Stamperia . This collection includes a variety of paper crafting supplies that are designed to coordinate with each other. A few of your other options for coordinating supplies from the Winter Tales collection are as follows:
- Decorative chipboard embellishments;
- Other stencils, including the “Hope” stencil, which is similar;
- A4-sized printed acetate sheets called print packs
- And more!
You might also want to check out Stamperia’s Blue Land collection, which has more lovely winter-themed supplies you could use with this stencil design.
Ideas for the Kinds of Craft Projects You Can Make Using Stamperia ‘s Love
Stencil
The Love stencil is suitable for use with many craft techniques. You can use it to make patterned images to use in all of the following types of crafting activities:
- Junk journaling;
- Collage or any other mixed media art;
- Art journaling;
- Scrapbooking;
- Card making;
- Bullet journaling;
- Planning and making planner layouts;
- Backgrounds for illustrations or paintings
- Or any other art or paper craft techniques you have in mind.
- Stencil Butter by the Crafter’s Workshop;
- Stamperia’s Mix Media Art Modeling Paste;
- Pops of Color by Scrapbook.com;
- Ink: Tim Holtz’s Distress Oxide Ink is my favorite ink to use for stenciling, but you have zillions of inks to choose from;
- Acrylic paint; See also: What paint to use with stencils.
- Graphite pencils;
- Colored pencils;
- Pens;
- Markers;
- Solar Paste by Simon Hurley for Ranger Industries;
- Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley for Ranger Industries;
- Nuvo Embellishment Mousse;
- Distress Mica Spray by Tim Holtz for Ranger Industries;
- More! You have lots of additional choices besides these, but these are my current favorites.
- How to Use Stencils
- Best Bullet Journal Stencils
- Christmas Stencils
- Find more of my stencil recommendations HERE.
Suggestions for Stenciling Media to Use With the Love Stencil:
Whichever media you use, this is a stencil that would benefit from an application of Pixie Spray or a similar repositionable adhesive before you use it.
(All the following stenciling media and Pixie Spray are sold separately from this stencil).
You can use this stencil with a variety of different media; the media you choose will depend on your budget and the effects you want to achieve. You might want to experiment with using any of the following types of media:
The above-mentioned media are ones you’d want to choose if you’re using this stencil to embellish paper, chipboard, cardboard or another similarly porous surface.
Projects I’ve Made Using the Love Stencil
I created so many projects with this stencil that I LOVE! I’ve used it to stencil the covers of spiral notebooks and also to make junk journal pages.
To make these items, I used Stamperia’s Love stencil along with supplies from another one of this manufacturer’s winter-themed paper collections called “Blue Land.” I also used other blue supplies like several blue colors of Jane Davenport’s Joyful Gess-OH! primer. I paired these items with another Stamperia stencil called the “Little Dots” stencil.
I loved the results and am so soooooooo thrilled with the projects I made using these items!
The Verdict: I Highly Recommend the Love Stencil by Stamperia! (WITH CAVEATS!!)
My experiences with the Love stencil were bittersweet.
I LOVE the stencil; love the deer, love the snowflakes, love the sentiment – love it all!
I LOVE the projects I made with the stencil. They are some of the nicest paper craft projects I have ever made.
The issue?
I wore the stencil out!
I was as gentle with it as possible, but frequent use took its toll.
I used the snowflake areas of the design more than the other areas, so I have kept the stencil, because I think maybe I could get some more use out of the deer and sentiment portions of the design. But the areas surrounding the snowflakes are bent up and damaged, and it is really challenging to get a clean impression from them now.
So, I highly recommend this stencil because it is beautiful, but I caution you to understand that this stencil is not very sturdy and cannot be reused indefinitely. Its lifespan is somewhat limited.
If you’re hoping to get a LOT of use out of the stencils you buy, this one probably isn’t going to meet your expectations. This isn’t the best possible value for the money you’d spend on your stencils.
That said, I really love it, and I think it is a good purchase overall.
Important Note: I am a real person, and this is an authentic product review. I paid full price for my Stamperia Love stencil, and I think it was worth the price.
Where to Buy the Love Stencil from the Winter Tales Collection by Stamperia
How to Apply Your Stenciling Media to Your Paper (Or Other Surface) Through This Stencil
There are different tools you can use for applying stenciling media through your stencil.
If your media is relatively thick, stiff and sticky, I recommend using a spatula to apply it. You can get these in the kitchen department at most department stores, but the spatulas I like best are specifically engineered for use with mixed media art techniques. I happen to have this set of 2 spatulas by Nuvo, but there are many others like these that would work just as well.
It’s also possible to apply thick, stiff, sticky media in other ways – perhaps using a stipple brush, paintbrush, sponge brush, or ink blending tool. Be sure to proactively clean these up immediately after use, because if you don’t, this kind of media will absolutely ruin your brush or tool.
If your media is relatively thin and runny, like paint or ink, you have a zillion amazing options for applying it. One of my favorite methods is spraying it on; to accomplish this, get yourself a bunch of spray bottles and use a different spray bottle to use with each color.
You can experiment with layering spritzes of different colors through the same stencil, onto the same paper. This can result in either gorgeous, sophisticated projects (if you know what you’re doing), or it can make a colossally huge mess (if you haven’t yet figured out what you’re doing). So if you’re new to this, don’t get discouraged when you make a huge mess. If you keep experimenting long enough, you’ll figure this out.
And, of course, you can use Scrapbook.com’s ink blending tool to apply ink blends or other media through a stencil. I highly, highly recommend giving this a try, because the possibilities are endless, and you could spend the rest of your life having fun messing around with just that one technique. Seriously.
Check Out My Top Picks for Papers to Stencil On:
If you aren’t sure which paper you want to stencil on, I invite you to try my favorite paper to use with wet media, which is Strathmore’s Bristol Board.
This paper withstands spraying, stenciling, painting, inking, dyeing, and all kinds of other mixed media shenanigans. You don’t have to waste time priming it with gesso or primer to achieve outstanding results. It’s good to go as soon as you tear it out of the pad. I LOVE that stuff!!! If you don’t already have a favorite paper for stenciling on (or, even if you do!) I recommend trying it to see if you’ll like it.
If you don’t mind taking the time to apply gesso or primer to your paper, Neenah’s 110-lb Solar White cardstock is another fantastic choice. If you don’t already have gesso or primer in your craft supplies stash, you might also want to take a look at my top picks for primers, HERE.
Find More Stencils and Stenciling Project Ideas:
Over to You:
Have you tried using the Love stencil from the Winter Tales collection by Stamperia ? If so, how did you like using it? Which projects did you use it for, and how did they turn out? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
By Amy Solovay
About Your Product Reviewer: Amy Solovay is a content creator and educator who holds a bachelor’s degree with a studio art minor; she has also earned a separate degree in textile design. Amy learned to stencil as a small child, and she still enjoys stenciling techniques all these years later. Beyond that, she enjoys introducing other crafters to the best new craft supplies, and she also loves helping crafters learn new techniques for making the most of the craft supplies they buy.
As an educator, Amy Solovay used to teach in-person college courses in trend forecasting, marketing and surface design at California Design College in Los Angeles.
Nowadays, Amy uses online platforms to teach digital courses to craft pattern designers, content creators and influencers all over the world. If you’re an artist, crafter or DIY enthusiast who is interested in earning income from your creative work, you’re invited to visit Crafterprise.com to learn more about monetizing the arts, craft(s) and / or DIY projects you do.
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This page was last updated on 9-7-2024.