Throwback Thursday StencilGirl Hop ~ Sweet Gum Ball Fairy

I have been under the impression since childhood that  gum balls are sweet and come out of dime (now 50 cents!) vending machines.

When I saw that StencilGirl had a stencil called “Sweet Gum Balls” my first thought was that these gum balls would hurt to bite and chew.

Every day is an opportunity to learn. Thanks to Jane La Fazio and The Audubon Society I know that Sweet Gum is a tree that sheds ball-shaped pods. Still. I can’t escape the original image in my head, ergo….

THE SWEET GUM FAIRY!

Tree seed pods? If you are lucky enough to be in the woods when the Sweet Gum Fairy visits you might get to chomp on these confections! Served after a leafy lunch-time salad.

StencilGirl founder Mary Beth Shaw tells me that the 9×12″ Sweet Gum Balls stencil certainly takes the longest to cut and is, perhaps, the most intricate. I have to say that the paint lines are crisp and lovely. The stencil worked great with whipped spackle.

I adore the organic heart shapes that appear within each ball so I had to make a journal page as well. I used 3 colors of yellow and pounced the colors dark to light over the tops of each other.

I outlined the little hearts where I happened to see them. Bet this page becomes a card at some point.

The Sweet Gum Fairy is buzzing in my ear, “Get back to my project!” 

I played with a bit of sheer shimmer on a few of the balls. I used the shimmer on both top and underneath sides of fairy’s wings. (Underneath is green.) I think they turned out pretty.

I googled a pic of the tree’s leaves and drew, cut a mask and stenciled around a sheet of brown scrapbook paper, used an Exacto-knife to cut out my mat, then decided I needed more leaves so I made a bunch in 3 sizes and a few randomly mixed shades of green. As you can see, my flimsy mask folded over during the process, but I was fussy cutting anyway so I did not let it stop me. I would not have thought to make a mask except that I have been playing with stencils for the past 6 months.

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The fairy ‘s curly locks are thanks to an American Girl magazine pen pal project that I made when my daughter was a Brownie Girl Scout (now she is all grown up).

Achieved by wetting embroidery thread and wrapping it around a toothpick then pulling it off when dry.

I stitched some ribbons together for the skirt and used a piece of ribbon for the torso between the wings.

The whole collage is glued together.

Now it is time for you to don your fairy wings and fly to the rest of our Throwback Thursday projects. You are in for stenciled treats, even if they are not sugary, I assure you!

And what would a Blog Hop be without a GIVEAWAY??!!!

What do you have to do to enter?
Just leave a comment below by Sunday, May 29th at 11:59PM Central Time.

The more blogs you comment on in the blog hop, the more chances you have of winning!
Winner will be announced on StencilGirl Product’s Facebook Page on May 30^th.

Blog Hop Order:
StencilGirl Talk
Maria McGuire
Carol Baxter
Gwen Lafleur
Janet Joehlin
Mary C. Nasser

One lucky winner will receive
EVERY StencilGirl Stencil showcased on today’s Blog Hop!
Stitch a Greek Border
Stitch a Circle
Sweet Gum Balls
Dia Muertos Mask
Art is Good for You

Broken Circles

Retail Value $84!