Bird and Birch Stencil Wall Art

Sorry, the pics aren’t so hot.  I’m trying.  I even tried fooling around and adjusting this one.  Still not so good.  One of these days I’m going to take classes at Shoot Fly Shoot.  Anyway, this is a SUPER EASY project that I know you can do.  If you’d like to, of course.

Supplies Needed

1. Canvas – available at most craft stores. I used 36″x24″, but you can use any size.
2. Stencils – I purchased the birch tree one from Cutting Edge Stencils and they sent the bird one as a bonus!  These are pricey, but I had purchased the stencil to paint my living room wall.  The birch stencil is 24.5″x44.5″, so you just lay it down once, and paint.  There’s no adjusting, or matching up lines, etc.  Yay!
3. Metallic paint or not, depends on what you look you’re going for.  If you’re going metallic, I think the easiest thing would be to use metallic spray paint.  This works because you paint the TREES FIRST.  The stencil is actually for the background color, which you’d be able to paint over the spray paint, once it’s dry.
4. Background paint color – either contrasting or similar, check out my birch wall here to see the tone-on-tone look.  It can be a small container of acrylic paint from the craft store, left over wall paint from another project, or a sample color from one of the bigger paint stores.  Better Homes and Gardens magazine often has a coupon for a free sample.  I just ripped mine out of the October 2013 issue.
5. Bird paint color – I actually took some of my metallic silver paint and mixed it with red acrylic craft paint and it worked nicely.  But you can do just about anything with the birds.
6. Mini paint rollers – something like this from Joann Fabric or this from Home Depot.

How to Make Stencil Wall Art

1. Paint the entire canvas with metallic paint and let dry.
2. Lay stencil on top of canvas and tape down with painter’s tape.
3. Use the roller to roll on your background paint and let dry.
4. Remove stencil and wash the paint off it so you can use it again on another project.
5. Tape or hold bird stencil in place.
6. Use the roller over the stencil to paint the birds.
7. Remove and reposition bird stencil and paint until you are satisfied.

Seems simple enough, right?  Thanks for reading!!