The Cuties needed a little piece of art for their bathroom in the new apartment and I had seen this idea on Pinterest I wanted to try.
It was even an elephant which was exactly what I had in mind since we’d been talking about our incredible experience with elephants in Phuket last year on Spring Break.
I chose a shape in the Silhouette online shop and printed it about eight inches across on a piece of card stock. I then used blue painter’s tape to secure it to a piece of heavyweight watercolor paper {you definitely want a true watercolor paper for this project as the texture really adds to the finished project in my opinion!}.
I began adding different shades of blues and mixing them within my stencil while still wet. See the salt shaker? Let me explain. My freshman roommate at Vanderbilt was an incredible artist. Seriously amazing. She’d finishing studying and whip out her paints and magic would happen there between our Laura Ashley bedecked beds {I just dated myself again, didn’t I?}. Anyway, she showed my how adding a little salt to wet watercolors did the coolest speckling to the paint. Most important, twenty years later, it rocked The Cuties’ world.
I should share that I added a few small pieces of rolled up blue tape underneath some of the more complex cuts to my stencil like the legs for stability. Even so, you may want to hold down your stencil while you paint those areas to avoid bleeding.
Then, I just peeled up the stencil and voila!
And here’s a close up of the texture from the salt. Perfect for elephant “hide,” don’t you think {presuming you’ve ever seen a violet and blue ombre elephant, of course!}
The Cuties are searching through the Silhouette site to select templates they want to make next. We may cover the wall in a full menagerie before the end of the school year!
Linked to:
Felt So Cute 
cool