Here’s how I made the Pee Wee Herman stencil from Crafty Chicas craft night. You can use this method with any type of printed stencil, and I’ll include some resources at the end of this post so you can find or make your own.

What you’ll need:

• printed stencil or photo (if using a photo, make sure you use the linked tutorial at the end of this post to turn it into a stencil)
• contact paper (a great alternative to freezer paper, and it’s reusable until it loses its tackiness)
• thick cardboard or a cutting mat
• exacto knife
• tape
• acrylic paint
• fabric or material to paint on
• sponge brush

Start off with a stencil. I used this Pee Wee Herman stencil from Spraypaintstencils.com.

Tape the stencil down to a piece of thick cardboard or a cutting mat. Cover it with clear contact paper and tape the contact paper down. This will leave less room for error as the contact paper is a little slippery. Start cutting along the lines of the stencil with an exacto knife.

Keep cutting. You’ll see the image start to emerge from the contact paper. Remove the cut pieces when you’re all done.

This is what it looks like when it’s complete.

Remove the tape from the contact paper. Your stencil is ready to use. (Don’t freak out on this step if it doesn’t look quite like you thought it would. I thought for sure that this would end up looking like Michael Jackson’s face with Pee Wee’s hair, but I was wrong.)

I really wish I had better pictures of the rest of this process, but I was caught up in crafting. Bear with me – it’s pretty easy.

Remove the backing from your stencil and place it down on your material. The contact paper is kind of like a post-it. If you don’t get it right the first time, remove it and try again. Once your stencil is in place, you can start painting over it.

Because my material was cotton, I dabbed the acrylic paint on in layers with a sponge brush. This also helped the paint lines stay clean.

Remove the contact paper stencil when the paint is still slightly wet. Allow the design to dry completely.

Once dry, turn the material inside out and iron with a dry iron to help the paint set. Acrylic paint won’t last forever, but you might be able to use fabric paint as well if you want something that will last with many washings.

Voila! Your very own Pee Wee!

If Pee Wee’s not your thing, there are plenty of other stencils out there on the interwebs. Here are a few places you can get started with:

• Spraypaintstencils.com
• MarthaStewart.com
• Fashionfrog.com
• Stencillease.com
• Google image search

And if you’re feeling really creative, you can make a stencil from a photo. Here’s how to do it without a computer, and here’s how to make one in photoshop. And, if you’re really getting into this whole stenciling thing, here’s how to do a 2-layer one in photoshop.

Craft on!

(Thanks to Brooke’s mom for being so darn crafty. If it wasn’t for her, we’d never have thought of using contact paper for stencils! )

This post got love from:

• Whip Up
• Geek Crafts
• And Pee Wee himself!

What do you get when you cross down home cooking, life on the farm, homeschooling and photography with witty humor? The Pioneer Woman, and let me tell you, it’s as good as it sounds.

There are few blogs that capture my attention daily, and this is one of them. I have to admit, I think I’m an addict.

Here are a few of my favorite posts lately (although there’s so many over there, it’s like an information smorgasbord – you really should just visit her site ).

I heart flickr. Anytime I need new desktop wallpaper, it’s the first place I visit. You don’t have to look far to find delightful, inspiring photos. Here are five that would be just lovely on your desktop.

Julie Berlin
(This will be what my backyard looks like one day.)

Travis Hightower

Stuck in Customs

Paul Goyette

Heather

Click on each photo, then right-click and save-as-background to place these on your desktop. And don’t forget to visit the photographer’s flickr page. There’s many more gorgeous photos where these came from!

I love photography. In high school, it crossed my mind more than once that I might persue a career as a photographer. I didn’t go down that path, but I do enjoy playing around with my camera and learning new techniques. Unfortunately, I have a glorified point-and-shoot camera, so there are a lot of techniques I want to try but can’t get quite right with my camera.

That is why I became very excited when I discovered Digital Photography School and found two tips there that have changed my shots for the better.

If you find yourself in need of a tripod, try a lamp instead. Most screws that hold a lamp shade to the lamp will also fit the bottom of your camera. (I’m totally serious.) Next time you need to be perfectly still to catch that indoor shot, mount your camera on top of your lamp and get to it!

To bring attention to your subject by blurring the background, put your camera in portrait mode and zoom in on your subject. You’ll get a perfectly blurred background, and you can use words like “aperture” and “depth of field” to impress your friends.

Portrait mode gave me the ability to capture these sweet pics at the park yesterday. I will never be the same.