When it comes to sad movies – I am a crier. Like an ugly crier. Like the kind of ugly cry where people start getting worried about your mental stability. The kind of cry that takes you a few minutes to catch your breath. Most recently, I watched Blackfish and ’bout lost my mind. There was not a Kleenex left in this house. The Notebook is another one. I saw it in the theater with a friend and sniffle-cried my way through the entire second half. The walk from the theater to the car was not my greatest moment  – it’s nearly impossible to disguise smeared mascara and smudged concealer. Not cute. Not cute at all.

I’m gonna go ahead and redeem that moment with The Notebook with today’s project featuring the awesome stencils from Plaid Crafts newest line Stencil1. I first saw these layering stencils at CHA and was so excited to play with them. The stencils are easy to use – and even easier when you use the technique that I used in this post to created stenciled stationery. Combine that stenciling technique with these tutorials on creating handmade notebooks and hardback covers to come up with a noteboook worthy of the big screen.

{1} Create an adhesive stencil by running it through a sticker maker and then placing the stencil on your patterned paper as shown. Use a dauber to apply paint color of your choice. Depending on the type of paint, you may want to apply two coats.

{2} While the paint is still wet, carefully peel back the stencil.

{3} Allow the first layer of paint to dry completely, then place the second stencil layer and apply paint with dauber.

{4} Again, remove the stencil while the paint is still wet.

{5} Use the stenciled paper in any way you wish! I wrapped my paper around stiff bookboard, which I then used as a hardcover to cover a notebook.

When I received the bird stencil, I immediately thought that it’d be fun to create a notebook inspired by “The Notebook” – so I stenciled the image onto patterned paper and added one of the very sweet lines from the movie: “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.”  This would be a great gift for a friend.

Thanks to Blueprint Social for sponsoring this post. I’ve received payment, supplies or both for this post. All project ideas and opinions expressed are my own. You can learn more Stencil1 by stalking Plaid on the almighty interwebs: Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

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