L’Amour Stenciled Throw Pillows

Well hello there! I thought I’d pop in and show you my not so Valentine-y Valentine’s throw pillows, I made over the weekend. I’m still recovering from Christmas and all the decor (it’s fun to put up, but a pain to put away) and didn’t want to go crazy with red and pink hearts all over (at least not yet.) It’s no secret that I love stencils. Stencils are fantastic because there are so many different ways you can use them. So when I saw the French Love Letter Wall Stencil from Royal Design Studio, I knew right away it would be perfect for some romantic throw pillows. The French typography is classic and the little hearts make it cute.

I grabbed a couple of linen pillow covers and washed and dried them without any fabric softener. I then ironed them, as good as one can iron linen (I really dislike ironing) focusing on the seams so that they are somewhat straight. I then cut a piece of cardboard almost the same size as the pillow cover and inserted it inside to keep the paint from seeping through.

Supplies:

• Pillow covers
• cardboard
• duct tape
• stencil
• stipple brush
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic paint in Lamp Black
• DecoArt Dazzling Metalics in Luminous Gold
• DecoArt Americana Fabric Painting Medium

When using stencils in the past, like the Holly Berry Stenciled Ribbon, I used foam pouncers (affiliate link). This time I tried stenciling using stipple brushes (affiliate link), which I felt really helped me control the amount of paint I was putting on the pillow cover at any given time.

So I used the prettiest duct tape that I could find and taped the back of the pillow cover to the table and the stencil to the table. I didn’t want those babies to be able to move a millimeter.

On a plate I mixed the fabric medium into the black and gold paint. Then dabbed the stipple brush into the paint. Always dab off some of the paint on the plate or a scrap paper so that you don’t get a glob of paint on the stencil. I used a small, circular motion with the brush to apply the paint to the pillow cover. At first I tried painting one line in light a coat of paint, letting it dry, painting the next line and then returning to that area. But I found when I did that, the stencil moved slightly so I had to be extra careful. I then decided it would be easiest to just get the paint on in one coat.

Once done painting, I waited until the paint was dry before removing the cardboard.

The pillows turned out really nicely. Even the Mr. thought I had bought them!

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