Painted Rug with stencil Tutorial and a Giveaway!!

Happy Friday everyone! Have you linked up a project yet to the MEGA -21 blog linky party going on now? The party's still going strong with over 350 links so you still have time to help Crafty Scrappy Happy celebrate her 1 year blog Anniversary by linking up, or just swing by and check out all the AMAZING crafts and treats people are posting-lots of inspiration!!

I was over-the-moon excited when I was contacted last month, by Cutting Edge Stencils, to see if I would like to do a review and giveaway for one of their stencil products. They were so kind, helpful and easy to work with and I am just THRILLED with the results!

They have hundreds of stencil designs to choose from including wall stencils, all-over stencils, nursery stencils, geometric stencils, holiday stencils, craft-size stencils, and SO much more! I have never used a stencil to paint anything, so I am as NEWBIE at this stenciling business as they come so you better believe I watched this video from their Youtube channel that gives a detailed demonstration of how to use and apply their stencil about 5 times over to make sure I got it before I started!

Since living in a rental is limiting in the fact that I can't paint or stencil anything on the walls, I knew I was going to need to choose one of their craft size stencils and I spent WEEKS trying to decide what object I wanted to stencil. Pillows? Curtains? Tabletop? Dresser? Then one day after my little one dropped her yogurt on my kitchen rug (that we've had for 5 years) for the THIRD time that day, it was going in the trash and I was gettin' myself a brand new, custom painted rug...by me. :)

I had chosen to try out the Casablanca Allover craft size-small stencil and they sent that to me along with...

...a foam roller and...


...and a stencil brush-just the tools I needed!


I started with this plain, woven, accent rug from Lowes-24x40" (about $10).


I picked out a red color of paint (I used about 1/2 of one of those tester size paint containers that cost about $3-for the whole rug) that matched the red I have throughout my kitchen and got started!

How to paint a rug:
1.Pour paint onto paper plate
2.Tape stencil down onto rug (painters tape would probably be best, but I didn't have any so I actually used packing tape and it worked fine.) I started my stencil in the middle of the rug and worked left and right and then up and down.
3.Roll foam roller through paint till the entire roller is covered evenly and paint stencil applying pressure evenly.
4.Pick up stencil and move to the next spot. Repeat! (watching the video definitely helps visualize this!)
5. For the edges of the rug I laid a cardboard box down and just kept on painting, using the box to cut off the stencil. I love how the stencil just drops off all the edges (which is why I started in the middle-so I'd have that look of an unfinished stencil around the edges)
You're done!


The paint dries SO fast so you can just keep on working and don't have to wait for one section to dry before you can lay the stencil back down. AND the stencil doesn't need to be washed after every use; in fact, I didn't have to clean it at all until I was done! A perfect project for someone whose impatient and eager, and just wants to get done so she can see the final result of her hard work!


I did love doing this project because it was quick, easy and even a novice like me can read the simple instructions and be good to go and have great results; however with that being said, as far as using a stencil to paint a rug, here are some things I learned while I was going along and would caution you about...
Having never painted any kind of fabric or thick material like this before, I was unsure of how much paint exactly would need to be on the roller and how hard I would need to roll the foam roller so-as recommended in the video- I started out with pretty light coats. I found though, that the rug just soaked up that paint and using more paint on the roller and pushing harder actually gave me better results. Unfortunately I didn't realize this till closer to the end and had to go back over almost the entire rug to get the deepness in color that I was looking for. Because of this, the paint is not evenly distributed on the rug and some stenciled pieces came out darker than others. I just couldn't get them to all look exactly the same without going over the entire thing by hand with a small brush (which I was not going to do). This is in no way a reflection of the product from Cutting Edge Stencil, just my own naivety of using a stencil and trying something a little more difficult my first time using one. I still love the outcome and am proud of my first little painted stencil project!



I love the Casablanca Craft stencil I chose and am excited to try it out again in the future for another project!


Cutting Edge Stencil has so generously offered to give away one stencil of your choice of any value-up to $50 with free shipping!!-to one lucky ducky Love Sweet Love Reader! There are sooooo many possibilities with these stencils and so many designs to choose from that anybody can find something that fits their style! Want one???? Here's how you can enter for your chance to win...

1 entry-Head over to Cutting Edge Stencils website and tell me what your favorite stencil is!
1 entry-'Like' Cutting Edge Stencil on Facebook
1 entry-Although it's not required that you be a follower of my little blog to enter this giveaway, I'll give you an extra entry if you already are, or become one! :)
1 entry-'Like' Love Sweet Love on Facebook (or tell me if you already do)
1 entry-Tell me one of your biggest pet peeves! :)

Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry so you get all your chances to win! 5 ways to win, 5 days to enter...giveaway will end Feb. 21st at midnight. Good Luck!