Self Portrait Stencil

The miserable weather the northeast has had this weekend kept me indoors for most of it.  I had the chance to catch up on some favorite blogs and was happy to visit Jennifer's.  She is one of my co-collaborators in the art journals, and I love her art.   Her blog post was all about creating a self portrait stencil.
First, go to this site where you can transform a photograph of yourself into one that can easily become a stencil.   Jennifer used the cartoon feature, but I opted for the one called stencil.  (There are a ton of other options that have nothing to do with making a stencil, but look like a whole lot of fun.  You can change a photo to give it a grunge look, or an impressionistic look, or......well, go there and see for yourself).
I used the photo that you see right here on the blog (though I left out the cosmo in the finished stencil).
This is what the stencilized version looks like:

Take the print and lay it under some acetate.  Color in all the black areas with a sharpie, directly on the acetate.  Then using a craft knife (TIP:  use a brand new VERY sharp blade for the best results), and working on a self healing cutting mat,  cut away all the areas you've blackened.

You're left with a stencil and that's where the fun comes in.  I did just a few samples, but definitely plan to make some more and incorporate them into my art.

This was done with distress ink and a blending tool.  Very easy and neat.

The next one was done by spraying with Adirondack Color Wash.  Not as crisp, maybe, but I like it.

The last one I did today was with acrylic paints...I used two colors and just dabbed them over the stencil with a stiff brush.

Next I'll try combining some materials and see how that works.  I'm thinking about dabbing versamark over the stencil, removing it, and then sprinkling embossing powder and heat setting it.  I also think ink and perfect pearls would be nice.

Well, thanks Jennifer for the inspiration!