Stenciled Outdoor Rug (Put a Bird on It!)

Have you ever stenciled a rug? I tried my hand at it last week and am loving my newly stenciled outdoor rug!  Next week I'm sharing a wall stencil I tried out for Cutting Edge Stencils (stay tuned!). When I received my supplies in the mail, this sweet little bird stencil was in the packaging. Perhaps he was a fun bonus? Or, maybe just mistakenly placed in my box? Either way, I was happy to try him out on a $20 outdoor rug from Home Depot. 

I painted my 6x9' rug inside, on my 3x4' kitchen table. It was challenging. Obviously, a large flat surface would be more ideal. I wanted my pattern random, so I started in one corner and worked across and down. On each section, I stenciled a flock of coral birds, washed my stencil and stenciled a few white birds. The stencil cleans so easily!

A few tips: 

1) Roll your brush in paint and then remove the excess on a paper towel. You don't want your brush overly saturated in paint.

2) Dab the paint on, rather than roll it (a stencil brush would work great, if you have it!)

3) Make sure you let some of the birds hang over the edges of the rug. That'll keep the pattern looking random! I used wax paper to protect my table. 

Last Spring, I shared my Porch Makeover, which included my DIY reclaimed wood table. For the tutorial, click here. The tutorial for the hanging glass vases is here. And, the tutorial for the easy, packaging tape artwork can be found here (PS. a year later that artwork has held up great. It's been exactly in that spot this entire time. No lie!)

(The coral and yellow bird art tutorial is coming soon!) 

On a side note, does anyone watch Portlandia? "In Portland, you can put a bird on something and call it art".

Yep, I put a bird on it. :)

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