Hi, Silke here.

Today I will show you how to create a stencil effect using any mask and patterned paper.

You will need:

  • any mask
  • a solid background; and
  • a patterned paper that has a solid background

I used these items here from my Vanilla Sweetness kit and collection.

Open the mask, the solid paper and the patterned paper in Photoshop. Each one in a own layer in following order:  the bottom layer with the solid paper, above this layer put the mask and add the patterned paper to the top layer.

Use CTRL (or command) +Alt +G to clip the top layer to your mask.
Or, choose from the menu bar > Layer > Create Clipping Mask

Then merge this layer down. (Right click on the layer or choose > Layer > merge down

Now you will see two layers, like my image here below:

In order to get the Stencil Effect, we need to erase the background color from our patterned paper:

In the menu bar go to SELECT > Color Range – click on Color Range, this will open a new dialog box.

In this dialog box, choose the color that we will delete using the color picker from the Color Range menu.

  • Click on your background color.
  • Set the fuzziness to more or less 65.
  • Check the preview window and adjust the fuzziness slider as needed.
  • Click OK – and then hit DELETE, in order to erase the background color. Don’t worry, if this is not perfect. See how it turned out below in my image (with the selection activated). Go to >Select and hit >Deselect.

Now let’s play with the blending modes to achieve different effects!
Multiply:

Color Burn:

Here is my sample page that I created with my – PapierStudio Silke’s – Vanilla Sweetness kit and collection. The stencil that I created in this tutorial I used two times, one with color burn blending and another one with the natural effect, no blending!

Vanilla Sweetness is 30% off this week until Jan. 24th – visit my Store here

Happy creations!

Silke