Free Printable Stencils and Patterns for Crafts and Painting

Stenciling is a heritage craft that had it's zenith in Victorian times with the arts and crafts, prairie and revival architecture periods. There are dozens of craft projects that employ stenciling, especially holiday crafts. Here are free printable stencils and patterns for stenciling. Use these stencils for wall border painting, fabric and canvas painting, sewing, quilting, applique, drawing and design.

Trace these stencils onto Mylar plastic or recycle old plastic containers and trace the stencil patterns onto flat surfaces. You can also make sturdy, reusable stencils by tracing patterns on recycled cardboard boxes (flattened cereal boxes work very well). Tape the edges to strengthen them and make the stencils last longer.

Tracing with stencils is great for fine motor skills practice and eye-hand coordination. Stencils make superb learning activities for preschool classrooms and special needs classrooms. Tracing with stencils is a great hands-on activity.

Painting at About.com (click here) features one-stop shopping for all your free printable stencil needs. Painting.About has free printable stencils in many designs. From the linked page, you can access a separate page for each of these stencil themes. There are:

8 free printable flower pattern stencils

10 free printable nature stencils including fall leaves, pine cones, sun, moon and stars, trees

6 free printable cat stencils

4 free printable dog stencils

23 assorted free printable animals and insects stencils (horses, llamas, ducks, cow, chicken, turtles, dragon, spider, turkey and many more)

7 free printable undersea creatures stencils: dolphin, seahorse and more.

7 miscellaneous free printable stencils in different designs

26 free printable letter stencils and 10 digit stencils 0-9

4 free printable decorative border stencils

9 free printable Valentine's Day stencils

25 free printable Christmas stencils (click here for page 2 of stencils) including several different snowflake patterns, holly, angels, nativity scene, wisemen and 'Merry Christmas' logo stencils.

Use these free printable stencils for all your holiday crafts, painting and decorating needs. For more free printable crafts, visit me at the links attached.