From Blah to Ta-Da!

I can't take credit for the title- that's the fabulous Nikki Carroll working her magic there!  I was mentioning to her at an event recently how I was working on making my own pattern on black-out curtains I bought for the guest room (aka- the craft room!).  She said, "It's like from Blah to Ta-Da!"  Now I can't think of anything else when I see the curtains!

The Blah part: Plain white black-out curtains to help with the light from the streetlight outside as well as any draft.

The Inspiration: A pretty pillow my mom found for me that brings out the wall color and is very much my style.  :)

I really liked the leaf design on the pillow, which started me thinking about how I could take that same concept and use it with these white curtains.  Enter the Undefined stamp carving kit.

The Plan: Use the Undefined stamp carving kit from Stampin' Up! to create my very own leaf pattern for my curtains.  Undefined is a fun way to make something completely unique that fits your specific needs.  You can see how I took a simplified pattern of the leaf and drew it out before carving the design and mounting it on my wood block.  Details on how to make this comes with the kit.

 I also wanted to capture the pink band in the pillow and remembered that in the "Hello Lovely" stamp set from SU, there is a cute little stamp that would match the embroidery in the pillow.  So, that was added to my design.

The whole process went pretty fast!  Once I inked up my leaf stamp using a Gumball Green color (ink refill mixed with white fabric paint), I rolled it on with a foam craft roller and stamped it on my curtain. Inking again, I slightly rotated the stamp and repeated the process to start my pattern.  

About a quarter of the way down, I started to add a little more space between stamps so it looks like there are less and less leaves towards the bottom.  My trick to doing this?  I paid attention to dividing up the curtain.  For each quarter section, I gave more and more space between stamped images.  By laying curtain panels next to each other when I completed each one, I could ensure that the panels were consistent.  That meant adding a few stamped images here and there occasionally so everything lined up.

For the final detail, I added a few of the pink blossoms stamped in a cascading fashion down the curtain as well, but these were more sparse since I only wanted it as a touch of detail.  The pink is Melon Mambo ink refill combined with white fabric paint.

These dried overnight (throughout each hallway and walkway in my house, which was funny trying to get around!) and then hung back up in the room.  See?

A shady tale...

Let me tell you the sad tale of a lampshade that had seen better days.  The lovely white linen lampshade had let the light shine in my home for several years, until one day when a candle was placed a little too close to it.  The heat from the candle warped one side of the shade, making it forevermore a bit wonky.  What's a girl to do?  With a lampshade that is a solid color, the wonky side of the shade stood out like a sore thumb.  Sure, a new shade would have been rather easy to purchase.  But, a crafter knows better!

By adding a print (or creating a print by stamping the shade), the sad lamp shade took on a new life as a custom and one of a kind accessory (wonky side and all).

Here's what I did.

I took a large stamp that provided coverage with a pattern that I liked.  Here, a typewriter style print gave me the graphic look I wanted, but any stamp will work!

I took a brown fabric paint and a craft foam roller to evenly coat the paint on my stamp (for details, check out my last two posts that goes into this technique in detail).  However, this will work well with ink or staz-on ink as well.  Since my lampshade was a linen type fabric, I wanted to use a fabric paint to get better coverage.

I made the decision ahead of time that I didn't want each side to be the same and that I wanted a little overlap and some angles to my print (the stamped image not all going in the same direction).  This really liberated me to not worrying about "mistakes" so to speak.

The only tricky part? I recommend placing your free hand underneath the area you wish to stamp so you steady the shade and help the surface of the shade to be a little easier to flatten.  

For the sides of the lampshade, I simply angled the stamp a little and rocked it around the edge of each side.  As I wanted some angles in my pattern, this looked intentional!

Once the typed stamp design covered my lampshade, I took a much smaller script stamp and stamped some random images over the typed design in a blue shade (this was leftover mixed fabric paint from my curtains with white fabric paint and Pool Party ink refill mixed together.)

Let this dry, and then add back to your lamp.  Voila!  The previously sad shade is now a happy shade once again!

Something old, something new...

Nope, we aren't talking about a wedding!  But, I am talking about how to make something old new again (I even made it blue too!).

The Old: A bed skirt from my grandma that had seen better days.  It was destined for the trash... until I got ahold of it!  I saw a freebie that needed a little life breathed into it and (yahoo) was in need of a bed skirt for my bed!

So, what did I do?  Stamped it!  This is similar to my previous post about stamping fabric curtains, so feel free to review the previous post as well for further insight.

Here's the bedskirt.  It's a white fabric with pale yellow flowers over it.  While I think it is great on its own, it didn't go well with my bedroom.  Enter the Beautifully Baroque stamp and some fabric paint tinted with Coastal Cabana ink refill!  I used a craft foam roller as well to easily spread the paint on the stamp.  Here's another tip: Use the backside of some extra wrapping paper from the holidays as a way to cover your work surface before starting your painting process!

The foam roller is used like a paint roller for your walls- make sure to evenly coat the roller before transferring the paint to your stamp.  Once paint coats the stamp, transfer it to your fabric making sure to use firm, even pressure and lifting the stamp directly up without rocking it back and forth (that way, you won't have any uneven edges to your image).

I built my design by staggering the stamped image along the bottom of the bed skirt, then reversing the image and stamping it upside down on the second row in between the previously stamped images.  You'll want to make sure and re-ink your stamp with paint after each stamp so your color remains consistent.  What's great about a multi-use fabric paint is that it's generally opaque, so the yellow flowers really become part of a background and the baroque stamp becomes the prominent feature.

Tip: It can be a little tricky to navigate the corners of a bed skirt because of the gathering of fabric there.  Try to move and stretch the fabric out as you can to get a flat surface while working your way around.  

Let your fabric dry overnight if possible and even consider washing and drying the bed skirt before putting it on your bed to get rid of the stiffness from the fresh paint.  

Here's the end result!  My something old is now something new, AND it's even blue.  Hope you enjoy!

Starting 2014 off right!

Hello!  Hello!  How can it be 2014?  This year started off with a move for me in order to be a little closer to my job.  Can I tell you... I really didn't realize how much STUFF I had until it had to be packed up in boxes!

While moves can be stressful, it can also present some great opportunities.  Now that I'm settled in, the fun begins with decorating!

The challenge?  To use my love of antiques and thrift store finds to re-use, re-create, and recycle treasures in creating a beautiful and uniquely decorated home.  So, I dedicate the next several posts to decorating my new home, Stampin' Up! style!

First up?  Curtains.

I've looked long and hard for a pattern and color that went with my vision for my room.  Then, I had a light bulb moment- Why can't I make a pattern myself?!  To get started, I used existing curtains I've had for a while made out of a light canvas material overlaid with a white gauzy fabric.  I then sketched out the idea of how I wanted the curtains to look, which helped me to keep the overall look and feel of the project without losing that vision in the middle of the project.

Let's get started!  You need the following:
-Fabric or curtains you wish to stamp
-Stamps you wish to use.
     I used: Medallion (retired), and a script stamp
-White fabric paint or a multi-purpose paint that can be used on fabric
-Stampin' Up! ink refills in the colors you wish to use.
         I used: Pool Party, Crumb Cake, and Baja Breeze (retired)
-Craft foam rollers (one for each color you choose to use in your print- I used 3 total)
-Paper plates for paint
-Toothpicks or small brush to mix paint
-Stampin' Mist and Stampin' Scrub stamp cleaner
-Paper towels

1. I start by mixing up my paint.  I am obsessed with the beautiful tones of Stampin' Up! colors, so I wanted to use those to get started.  I mixed the fabric paint and ink refill until I obtained the richness of color I wanted.  Here's a tip:  Count the number of drops your add so you can easily recreate the same color if you need to mix up some more paint later!

2. Coat your craft foam roller in your first paint color and then roll over your stamp in even strokes.  Make sure you evenly coat your roller in paint.  I find this feels similar to painting a wall.  

3.  Make sure the fabric is smooth before stamping your image.  After rolling the paint onto your stamp, use firm, even pressure to transfer the stamped image onto the fabric.  Be sure to pick up the stamp evenly when finished.

4.  Repeat the process by staggering the pattern over your fabric.  In the case of this pattern, I wanted the same image to be staggered throughout the fabric in different colors.  So, I chose to do this one color at a time.  Once I staggered the stamped images in the Pool Party, I started the process over in Baja Breeze, then Crumb Cake.

5.  Between colors, I used a wet paper towel to clean off the paint and then dried the stamp off with another paper towel.  Actually, it can help to repeat the cleaning off of paint occasionally while using the same color if you notice any residue build up or paint drying on the sides of your stamp.  I chose to clean the stamp about halfway through the stamping of one color before moving on just to keep the images fresh.

6. When I finished with the three colors in the main stamped image, I wanted to add some additional character to the negative space in the fabric (aka- space between the medallion stamped images).  I chose a script print and used the Pool Party color for this. Use the same foam roller to roll the paint onto your stamp.

7.  I repeated the process with the same script stamp in Baja Breeze.  

8. When completely finished with stamping, I cleaned the stamps with a wet paper towel and then I spritzed the stamps with stampin' mist and used the Stampin' Up! stampin' scrubber.  This helps to keep your stamps conditioned since the fabric paint can cause the rubber to dry out.  

9.  Let the fabric remain on a clean, flat surface until full dry (I draped mine over a table and an ironing board overnight). Once dry, they are ready to hang and be enjoyed!  

Paper Star Ornaments

I've gotten several questions about how I made the paper star ornaments I love.  Here you go!

Paper Stars Tutorial

Items needed: 

1 piece of 12 x 12 double-sided paper

Hot glue gun

2 sheets of cardstock in a complementing color to your 12 x 12 paper

String or Thread to hang the ornament, approximately 2 inches

2 Buttons, beads, or other embellishments

Paper piercer tool and piercing mat (if needed)

1.       Cut your piece of 12 x 12 paper to strips of 6" x 1 6/8”.  You will have 14 pieces total.

2.       Use a bowl, lid, or other item to help you cut one small circle out of cardstock, approximately 2” in diameter.

3.       Cut 2 strips of 1x9” cardstock and score every quarter inch.  For more information, review the rosette tutorial on this blog from September 30^th http://artsyacorndesignstudio.blogspot.com/2013/09/pleated-rosette-how-to.html.  Turn each strip into a rosette, to make 2 rosettes total. 

4.       To make the star points, start with 7 pieces of your strips of paper from your 12 x 12 sheet.  You will want to wrap the strip of paper around on itself so that the two top tips on the strip of paper wrap around and meet to make a V and the bottom.  See the diagram to help with understanding how to do this.  Use a strip of hot glue to hold your paper cone together (its easier and holds better than other adhesive).  Repeat the process 6 times, making sure to fold the paper the same way each time so each paper cone matches. Also, make sure you are keeping your folding consistent so each piece is similar and not tighter or looser than the others.  This will help keep your star uniform and will be easier to assemble!

5.       You will now need to assemble to other set of paper cones to make a star on the other side of your ornament.  Since the paper is double sided, you can reverse the paper and have the other set of paper cones that comprise your star a different look on the other side.  This is up to you on how you want to make your ornament.

6.       After assembling all 14 paper cones for your stars, set these out on your work surface to resemble a star.  This will help you with assembly later. 

7.       To start putting together your stars, you will glue one paper cone to the center of your cardstock circle with the point facing outward.  The circle will but used as a base to glue all your pieces together, but shouldn’t be seen in the final ornament. 

8.       Continue to glue your paper cones on your circle with the point facing outward until all are on your ornament. At this point, you will need to use extra hot glue to keep together the pieces by gluing cone sections together, using extra glue to reinforce the paper cone to the circle base, or flattening the cone a little to make sure you don’t have any space remaining between segments.

9.       Flip your piece over so the star is on the bottom and the circle base is facing you.  You will now glue your other star to the back of the piece.  Use the points on your already glued on star as your guide or where to glue the other pieces- this is so your paper star lines up and matches front and back.  Repeat the process of using additional glue to keep each piece together and ensure that no space is visible between each section.

10.   Glue a pleated rosette to the center of each star.  Once secure, add a button or other embellishment to the center of the rosette for a final touch.  Repeat this process on the opposite side.  Remember, the each side of your paper ornament should coordinate but does not have to be identical.  You can use a different color rosette or embellishment if you want to add character to your paper star!

11.   Punch a hole using a paper piercer tool into the top of one of your star points and loop a piece of string through your hole to help with handing your paper star.   Cut the string to the length needed and tie into a knot.  You can hide the knot of the string in the hole you made in the star point- a tiny bit of hot glue will hold this in place easily.

12.   Add glitter, crystal effects, dazzling details or any other embellishment you choose for some extra oomph to your star!

13.   Give as a gift or enjoy for yourself!

Grateful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and although it is normally a busy time, I stop and think about how blessed I am to have amazing family and friends, and to be able to do what I love.

This month has been hectic with craft shows (sometimes two!) every weekend since the first of November.  I've had several people ask how I have time to work on things and even one person remark "you obviously don't have kids!", but in truth, my ability to craft is partially because I try to stay organized.  I am grateful for a break right now, but the past weeks has started with organizing and planning on Sunday, having a list of everything I need to do each night, and some things to work on during lunch each day.  This was great because it helped me stay focused with what was at hand, and also make sure I could replenish anything needed for the next week.

I will be posting some tutorials soon on some things I've made and want to share, but until then, here are some pictures of ideas to share!

 I made "bags of tags" where ten tags were in a cute bag ready to decorate a present!  I also made several bunches of bows, that are also ready to go on a present.

The "Merry" and "Thanks" banners were made with the build-a-banner kit from Stampin' Up using scraps and other bits from other projects.  I just love being able to make something new out of something I already have.  The gift card holders below are a great way to make a simple card a little more snazzy and impressive.  What's better?  They are easy!  Stay tuned for a future tutorial on these!

Presents and Pine cones!  I pre-decorated some large boxes and made them super cute to match whatever great present would go inside.  The pine cones were were hand painted, glittered, and be-decked to make any tree beautiful!

Candy purses uses a top note die cut and are great stocking stuffers.  Above, jumbo clothespins are perfect for holding a picture or a recipe, notes, or being a paper-weight.  I sell a good amount of these at each show, which tells me people love them as much as I do!

And the paper stars?  I love these!!!  Stay tuned for a tutorial on how to make these. :)