7/22/15

Christmas in July Holiday Wreath!

Today I am joining other artists, combing fun shapes from Smoothfoam and Holiday papers and embellishments from The Robins Nest.

For my project I made this Holiday wreath. It was so simple and fun to make, a easy afternoon project!

Materials: 

From The Robins Nest -

 Instructions:
1. Paint top and sides of wreath with red paint, set aside to dry.
2. Cut the snowflake design from the cardstock. One 12x12 sheet will give you 4 strips for the the outside of the wreath and 3 strips for the inside.
3. Attach the strips to your wreath using the straight pins.
4. Cut out the holly shapes and attach with the pins, leaving space at the bottom of the wreath open.
5. Randomly glue the metallic dew drops and seeds to the wreath. Color in some of the seeds with the gel pen.
6. Embellish the sides of the wreath with the black diamonds.


7. For the pine needles, cut the paper as shown below using the back side of black and white pine tree. You will need 6 sprigs total.
8. Dab the chalk pen at the edges of the pine needles for a 'snow' effect.
9. Pin two pine sprigs each on both sides of the bottom of the wreath, then attach the third for each side with 2-3 layers of foam tape.


 10. Cut out 2 snowmen and round their bottoms. Attach the scarf (ribbon) to one snowman with double stick tape.
11. Pin one snowman in place then attach the second with foam tape.
12. Trim the words Merry Christmas from the christmas words cardstock. Adhere to some black and white pine tree paper.
13. Attach to base of snowman with foam tape.
14. Adhere some wire to the back of the wreath for easy hanging.

Now you have one less wreath to worry about for the Holidays!


Now on to the Giveaway!
For your chance to win, just leave a comment on any blog(s) in the hop, the more you comment on, the more chances you have to win!.
 The prize is a amazing selection of products from The Robin's Nest and Smoothfoam, valued at $85.00 (available to ship within the US only). 
Visit the DCC blog to hop through everyone's links and good luck!
 Deadline to enter is July 28th.


7/15/15

Back to School Craftts with Deflecto!


 Ever since Dyllan was in diapers I have been stocking up on School themed scrapbook paper.
I've had this collection by WeRMemory Keepers for a few years and now its 'perfect' because Dyllan starts 6th grade in the Fall!
 The Deflecto 4"x6" Craft Frame makes it easy to see a class schedule. It comes with a colored border letting me accent it with School themed paper.

 The Deflecto 3"x5" Flexible pouches are fantastic for making door knob signs. Simply decorate both sides of the pouch, inside and out, then loop a rubber-band in the hole at the top and hang on a knob!


 This Deflecto Pencil Cup with Photo frames is super easy to decorate.  I simply cut cardstock to fit inside the photo slots and added a tab at the top for easy removal. Perfect to add a photo or encouraging words. Embellish with stickers or washi tape.

This Pencil Cup is also ideal for those of us that go on weekend craft retreats. We can show off photos of our family in the windows and have a place to store craft pens and tools!

The pencil Cup also folds up perfectly for easy transport!

Supplies used:

3" x 5" Deflecto Flexible Pouch
4" x 6" Deflecto Craft Frame
Deflecto Pencil Cup with photo Frames



7/05/15

Jump into Summer! With Easy Colorful Tie-Dye!

 I really love color, but the retail stores just don't have the hues I like for what I'm comfortable to spend. So I went ahead and made up my own shirts with paint and dye.

 Easy, fun and best of all? Colorful!
 

Materials needed: 
Tulip Tie Dye Kits
      -Best for 100% cotton. Should be used with in 60 minutes of mixing.
Plaid Acrylic Multi-Surface Paints
        - Paints can be used on any fabric. No rinsing required!
White T-shirts or Mens undershirts.
     -Pre-washed, just detergent. No softeners, no dryer sheet.  Keep shirts damp.
Plastic drop cloth for table or ground
Gloves- rubber or plastic
Rubber bands or waxy twine
Zip ties
Sharp scissors
Containers and wire racks
Hangers and places to hang shirts
Bags- for setting over night.
A rinsing bucket or tub
Access to water/hose.
These come with the powdered dye inside the bottles, rubber bands and one-size-fits-all gloves
 
Save the Tulip dye bottles for paints and other dye mixes. The narrow Tip is ideal for tie dye applications.
 
When using the powdered dye in the bottles, I never fill the bottle all the way with water. This way it's easier to mix thoroughly and the colors are concentrated. When ready to add the paint, I rinse the bottles out, add paint to the shown line, then water as before. The more paint you use, the stiffer your finished shirt will be and you may need to wash with a softener before wearing


I use rubber bands for the spirals and zip ties for the rest. You just need to be careful you don't "cut" the shirt when removing the zip ties. For bags I use fold and close bread bags and large ziplocks bags. Gloves are optional. Some times I use them, sometimes I don't. If you don't like using them, make sure you have Lava soap to remove the stains on your arms and hands.



This is what I use when I tie dye.


Bakers racks work too.


 For the spiral shirt:
  1. Lay your damp shirt flat on your protected surface. Decide where you want your spiral center to be. Pinch there and start twisting.
  2. Keep on twisting. Make sure the shirt stays flat and does not buckle up.
  3. When you can twist no more, gather the loose parts and form a flat circle.
  4. Wrap the first rubber band, careful to cross the center. Add the second rubber band making a "X" in the center.
  5. Add 2 more rubber bands corner to corner, aligning in the center. You should have 8 sections.


Place your piece onto a screen over a container, then carefully apply your dye/paint by section.  Make sure to fill in some of the folds with dye/paint too.
____________________



 For the Diagonal shirt:
  1. Lay your damp shirt flat. Gather in folds from the shoulder downwards.
  2. Try to keep the folds nice and even.
  3. When you are at the end,  twist as if you are wringing a towel. 
  4. Keep twisting until it makes a loop. Place onto a bakers rack before applying dye in sections.


 ____________________

 Wavy stripe shirt:
Lay your damp shirt flat. Then starting at one side, gather the shirt in folds, pleating towards the other side. Secure folds with zip ties and apply your dye/paint.

 ____________________


 For this one.....
Lay your damp shirt flat. Then starting at the bottom, gather the shirt in folds, pleating towards the top. Secure folds with zip ties and apply your dye/paint.

 

As you can see, this one done with diluted paint, has a more solid less vivid look you would get with the dye. But its still a fun process and I plan to finish it off with some other paint colors and stencils.
 
The shirts with dye are wrapped up in plastic and left over night to set.
  When you are ready to rinse the items with dye:

  1. Use gloves for the rinsing. The dye will be super concentrated.
  2. Hold over your bucket/tub and use a hose to gently rinse the color while your shirt is still wrapped up.
  3. Then carefully uncurl, unwrap, take off any rubber bands or cut zip ties.
  4. Rinse until water is nearly clear.
  5. Empty bucket/tub into thirsty (non-food) vegetation.
  6. Fill bucket/tub 1/4 way with water and use hand to swirl shirt in water like a washing machine until water drips clear from shirt. Hang until dry. 
  7. If later when checking on hung shirts....you notice dye drips....you can do a cold water rinse-only in your washing machine and always hang dry before wearing.

 The items made with acrylic paint, are left in the sun to dry a bit. They are carefully undone and hung until fully dry. No rinsing required before wearing!

This red spiral painted shirt will also receive some stencil detail.


Leftover paint or dye? Why not give 'new' life to some boring old socks? You can dry them on  tomato cages! Socks take a day or two to dry.

Thanks for coming by, I hope I've inspired you!
Comments welcome! :)

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