CREATE-ive Sign

Today I'm sharing something that has been 

on my to-to list for three years !

Ever since I set up an actual craft room,

I've been wanting to make this sign.

I kept putting it off because I couldn't really

commit to exactly how I wanted to do it,

I had so many ever changing ideas.

In early March I decided it had been too long,

just go for it and if I don't like it,

I can always redo it.

I've been waiting all this time to show it to you
because I wanted it to be a design team project for
Love To Craft Challenge.

We are an anything crafty goes month long challenge,

so long as your projects are family friendly.
Share what you've created with us!

If you'd like to see close up photos of each letter
and what I used on each of them, read on.


All of the letters were cut from chipboard with 
a Cricut Create machine.
Most of them have a top layer adhered on
with adhesive from a Xyron machine. 

This is a sort of "cracked glass" effect created by 

heat embossing a couple layers of ultra thick clear embossing powder.

The stamped card stock letter curved from the heat and embossing.

When I ran it through the Xyron adhesive machine, it cracked.

I could have put it in the freezer and then flexed it to cause

larger cracks, but I decided not to. I liked it as it was, subtle.

I used Stampin' Up! rubber stamps and inks on Vanilla card stock to

create the floral image underneath the heat embossing.  

The Hand Painted Petites stamp set retired in 2004.

This is a crackle paint finish with a "rusty"heart.

I painted brown acrylic craft paint directly on the chipboard letter.

I then brushed on a thick layer of crackle medium.

Once that was dry, I brushed on a thick layer of

cream colored acrylic craft paint.

If crackling, it is important to not go over the paint.

Just brush it on one time for the effect to work.

I wrapped a piece of linen thread around one leg

a few times then tied it into a bow.

 The rusty heart was made by sprinkling cinnamon

onto wet brown acrylic craft paint. Yes, ground cinnamon

from your spice cabinet ! I used to make rusty embellishments

by paper punching or die cutting shapes from sandpaper 

then painting them with acrylic craft paints. I then read

the cinnamon trick somewhere online regarding

creating faux finish effects for model train setups

so I gave it a try a while back. 

This piece is meant to replicate old painted embossed tin.

I came up with this idea when recreating tin angel ornaments

(see that post here)

I ran gold metallic card stock through an embossing folder,

roughly brushed cream acrylic paint over it then

lightly added gold metallic acrylic craft paint to the raised areas.

I typed up and printed out a tiny tag, cut it out 

then brushed gold paint along the edges.

A gold organdy knot bow is hot glued to the top. 

The entire piece is glued to the chipboard letter.

This letter is simply covered with a pieced fabric piece

scrap that I cut to fit carefully using a sharp hobby knife.

I hot glued on an old button.

The pieced fabric was a small scrap leftover from

my Families Are Like Quilts framed piece. 

This letter is covered with a page from an old dictionary.

I was worried that I might tear the paper or that I

wouldn't get it lined up well enough when adhering it

to the chipboard base , thus ruining it.

I meant to scan the page before cutting it just in case

so I could print it out if I did mess it up.

Luckily it all went well enough, whew. 

Sure, I could have used another piece of paper,

but I wanted this exact piece. 

I made the little roses from scraps of cotton fabric.

The leaves are paper punched and hand cut from card stock.

The final letter!

This one was also painted directly on the chipboard. 

I base coated it with a light gray chalk paint.

I then added a light layer, but not totally covering it,

of white acrylic craft paint.

It was then sanded in places to distress it.

I printed out a word strip from a digi kit

by Kimeric Kreations (A Creative Life)

and a tiny self portrait. 

The letters were all hot glued onto a piece of linen mat board
that I cut to fit the frame. 
 The frame was found at a fund raising church yard sale,
new in package for  $ 1.50. 

I really wanted "chunkier" letters to fill the frame
better and have more area to decorate on the letters themselves,
but the font in my Cricut cartridge wasn't the correct size.
I tried three different sizes, but they were all too wide to fit
all six letters in the frame properly. To go any shorter
which would have made them narrower was going to
look really funny. I thought about hand painting
"something every day" underneath the die cut "create",
but there wasn't enough room with this font and
once again, it wasn't going to look right with the other.

So until I find a shorter frame for these letters to fit better in,
I will be using this one - 
and I may add something small on either end
so there isn't so much space. 

Thanks for looking, have a great day =) 

I'm entering my project in the current challenge
Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber.
I know, there aren't a lot of rubber stamped images on this project,
but the tiny floral stamps I did use are  15+ years old!

I'm also entering my sign project in the current
No Cards Allowed Challenge at Love To Scrap 

and

Anything Goes at Through The Craft Room Door.

Buffalo Check Fabric Frame - tutorial

Today I'm sharing this fabric frame I made
as my design team project for

Love To Craft.

We are a month long anything crafty goes challenge

(so long as it family friendly).

Won't you share what you have created with us ? 

If you'd like to know how I made my project, read on !




Supplies:
thick mat board or chipboard
batting
fabric
heavy duty adhesive
scissors
embellishments
heavy duty utility knife

Cut your frame from the mat board/chipboard.
You may need to adhere two layers together
to make it sturdier. You don't want it too lightweight
otherwise it will more than likely flex a bit from the
pulling of the fabric. If you use liquid glues and the
card board is too thin, it could cause it to warp, too.
My project uses an old leftover pre-cut set I bought
oh so long ago, back when padded frames and albums
were a popular craft. Yes, I'm aging myself by admitting that!
Here is a photo of the kit project ideas,
good for a giggle :)

Apply adhesive to the frame front and lay it on top of the batting.
I would normally use a spray adhesive for this step, but my old can
no longer works. Heavy duty double stick tape will work just fine.

Trim the batting out even with the edges.

Lay this on top of your fabric, batting side down.
trim out leaving about an inch of fabric around all edges.
This extra fabric is what will wrap around to the back side
(seen above),
so you need enough to wrap and glue in place.
I use heavy duty double stick tape to adhere the
fabric to the chipboard.


I start by folding the fabric over the four corners
(I did not do that in these photos).
I then go to the middle of one side to glue it in place,
finishing that entire side
before working on the opposite side.
Don't pull it too tight to cause the chipboard to bend!
You may also want to flip it over from time to time
to make sure your fabric isn't puckering and if it has
a design like this plaid, that you like the way it is
lining up along the edges. I'd recommend not using
anything with lines/plaid because it doesn't always work well.
Just takes more time and patience to line it up.

Once all of the sides are done, do the inside opening.

If your frame has a rounded opening, clip curves every 1/2" or so .
Don't get too close to the opening though because you don't
want to see the cuts. The clipping helps in wrapping the fabric
around the curved sections.

After I am happy with how it looks, I will add a piece of card stock
cut to fit then glued in place over all of the fabric edges.
This helps cover any exposed double stick tape as well as making it
easier to slide photos in, not catching on the fabric bits.




Add lace or cording at this point if you wish.
You'll want to "sandwich" it between the front and back.


You can cover the back with fabric, too,
if you wish. It is not necessary to use batting.

Glue along three sides of the frame back piece.
Adhere this over the back of the front piece. 
I use hot melt glue for this step.

Be sure to leave one side open to insert photos in !

Embellish if you'd like and enjoy !


Thanks for looking, have a great day =)







Flood recovery update:
Thank goodness I made all of my design team projects
well in advance this year as I've still not made
anything new since earlier this year due to 
the record setting flood our area saw. 

We are plugging along on getting things back in shape.
Although it was a tough go for us trying to save 
what we could of our home and property,
we know we are lucky. Grateful to everyone that helped
and thankful that the flood wall held so damage 
and losses were far less than they could have been. 
We didn't lose everything like so many people did.

The interior of the house is basically done now, hooray!
The garage, yard and barn still need a lot of work.

Life is back to normal and we are once again healthy 
after becoming so sick during the flood (due to mold). 

I recently got my craft rooms all set back up, 
cleared out of the last of the clutter. 
I had to store things in them, carried up from 
the main floor of the house to protect them from damage.
Now that I can move around,
find my things and have room to work, 
I hope to start creating some new projects.
I certainly have a long to-do list that I keep adding to! 

Oui Book Page Bouquet - tutorial

Can you believe it is August,

which means it is back to school time for many.

With that in mind,

I was inspired to create this old book page bouquet

for the current anything crafty goes challenge at

Love To Craft .

I also repurposed a Oui yogurt jar,

thus the play on the word "wee" in my post title ;)

This is a fairly small arrangement,

just about 6" in height overall.

The roses themselves are about 1" in diameter.

We'd love to see what crafts you've made this month.

Anything goes, so long as it is family friendly.

Post a link to your project at Love To Craft

If you'd like to know more about my project, read on!

The roses are made with pages from an old dictionary.

I should have used thicker book pages

and not so old. They were getting quite brittle.

I managed to make several dozen roses successfully

to create this piece, but it was tricky. 

Using a spiral flower die makes the process

go faster, but you can hand cut simple spirals

with scissors. Simply roll them up then glue them

to a small circle - or cut a circle into the end of your spiral.

You can find oodles of ideas on how to do this online.

To create the faux mercury glass,

you need Looking Glass paint.

It must be sprayed on the inside of the glass container.

Once again, look online for how-to's.

You can simply layer the thin paint and

spritz it with vinegar water solution.

I've done projects this way, but I've also 

added a bit more worn effects details using paint.

I dabbed teeny bits of black glossy paint

as well as a clear varnish inside the jar using

a piece of sea sponge. I then spray painted

light layers of the Looking Glass paint over it.

I didn't have any large head corsage pins 

and there is no place local to buy them.

Rather than ordering some online,

 I decided to try to paint the heads of plastic

straight pins used for sewing. It worked well!

I simply dipped the heads into gold acrylic craft paint

then poked the pins into styrofoam to stay upright while drying.

I stitched a long running stitch along the edge of 

a scrap piece of lace then gathered it to create the ruffle.

It was hot glued into place on the top edge of the jar.

The styrofoam ball is hot glued in place on top of that.

I say hot glue, but I was actually using a low temp melt glue.

Pin or glue the flowers in place on the styrofoam ball.

I used pins only so they could be re-positioned if needed.

The finished size is approximately 6"tall

A closeup of the faux mercury glass jar

Wee book page roses with painted pin head centers.

I also added small squares of tulle pinned in place

scattered among the flowers. 

The rose on the left is made with one die cut spiral.

The rose on the right is made with two spirals.

I used just the single spiral size rose on this project.

That's about all there is to share regarding how I made this project.

It really isn't difficult, just time consuming. 

Aren't most crafts labors of love and time, though ? 

Thanks for looking =)

Have a great day !

NOTE:

This project and post were written much earlier in the year,

well before our area experienced historic flooding.

 We are recovering, slowly but surely getting back to normal.

Although it was a tough go for us trying to save 

what we could of our home and property,

we know we are lucky. Grateful to everyone that helped

and thankful that the flood wall held so damage 

and losses were far less than they could have been. 

We didn't lose everything like so many people did.

I still am not crafting anything, no time or desire.

This will be the last post from me again for a while.