Coloring on Fabric

My mother was quite crafty, and because her mother was very frugal most of the crafty things that I remember doing as a child made use of things that we already had, or could find in nature. We would sandwich crayon scrapings between two pieces of waxed paper and make "stained glass." We would make etchings of leaves on paper with crayons. My mother had the most beautiful flower gardens in the summer, and I remember folding flowers in waxed paper and pressing them in the pages of heavy books. About a week later, Mom would carefully take them out and seal them into the paper with an iron.

Simple pleasures...... :)

I may be older now, but I am still a kid at heart. I love to color. I love coloring books and coloring pages. After I finished printing out my monogram yesterday I decided that it needed some color; and here is how I did it!

You will need:

• Fabric
• Crayons-plain old crayons
• Iron and ironing board
• 2 sheets of paper

Let's get started!

First, color your fabric. Duh, right?
I like to layer my colors. Just have fun with it!




Now that I have finished coloring, I am going set the color with some heat. As you all know, crayons are made of wax, and wax melts. So, when you apply heat the color will kind of melt into the fabric. This is where the two sheets of paper come in: you are going to want to put a piece of paper under your fabric to protect your ironing board, and one on top of your fabric to keep the crayon wax off of your iron.

(Note to self: turn off the flash when taking close-ups.)



Lovely!

I am not done yet, but the rest will have to wait for another post!

Have a great night!

How to Print Anything onto Fabric

Today I am going to show you how to prepare a piece of fabric to run through a regular old inkjet printer. This is not a new technique, but it is so very handy for many different types of crafty goodness.

Here is what you will need:

• Fabric (solid, light colored works best.)
• Freezer paper (found in wax paper aisle.)
• Iron and ironing board
• Printer
• Printer paper
• Computer
• Pen
• Ruler
  
• Scissors

Let's get started! First, iron your fabric. You will need a piece that is just a bit larger than your printer paper. Once your fabric is ironed, cut a piece of freezer paper just larger than your fabric. Place the freezer paper over the fabric and run a warm, dry iron over it. You may have to play with the temp a bit, the idea is to get the freezer paper to stick to your fabric.

Now, take a piece of printer paper and lie it on top of the freezer paper that you have bonded to your fabric. Use your ruler to make sure you have straight edges and trace the printer paper onto the freezer paper
as so:

Then, cut it to the size of the printer paper.


Now for the fun part! Choose an image to print; a picture, clip art, anything really! Just make sure to respect copyrighted work. I found a beautiful wreath border, and speaking of copyrighted work, I can not remember where I found it. If you recognize it please tell me where it came from so I can credit the artist and link back to their blog!
I have been wanting to make a monogram for a long time, so I uploaded the wreath to Picnik and added an "S" to the center. I also played with the color a bit. Anyway....when you are ready to print, simply place your freezer paper-bonded fabric (fabric side up) into your printer, start printing, and voila!

Perfectly printed right onto the fabric!


Now, peel it off the freezer paper and embroider, embellish, or do whatever you would like with it!

Have a fantastic day!

How To Embroider On Paper

I love to embroider. It is a great way to add something special to so many handmade items; plus it is very relaxing! This is a quick little tutorial to show you an easy way to add stitching to paper. I will be using a paper doily today, but this method also works really well with paper that is opaque.

Let's get started!

First, choose your design and trace it on your paper. (If your paper is opaque you will need to use a light box, or you can tape it to a bright window to help see the pattern.) This one is from Jenny Hart's book Sublime Stitching. If you have not checked out Jenny's designs you need to; they are edgy, fun and fresh. No cutesy-teddy bears or country-bonnet girls to be found. You can find her patterns here.

Next, take your needle and poke little holes on the lines of the pattern.

Try to keep the holes spaced evenly. You are basically making hole where your stitches will be. If there is a corner or a point in your pattern, you will need a hole there.

Time to stitch! The pre-punched holes will keep your stitches on the line, even when you are coming in from the back side of the paper.


All done!

Piece of cake!

This is such lovely way to add a personal touch to note cards, scrapbook pages and so much more!

Have a great day!