Tiger Art on the Walls & My Neck!

Lord knows I love a good theme. I'm one of those people that is likely to read Memoirs of a Geisha, while eating sushi and wear a kimono while doing it. Tonight my amazingly talented sister Hope Perkins (check out her I Love to Create interview about glitter) is having an art opening and you bet your bottom dollar I am working a theme with my outfit. You can look at the walls or my neck to see the art.


SUPPLIES
Cast resin cabochons of paintings
Wooden drops
Dremel
Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Pack
Sponge Brush
Head Pins
Decorative Paper
Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage
Plastic Flower Petals
Jewelry Wire
Pliers
Beads
Crimp Beads
Liquid Fusion Glue


Casting Resin
I won't go into all the details of how to cast resin, you can get all the info in my book The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry and all the supplies from ETI. In a nut shell choose the pictures you want to use, print out on photo paper and cast images in resin using a plastic painters palette as your mold.


Paint
The raw wood aisle at the craft store is always one of my faves. I found these rain drop shaped wooden discs that work perfectly for necklaces. Mix Crafty Chica Paint to get desired shade and use a sponge brush to apply two coats. Allow to dry completely.


Collage
Once your paint has dried add decorative papers to the wood to add interest. I used Collage Pauge and zebra print Decopatch paper. Allow to dry.


Glue
Once my custom resin cabochons had set up and been sanded I used Liquid Fusion Glue to attach them to my wooden rain drops.


Drill
Using a Dremel I drilled holes at the tops of all my wooden drops. Next using an eye pin, plastic flower petals, small heart shaped lockets and beads I did some wire wrapping. The wrapping not only adorned my pendants with funky flowers it also gave them loops at the top for hanging.


String
Using jewelry wire and beads string your necklace into desired pattern. Finish the ends with crimp beads and clasp.

If you can't make it out to the Austin Art Garage tonight, never fear the art will be up all month long. If you don't live in Austin check out art by Hope Perkins and Cory Ryan online!

Stenciled Wall Art

I'm a big fan of Ed Roth--and not just because he's one of the featured designers whose story's included in my upcoming book, Craft Corps (which incidentally, is now available for pre-order in my shop). His stencils are modern, sleek and often, have a sense of humor about them. I like them so much, I used many from his first book (Stencil 101) to decorate bibs with at my baby shower !

Now Ed's got a new book/kit out, Stencil 101 Decor, that speaks not only to the stencil enthusiast but also to those of us with a penchant for decorating. With 10 plastic stencils and step-by-step instructions (on painting anything from a wall to a fridge) included, no surface in your house will be safe from Stencil 101's charms. Dip your toe into D.I.Y. decor first though, by dabbling in wall art that's perfect in a kids' room, teen's dorm or hipster's loft.

In our house, two very different little boys share one room. What to do to keep a little design synergy without squelching their individual interests? Easy. Start with a basic, coordinating geometric theme, then add a simple graphic symbol that expresses each kids' interest. Here's how I used Ed's stencils to do just that.

Game Boy Wall Art

Materials

Stencil 101 Decor Stencils

16"x20" Buckram or other Stiff Fabric

Tulip Slick Fabric Paints in Desired Background & Contrasting Colors

Tulip Fabric Markers

Sponge or Stencil Brushes

Foil or Bowl

Fabric Pencil & Eraser

Stencil Wall Art How-To

• Lay stencil down on fabric; mark registration points at the given triangles (this will ensure an even pattern repeat.)

• Squirt paint onto foil piece--I mixed two colors, black & white, to get the shade of grey I wanted.

• Lightly paint (either brushing or pouncing) over stencil. Too much paint on the brush will cause bleeding under the stencil. Ed's Tip: "Remember, stenciling is a "dry" brush technique."

• Move stencil to next blank area on fabric, using registration marks as a guide. Repeat last step as many times as necessary to cover fabric.

• Do an internet search for the type of image you want to place on top of the patterned background. In this case, I chose a mushroom from Super Mario Bros.

• Using the web image as a general guide, sketch onto fabric

• Using fabric markers, outline image. Fill in desired areas with fabric paint. The result: a perfect picture for my littler gamer!

Sporty Spice Wall Art

If free-handing an image isn't you gig, give utilizing the stenciled background a try! For the 2nd piece I made, I began with Ed's hexagon pattern in a lighter color then used a dinner plate to draw a ball shape on top of it and filled in selected pieces with dark, fabric paint. Voila, a soccer ball for my all-American boy!

Craft.Rock.Love,

Vickie

iLoveToCreate Teen Room Decor: Patchwork Paper Wall Letters

iLoveToCreate Teen Room Décor
Mixed Media Patchwork Paper Wall Letters
Margot Potter Teen Crafts
“Mom crafted, teen approved.”

Teens love to personalize their rooms and this is a fun and easy way to do that in a flash. You can make an entire word to fill a wall or just an initial like I’ve done here for a door. I really fell for these retro themed papers, but you can use any papers you like including recycled scrap stash papers, wrapping paper and magazine pages. You don’t have to save this idea just for your teen’s room; these would be adorable anywhere in your home. I love the idea of seasonally themed words done in this patchwork style. Avalon squealed when she saw this, so I'm pretty sure it’s a winner!

Materials
Wood letter or letters
K&Company Carolyn Gavin Scrapbook paper (or other paper of your choice)
Liquid Fusion Glue
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge medium in matte finish
Vintage or new coordinating button
Tulip clear crystal to fit inside of button
Wired tinsel

Tools
Paint brush
Scissors
Exacto knife
Pencil

1. Select your papers. Place your letter on the paper, hold it down firmly, trace and cut with your Exacto knife. (If there’s a little overlap you can trim it later.)

2. Cut the accent papers (I made a small border with a coordinating paper and cut out a coordinating paper flower.)


3. Adhere the papers using an even coat of decoupage medium and paint a coat of medium on top. I love using a brush because it gives you texture, but you can opt for a foam brush if you prefer. If you get bubbles, wet your fingers and gently work them out. (Don’t fret, they will deflate when the medium dries. I promise!) Allow medium to dry.

4. Paint a second coat of decoupage medium over surface and allow to dry.

5. Run a thick bead of Liquid Fusion along the edge of the letter and above your borders and adhere the tinsel wire. IMPORTANT: Do not smash the wire into the glue or it will flatten and lose its dimension and sparkle. Just gently lay it into the glue bead. For the longer pieces you can place something small (like small glue bottles) on each end and the center until they’ve tacked into place and then remove them and allow the tinsel to dry overnight. This is kind of like using hot glue without worrying about the heat melting the tinsel or burning your fingers.

6. Attach a button to the center of your flower using Liquid Fusion. Attach a Tulip crystal to the center of the button with Liquid Fusion. Allow to dry.

Behind the Scenes Photo Shoot

One of the things that happens on a daily basis here at iLoveToCreate, are the photo shoots with models, products, and projects. Scott, our photography/videographer (and my hubby) set up a shoot for our December t-shirt of the month in the manufacturing/bottling facilities this week.

Our models were perfect with their houndstooth pattern t-shirts with gradient dye, up against the black drums. I designed the shirts and thought it would be great to have an edgy background for the shoot. I loved it!

After Megumi (one of the models) changed clothes, we discovered that in the storage area was a poster she had modeled for 6 years ago! She flipped out, and I couldn't wait to get a cute pic of her posing with the poster. Too funny!

As you can see in these pics, our plant is huge, and we have to wear protective glasses and closed toed shoes to walk around.

Check this out. It's one of the glue vats being mixed with a humungous mixer about the size of my little car.

We have tons of mannequins awaiting another trade show, and big drums of paint.

The bottling area was humming away, and there were rows of plaster waiting to become bisque pieces for our ceramics division of products.

I'm fascinated by the conveyor belts of bottles, and huge drums of paint and glue being pumped into spray bottles and squeeze bottles before it gets labels and shipped to the stores.

Alexa, aka Swell Designer, is pretty fascinated too, I might say.... heehee.

But alas, it's just another day behind the scenes at iLoveToCreate!

DIY Fabric Design

Recently I took a 3 part sewing class at Stitch Lab. For the first class we made a little drawstring bag. I brought in some fabulous vintage Barkcloth to make a pillow in class number 2. For the 3rd class we were making a skirt and I could not decide on the right fabric. Sure the stores were full of choices, but I thought it would be more fun to make my own. No, I didn’t go out and grow my own cotton and start from absolute scratch I should say I thought it would be more fun to embellish some fabric for my skirt. Today for I Love to Create I’ll show you what I came up with.


SUPPLIES
Black and White Cotton Fabric
Sponge Roll Brush
Tulip Fabric Spray Paint
Stencil 101 Décor
Tulip Slick Fabric Paint


The first thing I did was snag a few yards of black and white polka dot fabric. I thought it would be a nice back drop. Next I spread my fabric out in the yard and emptied a few bottles of Tulip Cool Color Spray onto the fabric in a random pattern. My pumping finger was sore for days, but the effect was worth it.


Chronicle Books had recently sent over a copy of Stencil 101 Décor: Customize Walls, Floors, and Furniture with Oversized Stencil Art for me to review. You might recall from my Raised in Craftivity and I Love to Create: Stencil 101 that I am a bit of an Ed Roth fan. I am still trying to find just the right piece of home décor to embellish with the stencils, but in the meantime I thought I would use one on my skirt. The book is full of several cool choices like birds, butterflies, circles, hounds tooth and more. I also love that new patterns are plastic which makes for super easy clean up. I always wondered how people who stenciled walls got the patterns to line up so perfectly and after reading Stencil 101 Décor I now know all about handy dandy registration marks.


Armed with my stencil, pencil, foam roll brush and some Tulip Slick Fabric Paint I spread the dyed fabric out on a flat surface and got busy. The stencils are large squares so it went quickly. I allowed the print to dry completely.


After that my fabric was ready for sewing class. The material worked perfect for my drawstring A-line skirt and I was pleased as punch with the results!


I just so happen to have enough fabric and enough time in class left to whip up Tallulah a matching version!

Lotta's Printing Studio + Stencil Painting on Knitwear

I'm a big-time fan of graphic art and block printing, especially as applied to textiles. Simple, clean, yet often kitschy shapes work amazingly well to create images--that can range from subtle to subversive--on fashion and home decor pieces. There aren't many who do it better than textile artist Lotta Jansdotter, so I was thrilled when I got my hands on her new kit, Lotta's Printing Studio.

The kit includes design sponges, 2 knives (for lino cutting), and 5 of Lotta's signature drawings in stencil form.

As a knitter and crocheter, I'm always interested in how I can incorporate other media types into my yarnwear. I've done a bit of experimenting with some super basic painting and lino printing on knitted pieces but thought it'd also be fantastic to give stencil printing a shot. In a recent I Love to Create article, I showed how to hand-dye organic yarn and knit it up into a CowlKerchief which as it turns out, makes the perfect canvas for said stenciling. Here's what I did and how you too, can print on yarn-y garments!

Hand-Dyed CowlKerchief, Enhanced with Lotta's Printing Studio

Get pattern for CowlKerchief here!

How-To Use Lotta's Kit with Knitwear

Lay CowlKerchief (or desired knitted garment) with stencil on top, on a flat surface. Dip printing sponge in fabric paint (I used Tulip's Soft Fabric Paint), then blot over stencil. For darker image apply more paint and pressure; for lighter image apply less. You'll find that the design sponge works really well with the yarn because of how absorbent it is. Keep in mind though, when working with the hills and valleys of the knitted stitch, you're not going to get the perfectly solid, stencil line that occurs when printing on fabric. I actually love this aspect of it though; the unevenness adds an additional textural layer!

I chose to use the Wall Motif on my knitwear (I'm an anarchist, like that ;-)) which requires two stencils. If you do the same, then repeat the step above; using a 2nd color of fabric paint. The design sponges are puffy enough that you should be able to just use the opposite end for the 2nd color, without having to dirty an additional one. One less thing to clean = more time to craft!

What you end up with is a mixed-media accessory that because of color, placement and textile choices, is uniquely you. Now that's something to be proud of!

Jaunty neckwear not your thing? Try printing on knitted blankets, pillows, sweaters, scarves (still neckwear, but less jaunty), hats and more--have a great time printing!

Craft.Rock.Love,

Vickie

Psst! I dig this kit so much, it's one of the first items I'm carrying in my new, Open Sky Shop.