It's me again. Paige has had a really rough month. Her kids have all had the Swine Flu and now she's sick with something....who knows what, but hopefully she'll be better soon! Pray for her and the fam that they all stay well.
This tutorial will show you how to make no-sew fabric covered wall art. I decided to do something for Caley's room again, although, the boys informed me that it was their turn so I'm gonna have to come up with something for their room too.
I was browsing Amy Butler's website and noticed some wall art with large letters that looked like they had been appliqued on using her new fabric line "LOVE." I immediately rushed to Hobby Lobby to get some fabric. Sometimes, well maybe all the time, I have a one track mind. I wanted to try and make something similar immediately so here's my version.
You will need:
1 yard of fabric for background
scrap fabric for letters
printed out letters that you have enlarged
1 1/2 yards of wonder under
tacky glue
foam board
tulle (optional)
sequins (optional)
The measurements for the one I made is 12" x 30" but you can make it however big or small you would like. First thing you need to do is print out your letters to the size you want then place them on your foam board to see how much you need to cut off. The first time I printed out letters I noticed they were too small. You don't wanna leave too much open space on the board. Cut your board accordingly to how much you measure out with the letters on there.
You will need to add 2 inches to the width and 2 inches to the height when cutting your fabric. So this fabric piece measured 14" x 32". 
This stuff works great on fabric.
In the pictures you'll notice that this fabric is actually doubled up but make sure that you put the right side of the fabric facing down then put your board on top. Fold down the corners using your Tacky Glue and press. It holds very well and dries fairly quickly. 
After you have all 4 corners completed then fold down the sides and glue them down like the picture above. 
This is what the corners should look like when you're finished.
Next, you will need to cut out small sections of your scrap fabric to use for the letters. We are gonna use Wonder Under to applique these letters onto the fabric covered board. Refer back to this section on our other applique tutorial. 
Make sure that you iron on the rough side of the Wonder Under to the wrong side of the fabric. The Wonder Under and the scrap fabric should be one peice after you're done.
Here is my first letter I cut out.
Put the letter on top of the paper side. Turn the letter over so that you're looking at it backwards. This is important or you will cut out the letter the wrong way. Believe me, I've made this mistake several times in the past. 
Trace you letter and then cut it out.
Now you can peel off the paper on the back of your fabric. Make sure you leave the sticky part on...only peel off the paper. This can be tricky sometimes. It's sometimes easier to start somewhere other than the corner. 
After you're finished with all of your letters, place them down flat the way you want 'em then iron them onto your board. 
For a little extra something, I glued sequins down around each letter. Since I didn't sew around the letters this will keep the edges from fraying. This was very time consuming but I think it was worth it. :)
For all you digital scrapbookers out there......
As some of you know, I've been experimenting in the digital scrapbooking world and I decided to try and make some letters/numbers myself. I was so excited when I saw that Amanda had posted a new Fall Digital Scrapbooking Kit on her site for free so I used some of her paper to create these. So...these will go perfect with her new Fall kit!! The font is called "Digs My Heart" which is one of her free fonts.
This tutorial will show you how to make a digital Art Canvas.
I was in a little store in town today called "Zazzy's" and saw some digital canvases on the wall which inspired me to try and make something similar myself. I used a digital scrapbooking kit designed by Kristen Cronin-Barrow (the same kit used in the design of this blog) from Sweet Shoppe Designs and made a scrapbooking page using a picture I took of my daughter several weeks ago.
This tutorial does not include instructions on how I made my scrapbooking page but hopefully I will have a tutorial on here one day!!
Here is my original scrapbooking image. I sized it down to a 7.5" x 7.5" to print out. 
You will need a canvas. It really doesn't matter what size just as long as your image can fit on there. I found this printed canvas that was on sale for $6 at Hobby Lobby. It's an 8"x8". Just make sure that the canvas size is slightly bigger than your print....maybe half an inch difference.
This canvas already had mounting on it which was perfect. All I needed to do was paint it.
I chose this pink color which is the main color in my print.
Print your scrapbook page or image on regular white copy paper and make sure your printer settings are set to "fine" or "photo" just so the quality of the print will look good. The quality of the print is much better than it actually looks here. After you print your scrapbook page don't cut the edges off.
I think it makes it look pretty neat if you tear the edges off...like above.
You will need to get some Mod Podge, which you can find at Hobby Lobby, and a paintbrush. Using a thin coat....paint the Mod Podge on quickly to the entire back of your scrapbook page. Do it fast because it dries quickly.
Now you can press the paper down onto your canvas.
It should look like this.
To give the top of your canvas a glossy finish you will need some Diamond Glaze. Unfortunately, I don't know of a store where you can buy it but you can order it online. I think I bought mine on Ebay.
You will need to dilute the Diamond Glaze with a little bit of water first. Paint a coat or two on the top and your done!! You can print out any kind of digital image or clip art and they make great wall art for your kids rooms!! Let us know if you try it!! Have fun!!
Yipee!! We have a new blog design! I have to say, I'm a little excited because I've been trying to figure out how to use scrapbooking kits so that I could edit and design my own blogs and it finally worked!! I'm pumped! I used a kit from Sweet Shoppe Designs. Hope you like it!!
I've also been making little images or buttons using Amanda's digital paper and fonts! You should definitely check out her site because she is very talented!! A big thank you to her for letting me use her pages and fonts for free, which allows me to give them to you for free and....for letting me pick her brain with questions! You can put them in your sidebar of your blog by copying the codes below then adding a picture gadget. If you have questions please let me know.
Also, if anyone has any requests on certain quotes, verses, etc, I would be glad to make a button for you!! This is so much fun and it's one of my many hobbies, lately. Oh..and the actual button is much smaller. I just enlarged them here for fun. Hope you enjoy!!
I was inspired this past weekend at the Auburn football game. I noticed that people seemed to be very decked out for the ballgame, from head to toe. I was thinking about how I don't really have any Auburn jewelry at all and seeing some of the big and fun things that people were wearing made me want something for myself. I have to give it to my husband for encouraging me to make something on my own. I'm so glad I did!!
This was what I came up with and I thought it turned out cute and yes, I'll be wearing it at the next game. It was super easy and lots of fun. My daughter Caley wants one now so I'm off tomorrow to buy some wooden beads for her. She helped me paint this one a little but she's made it clear she wants to do hers all by herself.
This necklace was really easy to make and all you need is a quick trip to Hobby Lobby.
You will need: 1 piece of floral foam, between 20-24 round wooden beads (they come in a pack of 6, I used 1", 1/8" hole), sand paper, 2 yards of ribbon (I used one of each color, which made it a total of 4 yards), white paint or primer, other paint choices with your team colors, Americana Pearlizing paint ..medium, and a pack of flex straws
Make sure you read all of the instructions before beginning.
If you look closely you'll notice that the wood is a little jagged inside the holes.
2. Roll up a small piece of sand paper and try to twist it inside the hole just to sand down the uneven wood. This will help to make sure the ribbon won't get scratched later.
This is what they should look like when you're done.
2. Take your white paint, or primer, and paint the inside of the hole with a small paint brush.
3. When the paint is dry (it doesn't take long at all to dry) stick the straw through the hole of the bead. The flexible part of the straw should hold the bead in place so that it won't move. Now you can paint the sides of the bead.
4. Stick the straw in the foam to let it dry. 
5. When the paint is dry, use your colors of choice and paint the rest of the beads. It may take 2 coats. 
6. Use your pearlizing paint for the top coat. It gives the beads a shimmery look that I think looks nice. 
7. Take your ribbon pull it through one bead and move it to the very center of your 2 yards of ribbon. 
8. Tie a knot on each end of the bead.
9. Add beads to each side of your knots.
10. Continue until you have the necklace like you want it. I ended up using 21 beads. 
Good luck!! Let us know if you try it!! War Eagle!!!
