Photo Friday

Happy Friday to you! 

My weekend involves dropping off signage, dinner with friends, volunteering, the season premiere of Dr Who*, and as much garden time as I can squeeze in. 

What's on your plate for the weekend?

* It's true, I'm a Whovian.

Introducing: Artful Wednesday plus Freezer paper stencil tutorial

You guys know about freezer paper stencils, right? They are the BEST for customizing your wardrobe/accessories. I wanted to bring a little something into the house for Fall--something that would last September to November. Don't get me wrong; we LOVE Halloween and absolutely decorate inside and out for it, but August seems too soon for that, and Thanksgiving seems too late. I have always loved birds, and lately my mind has turned to owls (you'll see why later). I decided to make owl pillowcases for some throw pillows. And you can too!

Supplies:

Paper

Felt-tipped pen

Exacto blade 

Scissors

Freezer paper (found in the aisle with the aluminum foil and cling wrap)

Fabric of your choice, or old pillowcases

Iron and ironing board

Fabric paint (soft body in red, white, and yellow; spray in black, orange, and white; and puff paint in white and black)

Sponge brushes for paint

First you'll need a drawing of an owl (or some owl clip art). Blow it up to about 8 inches tall.

Then get your freezer paper and pen out. Freezer paper has two sides: paper and a plastic-coated side. You will be drawing on the paper side. Freezer paper is wonderfully translucent, so tracing is easy peasy!

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Here's a handy tip: BEFORE you trace anything, make 2 small "x" at the top of your paper

Then, when you put your design under your freezer paper, FIRST mark where those two "x" are. That way if your paper slips (say, you get up to make someone a sandwich and come back to find that small hands have moved your papers around) all you have to do is line up the two "x" and continue tracing.

Once your design has been traced, cut out THE INSIDES FIRST with your exacto blade. This is easier if your blade is sharp. And remember to cut on top of newspapers or a cutting mat.

After you have the insides all cut out, use your scissors to cut on the outer edge. Then set your iron to LOW and place your stencil PLASTIC SIDE DOWN on your fabric. Press for 15-20 seconds. The plastic will adhere to the fabric.

Then get out your paints! I use Tulip brand and I Love to Create brand.

Try painting with the soft body paints and then spraying over top, or spray first and then paint. Let dry according to your manufacturer's directions.

Next, take the face area of the original stencil, place it over your drawing and trace where the eyes and beak will go. Cut those out with your exacto.

Iron the face stencil onto your owl.

The owl on the left was paint and then spray paint, the owl on the right was spray paint and then fabric paint.

Paint the eyes white and the beaks yellow. Again, let them dry according to the package directions.

Once they are dry, peel up the stencil paper--it comes right off. Tumble dry on high for 15 minutes to heat-set the paint.

Next, I got out my puff paint in black and white, and used that to trace over where the stencils had been. Lastly, I added some details with a Sharpie pen.

Two pillows to welcome the Autumnal season into the house. 

What are your favorite ways to bring Fall indoors?

Introducing: Quote of the Week (and chalkboard tutorial)

                          

This week the kids are headed back to school--yipee! Fiona starts kindergarten and Adrian will be in second grade. Over the last few weeks, the mister and I have come up with a rough set of rules in order to smooth the transition from carefree summer days to the structure of school. 

One of my goals for the upcoming school year was to give the kids some positive thoughts as they head out the door in the morning. And since 365 quotes is way beyond my level of committed-ness, I figured a quote per week should do it. 

So then where was I going to put all these quotes? On pieces of paper, stuck to the back of the front door--please, no; I'm already drowning in piles of paper. Thinking....thinking...thinking...WE NEED A CHALKBOARD QUOTE BOARD! And I happen to have scrap lumber and chalkboard paint! How convenient! (I am seriously in love with chalkboard paint). 

If you want your very own chalkboard quote board, follow these easy steps.

Assemble your supplies! Chalkboard paint, scrap lumber, and a brush or a roller. (Looks like it's time to refinish that bench, hunh?)

Oh look! Busted dresser drawers! I'll paint those with chalkboard paint too! (2 coats on the left, 1 coat on the right) These will show up again as a completely separate tutorial (who's crazy for chalkboard paint?)

Hey, there's the lumber! Looking good....I did 3 coats of the paint & then let it dry overnight in the garage.

The next day I brought the board inside, got some fancy schmancy scrapbook paper (left over from Fiona's Fancy Nancy tea party), my paper cutter, a sponge brush, and some ModPodge (matte finish). ModPodge is invaluable if you want to stick different materials together or if you want to seal paper/collages. 

Measure the side of your board & cut your paper to fit. My board was 1/2 inch thick, so I cut 4 strips of 1/2 inch paper. Use ModPodge to adhere the paper to the board. Once the ModPodge has dried, seal over the top with a thin layer of ModPodge. Why? Why not! No seriously, it will keep the paper from peeling up and yellowing with age.

Next, get out some wire (16 gauge or so), some glass beads that will fit on the wire, some pliers, some wire cutters, and some screw eyes.

Affix two screw eyes to the top of your board. I am a lazy measurer, so I measured three finger-widths from the edge. Then take your wire and cut a length as long as your board is (so if your board is 12 inches, your wire is 12 inches). Loop one end of the wire through the screw eye and twist up the end to make a loop.

BEFORE you loop through the other screw eye, put some beads on there! If you're going to be staring at it all year, why not make it worth staring at?!

Look at that paper! LOVE it!

Then loop your loose wire end through the screw eye and wrap around the wire like you did before. 

Then pinch the wire together in the middle, and twist it 4 or 5 times to make a loop for hanging.

Hang it wherever suits you. I have mine above the coat rack by the front door. 

Before you write on it, make sure it cures for a few days (per manufacturer's instructions) and that you prep it by adding a layer of chalk dust. All of that should be on the paint can, so read your directions!

Check in every Monday for our Quote of the Week!

What are some of your favorite quotes?!