Stencil With Freezer Paper

I have been thinking of fun ways to use my cricut machine and one way is as a stencil. Seems easy enough right? Well here is something much less expensive than vinal paper which runs around $7.99 in craft stores. So I will be trying this bad boy out soon.

Stencil With Freezer PaperOne of the projects at this Friday's Chicago Craft Social will be freezer paper stenciling. I'm helping lead this table, so I needed to give it a test drive and make up some samples. You know how a project usually has four tedious steps you tolerate and one step that's super fun? I think this is one of the few where all of the steps are fun. Or maybe that's just me. I'm now in the grips of stencil mania. I'm stenciling everything.

To stencil your own stuff:
Buy a roll of freezer paper (approx. $3.99) or beg a piece from the guy in the meat department at your grocery store. Draw your design on it and cut it out with an X-acto knife. Then iron the paper, shiny side down, onto the fabric you're going to stencil. Iron another sheet to the back of the fabric to keep the paint from soaking through. You can use the iron setting that corresponds to the fabric you're stenciling.

With a foam brush, stenciling brush, kitchen sponge, or other paint brush, apply fabric paint to the cut-away areas. I used Jacquard brand textile paint from the local art store.

Let the paint dry (use a hairdryer if you're the impatient type, like me.) Peel the freezer paper off. Set the paint by following the directions on the jar — usually ironing will set it. Ta da.

Look What I Can Do........Shhhhh....... You Can Do It Too!

Many of my dear friends who I have let into my craft room know I'm an organizing junkie. I just feel better when I know where something is and I'm not wasting time trying to find it. Enter ribbon. I have tried to organize ribbon in so, so, so many different ways and always come up short ........dum dum dum. Until NOW! Check out this super easy way to make a ribbon organizer and moreover easy to take the spools on and off. Why didn't I think of that? I think I will paitn mine whit to go with the white theme going on in my craft room.

DIY Ribbon Organizer

from giverslog.com by AmberLee

It seems such a shame for something as pretty as ribbon to be shut up in a closet, wouldn’t you agree? I have this fantasy of storing all my wrapping in plain sight, as a sort of functional art, and this super simple project has me one step closer.

look at this pretty ribbon, all it asks is to be set out and appreciated

I’d call this a tutorial, but really, it seems too simple to be a tutorial. It’s just a trip to a couple of stores I’m guessing you already visit. A few minutes later, you’ll be set with a place to store every spool of ribbon or twine in your closet. Should we get going then?
Start with a trip to the thrift store.

Have you ever noticed many candlesticks have a hole that goes all the way through? Do a little searching and I’m sure you’ll find several. On my last trip I picked up five. They are ripe for the picking, my friends. If you don’t like your color options, pick up a spray can of Krylon at the hardware store and do a quick paint job when you get home.

Often you’ll need to unscrew something. It wouldn’t hurt to have a Philips and flathead with you when you go.

The next stop is the craft store. Pick out a wooden dowel that makes a snug fit. Mine was pretty snug. The wood was soft enough that I just screwed it right into the base. If your dowel is a little thin, you have options. Pick up a wooden disk while you’re at the craft store. Drill a hole so you can use the wooden disk as your base, then plant the dowel in the hole (again, make sure it’s a snug fit) and slide the candlestick right over. You also have the choice of picking up one of these from the hardware store, they’re called allthreads and work great for this project if you prefer them to a dowel.

That’s it. Once you find a dowel or rod that fits, there’s nothing left to do but stack the candlestick back together, and display in your studio, office, or right on your mantle.

I have been wanting to do one of these for a while now. I knew I should be able to make one for myself and found a cute tutorial done by what looks like a high school kid? Check out her pics behind her in her photos. They made me laugh. So here is her post and I warn you there are a LOT of pictures so it may seem a bit long but if you are good at scrolling -- no worries.

From craftster.com
Here's the goal:


Sorry about the mediocre tutorial, it’s my first try!

I've seen these all over for 30$+, so I tried to make my own!
I found out after making about 8 that you can buy premade “hat pads”, but uh, this is way more fun and original


you need...

-scissors
-black thread (color varies, depending on if you want it to blend in or not)
-needle
-small/medium feathers (i got mine fairly cheap from http://www.tonyhill.net/, but there are plenty of companies that sell them)
-backing fabric (leather seems to work best because it's sturdy)
optional - a thimble might help if you have sensitive fingers/a hard time pushing through the leather and feathers



http://www.craftster.org/pictures/showphoto.php?photo=177109&ppuser=140768
you want to cut a teardrop shape about 4 inches (or whatever size you want it to be...) that's even on both sides (fold it in half it helps)


Thread a *really* long needle. It’s a lot easier to not have to worry about running out of thread while doing this, and to not have to change thread. You should probably double the thread too, because it’s more supportive.


Pull out a big pile of feathers!


It’s easier to use ones like this that are fairly flat on the top


Lay a long, flat feather with the end facing the pointy side of the teardrop, and *important* curved down! You need the whole finished pad to curve towards your head, so you always have to face the feathers in a frown on the fabric.


Stitch right next to the base of the “stem” and over. Do this a few times around the stem in a few different spots. It also helps if you can sew one or two stitches actually into the base, but it can be hard to pierce.


It should look something like this. Keep in mind that the bottom will be covered up, so it doesn’t matter much if it looks messy


Lay two more feathers around the sides in a fanning out shape, and tack them down as well. (The same way you want the pad to be a frown lengthwise, you want it to be a little curved down widthwise as well, so try and find feathers that accommodate this)


Add three more feathers in a fan on top of this, lining the middle one up with the first feather you did, and covering the stitches. Tack them down too!


Keep adding more feathers in the fan layers


since I already made 4 or 5 already, I decided to change feathers and do a multicolored one, but normally you’d just keep layering until you reached the end, getting less and less feathers each “row” until you have just one with the “stem tip” matched up with the point of the teardrop

here’s what my finished one looked like


Once you do all that, you can attach it to a pin, clip, headband, or whatnot
I ran out of headbands, so I don’t have a tute of how to put it on the band! But I can put one up as soon as I get more headbands (if you do want to make one, I suggest fabric headbands for sure, I got mine from joyce leslie for really cheap)

Here’s some pictures of the headbands I’ve made though
















And some clips





If you have any questions, I’d be happy to help!
Happy… feathering!?


**EDIT**
ok, so I finally got my stuff together, and took some pictures of gluing it to the headband, + a few new headbands I've made. For this, you need a hot glue gun, a few pins, a sharpie, and obviously, a headband (fabric works best)
hope this is what you needed!


line up your feather piece where you want it on the band


pin it down so it doesn't move too much


trace around the outside of your headband


pulling from the non pinned side, glue it down! Pull out the pin, and dab some on the other side as well


cut out another teardrop and glue it over the top so it's secure and so that your threads don't show

coool?

so, here's some more I've done recently. I bought some long feathers and tried experimenting w/ some layering, but there's one regular one too
excuse the disgusting faces on my part...


( think this kind of looks like a claw?)