Ric Rac Dish Towels

K, so can you tell I'm on a ric rac kick lately?? Today Moda Bake Shop shares a fabulous dishtowel tutorial using a strip of fabric {or Moda jelly roll}, ric rac, and a flour sack tea towel!! This is definitely going on the top of my "to-do" list!

Menu Planner

This simple menu planner by Melanie @ Fabric-Family-Fun is a great way to stay organized with meal planning. She also includes the free pdf for these fun pages, here. Check out these cute planners!

Ric Rac Tablerunner

I really love this tablerunner made by Betz White over at Craftzine.

Looks simple and fun!!

Creative Guest: Distressed Folk Art Painting Tutorial by Lil Blue Boo

Hi there! I'm Ashley (and this is "Boo") and we are your "guest" bloggers today, over from my project blog Lil Blue Boo.



If we haven't met yet, I'm a career-oriented-woman-turned-stay-at-home-mommy to my 2-year-old daughter Sienna. I love painting, sewing, power tools, all things crafty and I try to make something everyday. Thanks Kari for the chance to share a tutorial with your readers! (by the way, I've never been so nervous....I was worried I'd accidentally delete Kari's entire blog....I get total anxiety using other people's stuff!)


I had the hardest time narrowing down what type of tutorial I wanted to put together for my "guest appearance" but I had recently gauged interest on my blog by posting a painting I had done using the same process as I outline below and thought this would be the perfect opportunity!


So here it is:

How To Make a Distressed Folk Art Painting*

*If you've ever been scared to paint before, here is your chance....anyone can do this. Acrylic paint is VERY forgiving. If you mess up, just paint over it!





I love Mexican Folk Art and I was inspired by this Frida-themed fabric for my painting:



I'm a little obsessed with Frida Kahlo. (I was lucky enough to see most of her works in person at the Tate in London a few years ago. They had to kick me out at closing! Did you know Madonna owns Frida's famous "My Birth" painting? I wonder where she hangs that?) Frida and her intellectual circle brought Mexican folk art to the forefront in the early 1900's. Frida surrounded herself with paper-mache figures, traditional weavings, brightly colored embroidery, ribbons etc.

I've worked bright colors and paper mache into my own painting process to reflect the Mexican folk art theme. You can use the following steps to make your own.

Materials needed:

Canvas

Newsprint or phone book pages

Matte medium or glue

White gesso or white acrylic paint

Acrylic paint in several colors

Crackle finish kit (any brand)

Acrylic gloss varnish

Sandpaper or an electric sander

Step 1: I took a small 5 x 7 canvas and covered it with matte medium (I prefer Liquitex Matte Medium ...I save my 40% off art store coupons JUST for this stuff!). You could also substitute watered down glue for this step. Once the canvas was covered with a generous amount of medium I took small sections of old phone book pages and adhered them using the excess medium. You may have to add more medium as you go. It is similar to making a paper-mache layer (you can use newsprint as well, I just prefer the way the small font looks from the phone book pages).

*I use matte medium to make my art journal pages as well. It leaves a matte stiff texture when dry.

Step 2: Once the paper layer was completely dry, I used white gesso to cover the canvas and make it an opaque white. This prepares the surfaces for paint.

I let this layer dry completely.

Step 3: I don't use any fancy kind of paint. I actually prefer the small bottles of acrylic craft paints like the one shown below because they run about $1 a bottle and you can get so many colors (I am lazy when it comes to mixing custom colors).

I painted my entire canvas a base color of "Patina."

Step 4: I sketched my Frida image on to the canvas. If you aren't comfortable drawing your image you can always print one out and trace it using graphite paper.

Step 5: I blocked my colors in using the craft paints. I use a generous amount of paint in this step and did several coats (you will be sanding the layers down later in the process so you want to make sure to get enough paint on the canvas).

Step 6: I took a regular wall stencil and used it to draw some "flourishes" around the canvas. I even drew them onto the sides by wrapping the stencil around. Then I blocked these shapes in with paint.

Step 7: I took a small paint brush and painted little dots around all the shapes to add some more detail (again using a generous amount of paint).

Let your painting dry for a while to ensure your layers are completely dry. This may take several hours.

Step 8: I took my small mouse sander (you can do this by hand with a sanding block as well) and carefully sanded off portions of the painting. Places where your paper layer has wrinkles will sand off easily and give a very random "wear" to your painting.

I sanded the edges as well paying attention to where an old painting would get the most wear.

Here is what my painting looked like at this stage:

Step 9: Take some dark brown paint and water it down a little to make a thin glaze (I use Golden Fluid Acrylics because they thin well and are a nice glaze layer, but any paint will work).

Spread the brown glaze layer making sure to get it into the places where the paper is showing through. The paper layer will soak this glaze up and turn a brownish color. Take a cloth or paper towel and wipe off the excess paint. If it dries too fast just wet your canvas a little and try to wipe it off again. Let this layer dry.

Step 10: You can get a small "fragile" cracklekit like the one below at your art or craft supply. It is two step process and you can follow the directions on the bottle.....

.....but basically you are going to cover your canvas with a thin layer of the "step 1" bottle, let it dry until it is clear and then repeat with the "step 2" bottle. As it dries, tiny hairline "crackle" will begin to form.

Step 11: Once the crackle layer is dry, I sanded the painting again to give it some extra distressing. Wipe any dust off with a damp cloth or paper towel.

Step 12: I spread another layer of brown glaze making sure to work it into the cracks and then wiped off the excess. You may want to do this several times until you achieve the "aging" effect you like.

Step 13: The last thing I did was brush a thin gloss layer over the top for a slight sheen. I like the Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish shown below because it dries almost instantly and isn't too shiny.

Here is the finished painting: old and decrepit-looking. Now it looks like it has an interesting past life!

Feel free to email me if you have questions. And check out my other tutorials when you get a chance! Have a great day!

Purse Notebook!

What a cool idea to cut off the corners and alter a composition book into a purse?!

This FABULOUS tutorial is available @ Sisters Stuff!

SOOOO CUTE!

Raingutter Bookshelves

I've seen these everywhere and had to share this just in case you haven't seen this genius idea!!

I love this version, here.

ooooh...check out this one, here.

Wanna make some??

Raising Olives is so kind to share this fabulous step-by-step tutorial, here.

These are DEFINITELY going in our new play room!!

Teacher Clipboard

I think any teacher would love this!! Mish Mash has this great tutorial, here. Cutest clipboard ever!

Trend Alert: Hanging Plates

Hanging plates on the wall is a hot home decor trend right now. I LOVE, love, LoVe, this display by The Lettered Cottage. Learn how she hangs them, here.

AdOrAbLe Throw Pillows

Kate @ My Kids Eat Off The Floor made this adorable applique bird pillow that I had to share with you, here!

Guess what this ruffle throw pillow was made from? A SHIRT!! Go see Jill and see how she made it, here!!

Monogram Vintage Window

Trey and Lucy shares this fabulous monogrammed window tute, here!! I love her vintage window projects!

Piano Bag

Do your kids take piano lessons? This would be perfect. It's also a great gift for the piano teacher! Learn how to make @ Bored & Crafty.

Magic Boxes

I am always looking for cool ways to use up my scrapbook paper stash! Check out these magic boxes by Life as Lou. SUPER COOL!!

Creative Guest: Petals Galore Bag Tutorial by Happy Together

Happy Friday everyone! My name is Jessica and I am guest blogging today. A big thank you to Kari for giving me this opportunity :) Just a quick bit about myself: I have a craft blog called Happy Together (come stop by for weekly tutorials and other inspirations!) and run an Etsy shop (also called Happy Together). I am a stay at home mom to my little girl who just turned 2. My husband is in the Coast Guard, so I'm a military wife as well. We are in Florida right now and the heat is killing me, but I'm finding lots of things to do.
Today I want to share with you a quick tutorial just in time for school (well, some may have already started, but it's never too late!). I was inspired by this bag at J Crew:

And this is what I came up with to imitate it:

I made it in two ways. The pink one is with flower petals and for the yellow one, I cut out the petals from fabric. I must say, I wish I had found a drawstring bag before making these, but alas, my schedule did not permit me. I think they came out cute though and my daughter loved them. She's already told me she wants to go to school. Too bad she has to wait a little bit on that one ;).
This is a great option for revamping a child's old backpack, especially if you are trying to save some money. The child could even do it themselves! And of course, you could do this on a purse as well. How cool would it look with petals cut out of all the pretty fabric scraps you have?
So now onto the tutorial.

Pink Petals Galore Bag

What you need:
-A back pack to spruce up
-Hot Glue Gun
-Flower Petals

I made this bag for $2 dollars! Both items came from the Dollar Tree.

1. Stuff the inside of the bag with tissue paper, paper towels, etc. This will help it hold shape while you glue on the petals.

2. Begin gluing on the petals. Start at the bottom and work your way up to the top. It's best if you do them in rows. It helps cover up all the open spots the best.

Yellow Petals Galore Bag

What you need:
-Fabric (amount depends on size of bag; I used a regular and a sheer type)
-Scissors
-Hot Glue Gun
-Backpack to revamp

1. You will need to cut out the petals from the fabric. I did mine on a piece of fabric that was about 2x3 inches.

A quick way to make a ton is like this:

Cut long strips of fabric

Accordion style fold them

Place one petal on top as a template to cut.

Cut around the top petal template through all the layers at one time.

2. Begin to glue on the petals. (same as the pink petal bag; bottom up and in rows)

Now off you go! Happy Crafting!