Screen Printed iPad Cover using Silhouette Fabric inks

Hello crafters and Happy National Craft month! Let's get right into today's post!

I LOVE my iPad. I'm fully addicted to it... almost to the point that my husband wants to break it. My current obsession is called, "Order Up," which is a monotonous little cooking game that I can't manage to tear myself away from. "But honey," I'll say at midnight when he wants to go to sleep, "I just unlocked a new recipe and I want to try it out!!!" At any rate, I had an extra plain old grey iPad cover and decided to spruce it up a bit.

I've had the Silhouette fabric inks for quite some time with really good intentions (and ideas) for using them. Alas, they have not been pulled out of the box until a couple of days ago.



I found an adorable print and cut design in the Silhouette store that I purchased and just did the "cut" portion which is the nerdy glasses. I LOVE the Silhouette software. It is so easy to use and break apart images! I also added and cut out the phrase "Nerd Love" in a pixelated font called, "Skinny," found for free at DaFont.


I cut out the included stencil vinyl included in the kit. I really like this because it's clear and this was a great benefit since I would be adding multiple layers to my image. I used the magical hook tool that was also included in my kit to get all of the inners and outers away from my stencil then used the (also) clear transfer tape to get my images perfectly transferred to my iPad cover.


Since the iPad cover has grooves, I used my Basic Grey rub-on tool to get the stencil vinyl down and stuck well in between the grooves. I used my inks in order of lightest to darkest and set it with an iron in between each layer after the paint had properly dried. Here is the final nerdy awesomeness:


I think I might have to screen print my green iPad cover now, too!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy National Craft Month! What are you creating?

A mini-book & big news

Hello friends! I know it's been a while and I've been busy over at Craft Test Dummies doing some super-fun reviews of some AMAZING products! One of those products was the MyStik glue runner; I reviewed the permanent and vellum runners. It's a pretty handy little tool, especially since it's an adjustable handle, making it perfect for long projects or maybe a more elderly crafter.

Here's a little minibook I made using the Mystik glue runner. It truly is invisible behind the vellum names that I printed out!

The patterned paper and chipboard embellishments are from the Ambrosia line by Basic Grey. An oldie, but goodie.

Now for the BIG news...

I'm going to CHA!!! For those of you that don't know, CHA is a semi-annual trade show with the largest names in the crafting business showcasing their new products for the next season. I will be going as a reporter with Craft Test Dummies so be sure to check their website January 29th through February 2nd for updates from my the whole team of gals at Craft Test Dummies! I'm going to put their blogs over to the right, too, so you'll have easy access to all of us!

This is a dream come true for me, so a BIG shout-out to Jenny who's "Mama" Craft Test Dummy, who has given me this opportunity and been patient with showing me the ropes!!!

Talk to you soon, my crafty friends!

Masked Painting mini-Tutorial And The BIG News

Greetings! After looking at all of the CHA goodness coming, it looks like canvas is going to be a big trend this year, from painting on canvas tags, canvas paper, canvas minibooks or just a regular old gallery wrapped canvas. So, I thought I'd post a little project/tutorial!

And if you want to know the big happy dance information just go on ahead and scroll to the bottom.


Let's get started!

What you will need:
Canvas (Mine is 9x12 & gesso two layers)
Acrylic paints
Vinyl (to use for masking)
Shape Punches (I used circles)
Brayer



Start with your blank canvas. I did about 2-3 layers of gesso to prep my canvas.

Then I painted it a lovely color of turquoise... turquoise makes me happy.

Then I painted splatters and textures all over it. No need to get technical or think too much here, just have fun. Let your inner five year old take over. Is it just me, or does it kind of remind you of those marbled-looking caboodles from the 80's?


<---- Word

Next, I used two different sized punches to punch circles out of vinyl and stuck them to the top of my canvas. Use a brayer to get them "extra down." This will help the paint not to seep through into our blue portions.

"I see a canvas and I want it painted black..."


Once the paint is COMPLETELY dry, carefully pull up your vinyl circles and see the pretty, pretty creation you made!


Now, if you think you might want to use your circles again and want an easy way to store them just stick them all to a piece of wax paper. BAM! Done!

Now this is about the time I got stuck. I wanted to do a word on the front of the canvas, but couldn't think of a "good enough" word. (I know, I'm crazy, right?) Well, I happened to be listening to one of my FAVORITE artists of all TIME, Plumb. She is seriously amazing... I can listen to any of her cd's and it will immediately take me back to a certain point in my life. And if you're going to listen to any of her songs, I suggest, "Stranded," "Blush," and "Drugstore Jesus." Anywho, one of her songs, "Nice, Naive and Beautiful," came on and LIGHTBULB. I decided to turn my canvas clockwise and use those three words.

I used my cricut and SCAL to do the three words and cut them out in vinyl and positioned on my canvas.


I found that cutting out the whole word, and trying very carefully to leave the whole portion intact, meaning don't remove the inner letters at all yet. Does this make sense? NOW, use a pair of tweezers to again, carefully remove the letters, but leave the little "innards" inside. Now, that I've totally confused you, brayer down your words and paint the inside. I did about SIX coats of white paint...


Make sure your paint is fully dry before removing the masks.

Now I did have some of the white paint creep beneath the vinyl on the words, so some careful touch up was in order. I also outlined the letters in black pen to really make them pop. (above photo was taken at night... sorry!)

So here's the final product again:


As always, I had a ton of fun making this little creation. I'm defintely going to be doing some more masking and painting on canvas in the future! What do you think? Is this something you would try.

And.

Now.

THE. BIG. NEWS.

Awhile back I did a guest review spot over at Craft Test Dummies. Jenny runs this fabulous site that reviews, tries and reports about all kinds of crafting products, stretching from every creative spectrum.

Well, Jenny asked me if I would be interested in becoming a regular contributor and reporter for Craft Test Dummies. Ummm... can we all say, "YES!"

So now, you are looking at the new contributor to Craft Test Dummies. So check out the website a couple times a week (OR every day) to see new and fun crafty projects and reviews written by yours truly.

And do you know what I might *also* get to do with this new shnazzy job???

Not even three words...

Three letters...


C.H.A.


That's right... if I'm a lucky-ducky enough girl I just might be able to get one of those magical golden tickets into CHA to see all of the new fabby crafty products before it comes out on the market. Isn't that JUMP-UP-AND-DOWN-DO-THE-SNOOPY-DANCE-EXCITING!?!?!?! It is for me!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my excitement. Talk to you soon! And be sure to check out Craft Test Dummies sooner than later for crafty awesomeness!