DIY Pillow Covers

Another one of my Christmas projects was making these nice pillow covers for my friends. I bought pre-made plain pillow covers from Ikea (around $6 each), but you can make your own with the fabric of your choice.

For the quote I used black fabric paint and my letter hand-made stamps (to learn how to make your own stamps, click here). Using a small brush I applied the paint onto the stamps and then placed them, one by one, on the pillow. Make sure to lightly trace where the letters are going to go with a pencil first, that way your lines will be straight and you won't run out of space in the middle of a word. You can also use letter stencils if you don't have stamps (learn how to apply stencils, here). After you are done applying the paint, let it dry, and then iron with another piece of fabric in between. This will seal the paint onto the fabric.

For the elephant string detail, flip your cover inside out and trace the shape or silhouette of your design with a pencil on the space you want it to go. Using needle and string, simply make your string travel from different intersection points throughout the border of the design. Make sure to keep your fabric stretched at all times, so you'll have a nice flat surface afterwards.

You can choose to do the string design first and then place the quote around the design, or write the text first and then make the design in the space that's left. Either way works.

You can also use the letter stamps in different ways. One of my co-workers liked this project so much, she asked me to stamp the names of her family members interconnecting each other, "Scrabble" style.

Cute Wrapping Using Stamps

This will be a short post, as is more of an inspirational than instructional post. I love using my stamps to decorate cards and gifts, and here are some of the gifts I have given out lately, so you can be inspired. To learn how to make your own stamps, you can visit that post here. Enjoy!

These cute packages actually contained name stamps I made for my little cousins, I used those same stamps to mark the packages!

I also used different stamps to mark the following packages, and I added bows, paper feathers, and washi tape to make them look nicer.

Finally, I also used stamps to mark envelopes, like I did here for my friend Erin on her birthday!

Stamp Collection

I thought I'd share my stamp collection to inspire you to make your own stamps. If you want to learn how to make some, simply follow my tutorial here.

My stamp designs come from different inspirations, from designs I've seen on Pinterest, to paintings in museums, to my own crazy imagination.

I hope you like them and get to create some awesome stamps!

DIY Les Misérables 24601 T-shirt

After going to see the iconic musical Les Misérables, based on the Victor Hugo novel, my fiancé and I came out of the theatre singing "One More Day". We stopped by the souvenir shop at the exit to quickly glance at the overpriced products, when he saw a long-sleeve 24601 t-shirt that he loved. 24601 is the prisoner number of Jean Valjean, the main character, and it is sung in some of the songs. The shirt was also about $40.

The official 24601 shirt.

I immediately told him not to spend his money, as I figured a similar shirt would be quite easy to make… and it was. I got a plain black t-shirt from Wal-mart, number stencils from the dollar store, and white acrylic paint I already had (although you can also use white fabric paint, they will both work).

I first passed a lint-roller through the surface of the shirt to make sure the paint will adhere properly onto the fabric. Then I played around using a ruler and the stencils to make sure they were in a straight line and evenly spaced out. Next I used a little bit of tape to hold them in place. I used my left hand to further hold the stencils in place when I was applying the paint. Not a lot of paint was needed, just enough to cover the fabric evenly.

I waited a few minutes and took the stencils off carefully. Then I waited for the paint to be completely dried, and then I ironed the design, using another piece of fabric in between the shirt/paint and the iron.

The shirt was a success! My fiancé was over the moon, and immediately put it on. Also, the stencil design I chose and the black and white colours used, further the prisoner look that Jean Valjean is all about.

Stencils after use.

Final t-shirt.

DIY Stamps

Creating my own stamps has been a recent passion of mine, and in the last few months I have created over 300! I will post some photos of my stamp collection soon, but for now I want to show you how to make them. It is super easy, fun, and you can make whatever designs you dream of and use them in many MANY ways (I used mine in my wedding invitations - also an upcoming post).

You can make stamps out of different materials like linoleum, potatoes, styrofoam, etc, but my favourite materials are erasers and Speedy-Cut rubber blocks, which have a similar consistency to erasers. If my designs are small, I tend to use erasers bought at the dollar store (like the round ones shown in the third photo below - you can take advantage of these shapes and use them as part of your design!).

You will also need something to carve them. Speedball's linoleum cutters are very practical, they come with a variety of cutting sizes and are pretty easy to use. You can get these at your local art store, or online.

Finally, you will need pretty inks and surfaces in order to use your stamps. Inks come in a variety of colours and textures, and have different uses too. I have also used fabric paint to stamp my own designs on pillow cases and other fabrics. Your options are plenty!

Other optional materials include a pen, pencil, and tracing paper. These will make it easier to transfer your design onto your eraser before you start carving away.

Once you have all your tools and materials ready, it is time to begin (I have posted a series of photos of all steps below for your convenience!). You can play around and create your own design on a clean paper or decide to use another design. I played around and came up with a simple fox design. Place the tracing paper on top of the design and trace it with your pencil. Then carefully place the paper, tracing face down, on the desired location on your eraser. With the back of your pen or your fingertips, gently press down on the paper, transferring the image on to the eraser. Make sure you hold the paper with your other hand so that it doesn't move around while you are transferring it!

Using your lino cutter start carving the design on the eraser, being careful not to cut yourself and making sure you are pointing the tool away from you. As you can see by the photos below, since I chose a circular eraser, I could choose to leave the stamp with the circular border around, or I can choose to carve the outside of the fox figure so that my stamp will only be the fox without the border. I think both are beautiful and will give you variety in your designs, so you can decide what looks best to you. After that, you are done, feel free to ink up and try out your beautiful stamp!

TIP: After you are done stamping, you can take good care of your creations by gently washing your stamps with warm water and liquid hand soap, that way they will last you longer. For really intricate stamps, I also use a soft toothbrush (you can get it at the dollar store), and rub softly in circular motions to get the ink out, specially in the corners.

Image Transfer on Wood

I just finished doing my first image transfer on wood, after seeing the how-to in this link: http://blog.freepeople.com/2013/05/diy-wood-photo-transfers/

I had previously attempted to do it on canvases (see image below), but this is by far my favourite result. I used a black and white photo I took of my brother and his girlfriend walking in Bruges, and I am planning on giving them the piece as part of their Christmas gift. I'm sure they will love it. I will do a couple more for my fiance and me after the holidays.

The wood piece I got from Michaels, I used Glossy Mod Podge, and printed the image on regular paper using an inkjet printer.

First attempt at image transfers. Still nice, but way too blotchy.