Stenciled Succulent Love

Hey all!
Happy Monday! 
I am so in love with succulents, tiny plants, and little garden scenes and wanted to share with you how you can turn your love for succulents into a cute home decor wall hanging!

SUPPLIES:
succulent stencil
foam on a stick
acrylic/fabric paints in lavender, azure, mint, leaf green, lime
embroidery hoop
white leaf patterned fabric 
pinking shears or sharp scissors
hot glue
jute/twine

First thing's first: Take your fabric and tightly secure it into your embroidery hoop. Pull taught on all sides, and trim excess fabric with either your pinking shears or sharp scissors leaving a 1-2 inch border around the hoop.

Using your foam on a stick, dip lightly into your acrylic/fabric paint colors. Use a DABBING motion, not a brushing motion. If there is too much paint in the foam it may get blobby so test your technique on a scratch piece of fabric or paper! Hold your stencil very still, and dip your foamy stick into the other colors on your palette without cleaning your foamie in between dips. This technique will create a really smooth blended look. 

I focused on more blue in the center, and lavender on the outer tips of the leaves.

Then cut strips of jute/twine and hot glue them into words like 
fun,
relax,
summer,
and of course Succa!  aka succulent! 

SO MUCH CUTENESS!

Check out our blog every weekday for a new project!

Love, Bethany @Enchanted Lake

Felt Fall Leaf Art

When you can cook eggs on the sidewalk, you know Summer is definitely here.

It can get miserable, especially during the early afternoon hours, so for those 

of you who like to beat the heat by crafting indoors in a nice and cool room, 

this is a great project!  Not only is it fun and easy, it's also a promise that 

nippy Autumn days are right around the corner... 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

Supplies Needed

6 inch Embroidery Hoop

Leaf print out or stencil

Sharpie

*Felt

*Embroidery floss 

Needle

Fabric Scissors

Burlap 

*Buttons (optional) 

*Choose any color you want!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Let's get started!

Step 1. If you chose to print out a leaf shape like me, go ahead and cut out your leaf.  Trace the shape onto your felt and cut it out.

 

 

 

Step 2. Put your burlap into your embroidery hoop.  Make sure it's taut!

 

Step 3. Start stitching your leaf shape onto your burlap with the embroidery floss.  This is where you really get to see how your color choices work out!  As you can see, I used very bright and warm Fall colors.

 

  

 

Step 5.  This step is really optional, but I stitched on some colorful buttons in contrasting colors.  This is just to add a "cutesy" touch.

 

That's all she wrote!  

Again: EXPERIMENT.  

Try testing out different color combinations and embellishments.

Layer different colors of leaves on your burlap!  Stitch a border around your design or even add some wording!  

Have fun!

Erika @ PC

Mermaid Lap Desk

Hi there, Crafters!

For today's project, I decided to follow the old adage of "waste not, want not" and use the materials I had from last week's Mermaid Art Journal to create a project I've been itching to try; a fun and functional lap desk. I'm so in love with this Voyage Across the Sea collection, I was thrilled to be able to work it in to another project.

I started off by choosing an 11"x14" frame. Any frame will do, (the 11" x 14" is a great size, although you could also go a bit bigger for a roomier desk,) but since I had already decided that I wanted to use Krylon's Sea Glass spray paint in Aqua I went for one in white. Technically, the sea glass spray paint is made for glass but I'm a crafter, and rules are meant to be broken when it comes to crafting.

While my frame was drying, I started working on the collage that serves as the decorative top to my desk. The best part about this project is the fact that anything you can think of can be added here;You can display family photographs, art work or if use a shadow box, you can even glue in small objects. It will all be protected by the glass or acrylic sheet that comes with the frame! In my case, I used the left over pieces of card stock from last week's project, a couple of coordinating pieces of card stock and finally accented it all with the same BoBunny glitter paste and pearlescents and a few self adhesive rhinestones. My collage went in to the frame just like it would if I were planning on hanging it on the wall, and the pillow bottom was created by using a couple of our fat quarters, pillow stuffing and hot glue.

Here are a few pictures of how it looked while I was still working on it:

After my fabric was glued and pillow stuffing stuffed, it was just a matter of braiding my handles and adding the decorative accents I had decided on:

I wanted to stick with a nautical theme, so I tied in (pun intended) rope and twine. I wrapped the rope around the entirety of the frame twice using hot glue, and created a 'knot mat' on either side. This is totally optional, but I do think it added a nice touch to my finished product. The extra fabric at the end of each braid was made in to a bow and wrapped with a piece of twine. How cute is that?

When all was said and done, the finished product was a gorgeous, light weight and shockingly comfortable lap desk. I'm so pleased with it, I'm already working on two more; one for a gift and one to keep! 

Want to make one yourself? Drop on in and we'll get you all set up! Talk to you soon :)

- Chelsea @ Mapunapuna

I Twine All the Time

You know what I love? TWINE! Yes, twine, because twine is so versatile. You can use it to hang things or string things, or even to cover things. That's what we did today, see?

Yep, we just started carrying this 100 yard spool of twine at our stores. That's a lot of twine! We used it to wrap around these bottles and jars, AND a large ornament, AND had some left over. Do this with twine, it's so easy, and you'll have some lovely decor pieces when you're done.

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

Crankin' Out Crafts Episode 61 - Simple Screening

Welcome to T-Shirt week on Crankin' Out Crafts! We'll be teaching you new ways to make and decorate your own T-shirts. Today, Brandon demonstrates how to create designs using the Simple Screening stencil and fabric paints.

Watch as Brandon shows you 3 different ways to use this perfect silk screening stencil. 

They come in many different designs that can be re-used over & over! 

View the episode on our youtube channel: Crankin' Out Crafts: Episode 61 - Simple Screening

Supplies:

Simple Screening Stencil (includes squeegee)

Simple Screening Fabric Paint

Brush

Simple Screening Glitter

This is just one example of an easy way to decorate T-shirts and clothing. Join us again this week for other ideas to help you create unique and fun designs.

*Don't forget to read our previous post today on hair accessories by Puna from Enchanted Lake BFC.