Another Painted Shirt

Since I'm on a fabric painting kick, you probably will be seeing these for a bit. :)

On the pink toddler shirt below, I used cardboard decorator stencils. It was a lot harder and didn't produce such exact edges as the freezer paper does, but it turned out cute. My friend taught me how to paint shading by dipping part of the paint brush in the pink paint and the other part in the white. When I brushed it on, they shade nicely. I am still practicing this technique. 

~ Chelsea ~

Painting on Clothes!

I have a new favorite craft... for this week at least. :)

I have always loved embellishing plain baby onesies or kiddo-sized shirts. And now I have tried my hand at painting them and I LOVE it! 

Here are my nap-time creations of the last 2 days.

I used my fancy dancy Silhouette machine to cut out my stencils from Freezer Paper, but you can also manually cut stencils from freezer paper using an exacto knife or use purchased decorator stencils. The freezer paper works great as a stencil on fabric because once it is cut into the stencil, you iron it glossy side down to the fabric and it has a light adhesive to your fabric. Then your stencil will stay were you want it and it prevents the paint from leaking through the edges. Wonderful! And so fun. 

Now, I am experimenting with different paints and shading to get more fancy with my fabric art. I have used both fabric paint and normal acrylic paint for canvas painting and they both seem to work fine.

I am on the hunt for more inexpensive plain shirts to paint!

~ Chelsea ~

Custom Picture Frame Mat

This project was made for a newlywed couple's gift for their home.
I checked out their wedding registry and saw black frames similar to this one and I also noted the colors she has decorating in their bedroom - yellow, grey and white. I got the frame (with cheapo cardboard mat) at Wal-mart for $5. I had the yellow fabric, stencil and paint on hand. I made the twisted fabric flowers just like I did in this project for my home. 

I think it turned out beautiful and I really hope that they she likes it. :)

I love this Family Proclamation given to the world by a prophet of God nearly 16 years ago. 

Every family should read and have it. 

Click HERE to read it 

and HERE to get the PDF if you would like to print it out.

~ Chelsea ~

Braided Headband

I got this ingenious re-purposed headband idea from my crafty role-model, Ashley from Make It and Love it.

Just a few days before Ashley shared this idea on her blog, I had thrown away the scraps of a large red knit t-shirt. So after I read her post, I went and snatched it out of my craft room trash can, shook the threads off of it and made this little headband for my little girl. She loves it and it does a great job keeping her hair out of her eyes.

I'm sure I'll be making more of these in the future. Great idea! Thank you Ashley for your creativity. 

~ Chelsea ~

Recovered Glider Cushions

Our poor glider cushions were falling apart at several seams and it was looking dingy and old. I was a bit intimidated by the idea of trying to recover the cushions, but I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did and I'm happy with how they look now. 

Before:

After:

I basically took apart the old cushion fabric and used it as patterns for the new ones. I purchased some very inexpensive brown home decorator cotton fabric from Home Fabrics (I think it was $2/yard). I like the thick durable fabric and I think the darker color will be more forgiving with milk spills and kiddo boogers. :) Since the cushions were still in good shape, I didn't need to buy new ones.  

Do you have any cushions in your house that need a fresh look?

~ Chelsea ~