DIY fabric printing tutorial

I have been PRINTING!

I have been wanting to print fabric for some time. I briefly considered screen printing, but it seems complicated. Besides, I wanted something quick and simple.

Since I have plenty of stencils (and if you are interested, you can easily Make your own stencil), I decided to use those to create my fabric pieces.

SO today I will show you how to create your own fabric using stencil, fabric paints and fabric. With the help of this tutorial you can easily customize fabric for pillows, totes, napkins and so much more!

So let's begin!

You will need:

fabric paint
fabric medium
fabric
stencil
stencil brush/foam
masking tape 

draft paper/newspaper/to cover your work space

Begin by preparing your work area. Lay your fabric flat, right side up and tape the corners with your masking tape.

Mix a custom color to your liking. I used pastel green acrylic fabric paint and added fabric medium to it to reduce stiffness.

Next, tape your stencil where desired.

Begin stenciling.

Complete the first section.

Then move the stencil to the right and continue printing chevron pattern.

Repeat with the next row on top until you are done.

You can experiment with different colors to create fabulous chevron prints.

To get this look, stencil leaves in colors of your choice. I used yellow, orange and leaf green.

My printed pieces..don't they look lovely?

And..*drumroll please!*.. I turned the lovely grape green chevron fabric into an envelope clutch!

I am loving my new stash of hand printed fabric!

x

TIPS (things I learned along the way):

- draft paper/newspaper will stick to your fabric so once you are done stenciling a row/first section lift the stenciled fabric up and lay it back down again.
- adding fabric medium made the paint a bit watery so be careful with the quantity.

TUTORIAL: Cookie Monster & Elmo envelope card

Hi,
It's time for another fun project!
And this time we are making envelope cards.

They are fun and super easy.

And won't take much of your time.

So say hello to Elmo

And Cookie Monster.

And gather the supplies to make these cuties!

To make Cookie Monster envelope card, you will need:
Envelope template
A4 black cardstock
A4 orange cardstock
A4 yellowish orange printer paper
Brown cardstock/scrap piece of paper
Black marker
Cookie monster (2) - draw your cookie monsters on blue chart paper, cut and paint.
and a Cookie approximately 3 inch wide  - draw a cookie on cream cardstock, cut and paint. Cut top part of  cookie so that you end up with a few "crumbles".
Glue and foam tape

Print envelope template provided above. Use it as a guide to cut card from black cardstock. Score and fold along the --- lines.

Cut 5 inch square from yellowish orange printer paper and adhere onto inside of card.

Cut 4.5 inch square from orange cardstock and center and adhere onto inside of card

Next, grab your cookie monsters and adhere each on two opposite sides.

Cut cookie for your cookie monster from brown cardstock/scrap piece of paper and add black dots in the center.

Secure it like so:

Add your sentiments and fold the flaps.

Center and secure cookie to seal envelope closed.

Adhere crumbs with foam tape.

Cut 4 inch by 1 inch rectangle from orange cardstock and 3.5 inch by 0.75 inch rectangle from yellowish orange printer paper. Center and adhere smaller rectangle onto larger rectangle.

 Center and adhere onto front of envelope for mailing address/adding recipient's name etc.

And we are done with our Cookie Monster card!

For Elmo envelope card, gather the following supplies:
A4 green cardstock
A4 yellow printer paper
Elmo (2) (again, draw one elmo face and one complete elmo on red cardstock, cut and paint in the eyes and mouth)
Glue

Print envelope template provided above. Use it as a guide to cut card from green cardstock. Score and fold along the --- lines.

Cut 5 inch square from yellow printer paper and adhere onto inside of card.

Adhere Elmo onto right edge of card.

Center and adhere Elmo's face to seal envelope card closed.

Cut a 4 inch by 1 inch piece of rectangle and adhere onto front of envelope for mailing address/adding recipient's name etc.

And that's about it!

These will make wonderful invites and will definitely go with the whole Sesame street inspired birthday party!

Hop over to this tutorial to learn how to make paper pennant banner and for some wonderful Sesame street themed birthday party ideas.

Pop up card

Did you notice the super gorgeous social media icons on the side? And there is another one right under my "ABOUT ME" section! Carrie from carrieloves is generous enough to share these and she's got such a beautiful variety of colors to choose from! Be sure to check it out (:   

Getting on with our greeting card series...

Now that you know how to make simple greeting card and accordion fold card,

                

Let's try another variation and make elements of the card..

pop right off the page!

With the simple technique shared here, you can create an endless variety of pop up cards. 

Let's get started.

You will need:
Design templateCardstock: slate, tan, cream, white, blue, green, mustard, black, grey
Transparency
Ribbon: blue and green
Paints and sponge/brushes
Scissors
Brown marker
Foam tape
2 buttons                   
Twine/ribbon
Glue

CUT

Cut 11.5" by 8" piece of rectangle from slate cardstock and 4.75" by 8" from tan cardstock for the cover.

Cut 9.5" by 6" from cream cardstock for the card and 2 strips each  measuring 0.25" by 8"  from white cardstock.

Cut 3" by 1.75" piece of rectangle from grey gardstock.

Print and cut out template designs. Transfer onsie pattern onto cream cardstock. Repeat. Transfer rattle pattern on to blue and mustard cardstock, baby bottle,clothes peg and crib pattern onto white cardstock, pram pattern onto slate cardstock and baby onto cream cardstock. Cut out designs.

Print stencil design onto a transpareny and create your stencil using this easy step-by-step tutorial.

PAINT!

Stencil white circles onto blue rattle and paint all around the edges in blue. Repeat with mustard rattle, but this time using horizontal ovals and a brown paint.

Adhere ribbon on rattle.

Embellish onsies as desired. You can either paint stripes,

or draw something cute.

Now grab your baby bottle and embellish it as well. 

Stencil white strips using brown, green, yellow and blue paint like so:

Paint your clothes peg brown.

Adhere you crib onto grey cardstock. Secure baby 1/2" in from the side.

Using your pram cut-out as a template, cut 1/4 larger semi-circle from balck cardstock and adhere your pram onto it. Draw swirls using a brown marker.

And now comes the FUN part!

ASSEMBLE

Prepare the cover front

Start by folding the slate cardstock cover in half. Center and adhere tan cardstock. 

Secure white strips on top and bottom of tan cardstock.

Adhere pram with foam tape and glue buttons on it for the wheels. Secure onsies, peg and twine. 

Write your sentiment on white cardstock, cut and ahdere with foam tape.

Yaay..we are almost done!

Prepare inside pop up card

Fold your 9.5" by 6" cream cardstock in half. Then draw lines perpendicular to the fold to create rectangles/boxes. The outer rectangles are 1 3/4' by 1" and middle rectangle is 2 1/4" by 2". Leave 1/2" gaps in between rectangles and the sides. See photograph.

Cut along the lines that I have higlighted in red.

Then push the flaps forward until your card looks like this:

Adhere crib in the center (front part of pop-up tab and not top). Secure rattles on one side and bottle on the other.

Centre and adhere card onto inside of cover.

Here, you could add some more text.

And we are done!