Mystery Sneak-Peek

Things have been quite busy around here, and while I’m not as far in my ‘to-do’ list as I’d like to be, I’m slowly creeping forward and crossing things off.

I bought some lovely pink cascade petunias the other day, along with some planters, and planted them yesterday. Now they are happily sitting at my bedroom window creating a lovely patch of color on the otherwise boring facade. Some time this weekend I will find the time to do one more planter, but this time it will be the petunias I started from seed.

I can only hope my bedroom window starts looking something similar to this soon! Ha.

We went shopping last night but got to spend only 5 minutes in the store because they were closing, but I managed to pick a couple of things. And so, I give you a sneak-peek of what I am working on now, and I will hopefully have a tutorial posted in a couple of days!

Can you guess what it is?

Stay tuned!

DIY: Dress a Box!

It’s my aunt’s birthday today and I really wanted to get her a handmade gift, rather than something I bought from the store. And so, after an idea-seeking visit to the art store, here’s what I came up with. This can be used to store napkins, jewelry, or anything else you see fit.

All materials I used came in a set, but you can get your own materials and play with the box as much as you want.

What you need:

• Box with a lid
• Cloth (different kinds or just one)
• Quilt batting (or a sheet of cotton, or anything that can provide light stuffing)
• Double-stick tape
• Cardboard to cut inner walls, bottom and lid parts
• Cord
• Glue
• Scissors

How to make:

1. Cut cloth so that it would be able to warp the whole box (without lid), leaving about an inch on each side to fold.

2. Cut batting slightly smaller than sides of box and lid.

3. Put tape on each side of the box and the lid, and stick batting.

4. Next, put tape on the inside of the box (on the walls), keeping close to the top. Do the same to the sides of the lid.

5. Next comes the tricky part. Make sure the box is in the middle of the cloth and carefully fold it around the box, then stick excess to the tape on the inside of walls. A good practice is to do opposite sides first. You can use a pen to make the folded edges look better.

6. Do the same with the lid.

7. You now need two pieces of cardboard slightly smaller in size than bottom of box and inside of lid.

8. Put tape and cut cloth to fit, leaving about an inch on all sides.

9. Repeat step 5 with both pieces.

10. Now put some tape in the middle of the lid piece and stick it to the lid. Don’t stick the bottom piece yet.

11. Use cardboard to cut 4 pieces for the walls of the box. Make sure the pieces are smaller!

12. Now cut cloth (of a different color and pattern, or the same, depending on what style you want) to fit all 4 pieces and stick with tape like before. Put tape in middle as well, and stick to the walls.

13. Now you are ready to stick bottom piece to the bottom of the box.

14. Put glue on inside of the box, on top of the “dressed” walls.

1. Glue cord.

Now let dry and you have a newly dressed box to keep napkins in and serve dinner with style, or store your jewelry, or use for whatever you see fit!

I also have something else in the works, but more on that later.

Hope you had a great day!

DIY: Decopatch/Decoupage Tutorial

I finally had some spare time to do this project and take some pictures to put a tutorial together. Between this and the serviette technique, I'd have to pick this one as my favorite, even though it's more time consuming. While they both look effective, decopatch gives you a lot more options in terms of motifs and places you can apply it to. So, here it goes!

Decopatch is an effective technique you can apply to almost any flat surface, including wood, glass, plastic, porcelain.

What you need:

• Decopatch paper
  
• Decopatch glue and lacquer. I used Marabu's products


• Craft knife


• Scissors


• Soft, flat-tipped brush


• A bowl with water


• Paper towels


• The object you want decorated (I used the wooden box where I keep my plant seeds)

Here, too, you can apply special varnish if you want to change the color of the object you are decorating to better match the motif. I left the box as it is, though.

1. Using the craft knife, carefully cut out the desired motif/s.

2. Dip motif in the water for a few seconds.

3. Pat dry using paper towels.

4. Using brush, apply glue to the back of the motif.


5. Now place motif on the object and carefully smooth it out with your fingers.


6. Apply glue to the face of the motif.


7. Repeat if you have more motifs you are placing. Allow to dry.

8. Once glue is dry, apply laquer. When first coat of laquer is dry, apply one more.

NOTES:

• You should apply 2 to 4 coats of laquer, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next one.
• I will post pictures of the box once I've applied 2 coats of the lacquer.

Hope you have enjoyed the tutorial!

DIY: Serviette Technique Tutorial

Here's the serviette technique tutorial, quick and easy! Hope you enjoy it.

What you need:

• Napkin with the motif you have chosen


• Scissors


• Object you want the motif placed on - porecain, ceramic, glass, cloth, paper, etc.


• Medium. Bear in mind regular glue will not work. For this I used Marabu GmbH & Co.'s porcelain medium.


• Soft, flat-tipped brush (painting brushes work best).

1. Make sure the object you are decorating is free of dust and grease.

2. Carefully cut out the motif you want to use.

3. Remove the uppermost printed layer (you want to use that one) and discard the others.

4. Place motif on the object you want decorated and using the brush gently apply medium over the motif, making sure you start from center and work your way to the edges.

5. Let it dry for at least 4 hours.

6. Place in preheated oven (170C, 338F) and bake for about 30 minutes.

7. Once the object is cooled, apply lacquer (Marabu offers a wide range of lacquers) and let dry.

Quick and easy!

Here's what I have right now (before baking):

After applying lacquer:

NOTES:

• When working on anything but glass, Marabu (or any other company that has products for the serviette technique) offers varnishes in a wide range of colors that you should apply before glueing the motif. Make sure the varnish is dry before continuing with the motif. A good practice is to choose color close to the color of the motif.


• When looking for motifs don't limit yourselves to napkins only. You can use almost anything - from newspaper cutouts, through thin gift paper, to leaves and flowers.