Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Fabric Covered Bulletin Board

So... on a complete whim... I decided I needed another bulletin board. With no intentions of being crafty (except to maybe paint it from its dull cork and fake wood color).... I ended up with this:



How you ask? I had an urge to go through my fabric bin. What I found was this duvet cover I had bought at Ikea about a year ago from the "as is" bin due to a small hole in the corner. It was $1.98 for a twin duvet, and I thought it was cute.... and for that price you can't buy that much fabric!

Once I found the fabric, I thought to myself, I would cover the board with batten, and ribbon and make a french bulletin board like one i have previously made:



Yes... my mind switched directions yet again, like it often does and I pulled out my sewing machine. I cut the piece of fabric the size of the board, and sewed pockets on using some scraps I had found in my bin.


 Once I was finished, I sprayed the edges of the bulletin board with black spray paint. Forgetting that I live in Massachusetts, I thought to myself... "yes if i spray this outside, it will dry in no time" 2 hours later.... it was still tacky because it was so uber cold out. Hello- It's January. Another hour drying inside, a few touch ups and a quick brush over with my blow dryer later... I was ready to apply the fabric. I sprayed the cork with spray adhesive. I used Elmer's Craft Bond, which is not usually my first choice of spray adhesive, but I was quite pleased with it. Anyway... I sprayed the cork, smoothed out the fabric over it and was almost done.

Now, because this project was a complete whim... I didn't think about the edges of the fabric. Good thing I seem to have an over abundance of ribbon left over from previous projects. I glued the ribbon around the edge and voila... I was done.

Of course my mother walked into the house just as I finished and now "has to have one" so I may be re-attempting this project in the near future. This time with a little better planning.


Oh well... sometimes you just have to let creativity take over.
You never know what you are going to end up with.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Band Shirts

I have to say, I am loving my Yudu. I wish I had a better work space for it, but I wish I had a better work space for everything I do. In case you do not know me, I have currently moved home to my mothers house to save some money. Good plan... yes, but there is a serious lack of work space. I currently have all of my supplies in huge bins, all stacked on top of each other, and am working in the basement on a table that is too small. The day I have my own studio space will be a very happy one. Anyway... to the point :)

D's band, Seven Shades of Grey had a big show on Saturday January 2nd (which also by the way was the night I celebrated my birthday). We thought it would get a little crafty and make shirts to sell at the show. The silver Yudu ink worked GREAT! It was so crisp on the black shirts. My only grievance was that the little specs of glitter in the ink got everywhere.



That said, I made 40 shirts. What I learned this time around was that it takes a little bit of time to carefully remove each shirt from the platen. About half way through, I realized I could insert a hanger into the shirt while it was on the platen, for easy removal. I also learned that you need to work slightly quick. I had to rinse and dry my screen in the middle of printing because some of the ink had dried and my stencil was not as crisp as the beginning shirts. All in all, I think the shirts came out pretty good.



The shirts were a hit. If you have not done so already... check out Seven Shades of Grey. Awesome sounds for your listening pleasure :)

Friday, January 8, 2010

beautiful.


I love, love, love vintage signs, and this post at smashingmagazine.com just got me thinking.... there has to be a project I can do that is inspired by these....


hmmm....