Citrasolv Dishtowel Tutorial

I love learning about new ways to be crafty.  When I heard about Citrasolv transfers, I went crazy.  I started using it on everything I could think of.  I added a design to the seat of a metal chair (but once again I forgot to get a picture of it before it sold at the antique store), I added a few designs to some t-shirts and more recently I decorated some plain white flour sack dish towels.

A friend of mine recently purchased her first house.  I really wanted to send her a little housewarming gift and I immediately thought of Citrasolv dish towels.  Now, I am going to show you had to make your own.

Supplies:
Citrasolv (found at health food stores, I found it at Whole Foods)
Flour Sack Dish Towels (or any fabric or fabric surface if you aren't making dish towels)
Cotton Balls
Laser Jet Printer (Ink Jet will not work)
Scissors (or something with a smooth surface to use during the transfer)

Step 1:  Create your design. I created an Audrey Hepburn design with one of her quotes using Publisher.  I created a poster using the dimensions of my flour sack towel.  Publisher will split the design up into several pages that create a large poster.  The other way to do this (and probably the easier way) is to create parts of your design on each page and piece it together when transferring the design. The hard part about the way I did it is making sure you line up the design perfectly.

IMPORTANT:  Make sure to print your design in reverse.  The easiest way I have found to do this is create the design on Publisher.  Once you are done creating, click "Select All" from the Edit drop down menu.  Roll your mouse over the design and right click.  Select "Save as Picture"  Then open a new publisher project and insert the picture you just saved.  Then reverse the image by selecting the "Arrange" drop down menu, "Rotate or Flip" menu and select Flip Horizontal.

Once you have your printed design, lay it out under the flour sack towel to make sure you have lined up in the area you want it and you can see how the final design will appear.  (It's hard to see in this picture, but I promise it's there.)  Now, lay it out on top of the flour sack so you know where to transfer each sheet.

I like to start in the middle and work my out from there.  Set all the other sections of the design off to the side.  Don't mix them up, you don't want to forget which one goes in which spot.

The way these print on publisher, each sheet will line up to the next one with a slight overlap.  Make sure it lines up both at the top and the bottom to help make sure you end up with an even design.

Lay the sheet face down on the towel.  Wet the cotton ball with Citrasolv (don't soak it, you don't want to immerse the paper, just moisten it).  Rub the cotton ball over the printed part of the paper.

Use a smooth surface (like the handle of a pair of scissors) to rub the entire design.  This will help transfer the design.  The more pressure you apply, the darker the transfer will be.  When you think you have covered the whole area, hold one side of the paper in place and carefully lift up the other side to make sure it looks right.  If not, lay the paper back down (making sure it is in the same spot) and try again.

Repeat this with each page until you have completed the whole design.

I made a couple more so I can send a full set of towels as a housewarming gift.

I hope she likes these as much as I do.  I was so excited with how they turned out, that I decided to make a few for myself.  And now it's your turn. Enjoy!

   

Crafty Upcycle #1: Ombre Bleached Jeans Tutorial

I am totally on board with this explosion of the ombre trend.  So, I decided to give a few pairs of old jeans a new look...one successfully and one not-so-successfully. 

Here are the before looks:

 This was a pretty easy, yet time consuming process. 

Supplies Needed:

Old (or New) Pair of Jeans

Bleach

Large Bucket or Bin

Pants Hanger with Clips

A word of warning...if you are planning on doing this, try to organize it when you can do it outside.  I was not that smart and bleached these in a bucket set in the bathtub in a bathroom with no window.  By the end of the night my eyes were burning so bad that I was having a hard time focusing on my bleach fumes induced hallucinations.  

Step 1:  Mix 12 cups of bleach with 6 cups of water in the large bucket or bin

Step 2:  Attach hanger to jeans on the end you are not going to bleach (I recommend you leave the waist the darkest and go lighter towards the bottom)  The hanger will help you control how evenly  the jeans are set in the liquid.  

Step 3:  Once you have decided where you want the first layer of faded color to be, fully immerse the jeans in the bleach/water mix up to that point.  Leave the area that you want to remain the darkest out of the mix.  Let the jeans soak for at least 10 minutes.

Step 4:  Remove the jeans from the mix and let hang dry for at least 30 minutes to allow the bleach to take effect.

Step 5:  Repeat Steps 3 & 4, but each time leave a larger section of the jeans out of the bleach/water mix.

Step 6:  Once you have bleached the entire pair, let hang dry over night.  Wash the jeans and they are ready to wear.

Note:  One pair that I bleached turned yellowish in the area that was supposed to be white.  I soaked them in liquid dish soap for a few hours and then washed them with OxiClean twice and they came out white. 

Here is the final product: 

Let's start with the bad news first....my failure jeans:

(Please don't judge me on my lack of a pedicure)

This look just didn't work.  So...I guess now I shall try, try again.  Maybe a denim skirt or a coin purse.  To be continued....

Now on to the good news...my success jeans:

This worked so much better!  I was thrilled with the final result and now I have a pair of jeans that are a little  more exciting than the rest of them.

 

An Etched Cake Plate Tutorial

I love giving gifts!  And not just any gift, but unique personalized gifts.  

What better way to personalize a gift than with a name, initial, monogram, nickname, etc. on it?

A great way to make a personal, unique and sophisticated gift is to etch a cake plate (or pie plate or casserole dish or glass pitcher or glass vase or glass jar or mirror or window...you get the idea!)

Now it's your turn...

What you will need:

Glass Dish

Printout of the design you want to etch

Masking tape

Clear contact paper

X-acto knife

Paint brush

Armour Etch Cream

**Just a quick note about the Armour Etch Cream: I bought the 3 oz. bottle (with a 40% off coupon of course) and I was concerned it wasn't going to be enough to etch two pie plates.  I almost bought the larger bottle, but luckily I didn't.  Since I bought that bottle, I have etched 3 cake plates, 2 pie plates, 2 casserole dishes and a large counter top glass beverage dispenser and I still have half of the bottle left.**

Once you have decided on a piece to etch, make sure you clean with soap and water and the piece is completely dry before you begin.

Print your design in bold black print and trim to fit.  Tape your design to the inside of your piece.  Be sure to line it up exactly where you want the etched design to end up.  This will work as your stencil.

**If you choose to etch a piece with a rounded edge like my cake plate cover, it may be difficult to get it lined up perfectly.  Smooth it against the glass as much as possible.

Once you have your stencil where you want it, cut a piece of clear contact paper larger than the design.  You want to have plenty of extra area covered on each side of the stencil.  Smooth out all bubbles (or if the edge is rounded, smooth as many as you can...you want to make sure there are no bubbles in the same space that you are going to etch)

This part can require a lot of patience, depending on how intricate your stencil is.  Use your X-acto knife to create the stencil.  Trace along the outline of your design to cut out the same design in the clear contact paper.  **Keep in mind the etching will be done on the area where the contact paper is removed.

(It's pretty hard to get a picture of the design in the clear contact paper, but if you look closely you can see the "W")

Elevate the side of the glass piece you are etching before applying the Armour Etch.  This will help minimize any dripping.  If possible, lay the piece down so the stencil area is parallel to the counter top.

Using a paintbrush, fill in the entire stencil.  I have found that it works best if you put a thick coat on.  I always use a layer thick enough that you can't see any glass through the cream.  Let it set on the stencil for at least 5 minutes.  If you're not in a rush, let it set for 10 minutes. 

 After letting it set up, rinse all the cream off using cold water.  Once the thick layer of cream has been washed off, remove your stencil and thoroughly wash the entire piece.

Viola! A personalized unique piece!

The Ruffled Rose Petal Pillow Tutorial

I knew when I recovered my chair, I wanted to make a cute, fun and flirty pillow to decorate it.  It seems like everywhere I look, there are ruffles, ruffles and more ruffles.  And who doesn't love ruffles? 

So, I decided to make a Ruffled Rose Petal Pillow...

...and now you can too!!

Materials Needed:

White cotton fabric for pillow form (amount depends on size of pillow you want)

2 yards white (or whatever color you want the flower to be) jersey knit

Batting to stuff the pillow

Thread

Step 1:  We start out by making the pillow behind the rose petals.  Determine how large you want your pillow to be and cut two circles.  I decided to go big, so my circles are 18 inches diameter.

Step 2:  Now it's time to make some ruffles.  Cut jersey knit into 3 inch strips.  I used my serger  and serged the outer edge with a mixture of threads in blue, light blue and gray.  If you don't have a serger you could use a decorative stitch or leave it untouched.

Next you want to ruffle the opposite edge of the jersey knit strips than the one you just serged.  My serger has a built in ruffler, so I used that.  If you don't have a ruffler foot to attach to your machine, you can hand ruffle the strips as you stitch it on to the pillow.  Also, if you don't have a ruffler foot....get one!  They are amazing!!

Step 3:  Time to create a rose!  Now that we have all the ruffle we need, it's time to stitch it on the pillow.  Starting from the outer edge of one of your circles you cut out in step 1, pin the ruffle all the way around until the entire edge is covered and stitch in place.  Without cutting the ruffle, pin another circle between 1/2 inch to an inch in from the outside ruffle.  It isn't necessary to be exact here...I just estimated as I went. 

Continue stitching each circular row down, one at a time. This can become a little time consuming, but it's worth taking the extra time to pin one row at a time. 

Eventually you end up at the center.  I folded in a few extra inches of my ruffle to give the center some fullness.

Step 4:  Put the pillow together!  Now that you have created your rose, you want to create your pillow.  With right sides together, stitch the other circle to your rose petal.  Leave a small opening so you can flip the pillow right side out and stuff it. 

Step 5:  Flip the pillow right side out and stuff with batting to desired fullness.  Hand stitch the opening closed.

Viola!!  You now have a fun and flirty ruffled rose petal pillow!