Screen Printing Workshop

a little while ago some friends and myself gathered at the beautiful shop of Tea With Gladys for a crafty morning. we learned how to screen print in a simple and effective way, a technique we would be able to do ourselves at home too. Darcy, my friend and owner of Tea With Gladys, was our darling host and she did such a great job. because of the drying process that takes a while, we started off with drawing our designs on the silk screen right away. then we used mod podge to black out the areas we didn't want printed. while our designs were drying we enjoyed tea, delicious cupcakes and of course admired the beautiful items in this pretty shop full of candy vintage colours, pretty prints and handmade items.

after the mod podge dried, the fun part started: the actual printing. we used fabric paint and plastic cards to swipe the paint through the silk screen and onto our muslin bags. I did a few roses, there was a deer, dragon fly, beautiful bow, a puppy, sunshine, hearts, a cameo... we really got creative and couldn't stop printing our designs onto bags and tea towels. what fun we had! we got to take our own designs home, for later use. now to find time to do some more printing. if you got the creative printing itch too and would like to use this easy and effective technique at home, just google 'screen printing embroidery hoop' and you'll get enough tips and videos to get going.

enjoy!

DIY : Crochet With a Pen

my excitement yesterday

was all about : crochet with a pen!

for this DIY project you need porcelain markers, some doilies and mugs or other dishware

first of all, let me excuse the colors of the paint on the mugs : it irritates me that I can't get the colors right

the blue is a more darker Delft Blue in real life, and the teal is not as neon as it seems

~

well, what do you think? are you sharing my excitement?

I started out with the Nordic winter decor, just because I wanted a try out before I did the crochet painting

that's the way it works for me when I haven't done a certain craft for a while

I start with a try out, to get the hang on it again

as some of you might remember, in my early blog days, I did a similar project to this

big difference between that project, is the size of the tip of the pen was much smaller this time

with the dolies on the table and the mug in my hand, I just did it

no try out on paper, no pre-design, just do it

I definitely had my very happy moment yesterday when I re-created three doily patterns on the mug

can you tell the resemblance?

if I may say so, I am very pleased with how they turned out!

also, I can see the endless possibilities for this project

different colors, repetitive patterns, symmetrical patterns...

but for now, we just have two new mugs

to drink tea and latte's with a very bright smile

Chair Project

the scarf I posted yesterday

was lying on an old chair in a few of the pictures

a chair we already sanded at that time, ready to be painted

last weekend was very sunny and we were ready to work on our six wooden kitchen chairs

out came the sand paper, out came the paint

and on we went, the husband and me ~ so much fun !

six chairs we collected in the nine months we have been living in Canada

quite a catch if I may say so myself

they are all 'old' or vintage or may be even close to antique

and I like them in their own style, with their own stories : who has been using them ? in what kitchen ?

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this is actually a teasing post, because none of the chairs is finished yet

they will all get a minimum of 3 layers of paint so we will be busy with them for a while

and you have to wait a little longer before I post a real 'tadaaa'

but... I am, and we are, very satisfied with the results so far

as you can see the sun was so bright, I was not even able to paint outside, it had to happen in the garage

in the shade and out of the wind

but what a lovely and perfect weekend to do so

~

more about the colors I choose and more pictures soon...

are you into re-doing furniture at all ?

Burlap Crafts

in the craft group this week

we worked with burlap

instead of sitting around the table, we worked in the garage, on the ground, with scissors, paint and tape

and we had a wonderful time doing that

again thank you so much for all your ideas, they were very helpful and inspirational !

in no time the ladies came up with the most beautiful things

taking out a few threads in a row leaves a nice gap structure

cutting off the corners of the burlap bag, using them inside out results in great little baskets

and acrylic paint on burlap turns out to be working great

don't the table runner for the outside table in the garden, and the little May baskets look fabulous ?

as for myself, I tried stamping with a round sponge, but that did not turn out quite as good I had hoped

I guess the stamping surface should be more flat, since the burlap itself is already uneven

directly painting onto the burlap however, turns out perfectly

and together with some regular painter's tape, you can create the most fantastic patterns

this was a great first meeting with burlap, at least for me it was a first

and it leaves me with a nice chevron pattern, that I have to find a purpose for now

~

to thank you for all the great ideas that inspired us this week

I would love to send out a burlap bag to you

to be specific, I would love to send out a bag to Tereza

she enthusiastically wrote about her project of burlap and screen printing it, 

which got us to the idea of painting the bags

and just because I feel like it, I am going to send out two more !

I would also love to send out a bag to

 Janina because she made the effort to write down a cute idea she came up with herself

and Barbara because she gave us ideas in her comment, and sent pictures afterwards to illustrate the ideas

thank you all ladies!

please send me an e-mail with your address and the bag of your preference, so I can send them out to you

something else that's going on here this week, has to do with a beautiful scarf...

more about that very soon !

Cameo Beauty

I felt the urge to share a quick but fun project with you that I did today

~

yesterday I bought these two cameo plaster ornaments at a thrift store

they both were once black with some golden details, I can tell because they are chipped here and there

but when I bought them, they were painted white and decorated with some decoupage flowers

~ something fun to do for you: type 'chipped paint' in google pictures... so pretty! ~

I took the flower paper off ~ I did not really hate it, but was just in the mood for painting

so I got the acrylic paint out and gave both ladies a blue background

the heads became shiny with some pearl gloss ~ although it looks a bit silvery in the pictures

and I took the ladies outside to take some pictures of them

because I thought they would feel comfortable there underneath the pine tree

and to proof that it is still Winter in Canada, although a mild one this year

the ladies and I went back in quickly because is was actually -8C outside

and there I found out the yarn I am using for this crochet project actually matches these new pretties...

do you see any project ideas for this new combination? I would love to know!

~

I really enjoyed painting these ornaments and am quite satisfied with the result

~ wishing you a wonderful weekend with a pearl gloss ~

Update

wow

I can hardly believe it has been a week since I posted!

sometimes I get distracted by life so much, I forget about the computer

so here is a little update about the past week

I have been painting: a chair, cabinet, pinboards and more little items

the chair looks better with a little seat cover I made for it ~ a super fast easy and fun project

I decorated a corner of my craftroom with a hearts wall of fame ~ hearts I got from dear (blog)friends

during a thriftstore adventure with Andrea from the lovely blog silence and noise

I found this kitsch but fun lamp ~ it makes me laugh every time I look at it

the shade came plain with the lamp, I added the layers of ribbon with a glue gun to spice it up

and make it more kitsch ~ who could not use some double kitsch some times?

not the latest version but well, a lovely issue of Mollie Makes in my M(ail)

and a screenprint from a Carl Larsson drawing I once found in Sweden

it all matches the wedding bunting I made last minute this June for our own wedding

and as we are in Canada now

we decorated our Christmas tree even before December 5th

I shipped some of our ornaments to Canada

and I am very happy to see some familiar and beloved glass ones back

including the shoe boxes I have decorated over the years to store the ornaments

~

and... you all reacted so positively to the HO HO HO give away

thank you so much for that and for posting your give away on your blogs too

today is the last chance to enter

tomorrow my random number generator ~ aka the husband ~ will pick a winner!

see you then