I've got something a bit different to share today, and some new products to go with it! My first crafting love a million years ago was cross-stitch and embroidery and so I do love to be able to add that to my stamping crafts when I can and whilst you can stitch on card, you can also stamp and fabric and then that opens up a whole new world of crafting (and gift making) opportunities.....
You'll find all the new products in our "
other/miscellaneous brands" section
Firstly, I've gone for some simple straight forward stamping onto an already existing product - I've used some plain cotton make-up bags/pencil cases I bought cheaply on amazon, but by adding some simply stamping you can transform them into something much more special.
For all my stamping, I have used
Stazon Pigment inks - if you give these a quick press with a hot iron (no steam) then the fabric is fully washable (at low temp). For this bag I've used Peacock Feathers as the colour and
MFT's Flower Silhouette for the images. The trick for stamping onto a ready made product is to put a piece of card inside so you don't get any ink transfer through to the other side. You can pick up bags like this is various sizes for a couple of pounds each, or even tote bags, aprons and napkins, or you can also stamp on clothes if you fancy a bit of upcycling!
We have also added some
plain unbleached calico to store in small pieces for a pound so if you want to have a go without risking something more costly til you get the hang of it, you can practice or you make some mini art to go in the
fabulous mini frames I found an fell in love with! We have them in portrait and landscape ovals as well as super cute little rounds!
For this one I simply cut a tiny scrap off my calico, and used the
Stazon Pigment inks to again stamp my mini Christmas floral display using
Altenew's Poinsettia Pieces stamp. Each frame comes with 3 wooden pieces (and a screw and bolt to hold it together but I didn't use them as I wanted to add thread to turn them into hanging ornaments for the Christmas tree). Once the stamping is complete all you need to do is add some red liner tape to the wooden piece without a notch and then fold all the edges around to secure it.
Then you just pop the finished piece into the frame and use a little wet glue to secure the wooden back plate (with the notch) to the back which covers all mess!
Then either secure in place with the screw and bolt or string with thread and tie to turn into a hanging ornament. You could even add a piece of magnet to the wooden back to turn them into fridge magnets.
To take it a stage further, I've combined stamping with embroidery for some personalised monogram ornaments using
Altenew's Floral Alphabet stamp.
I stamped the letters I wanted onto the calico using
Shamrock Green and then popped it into our new
embroidery hoops so I could sit and stitch the details using the threads from our
sew essentials kit. The needle in our kit is designed for use with card so is too thick for stitching on calico so we've also added some
embroidery needles to store to go with it.
I've just done some really simple fill in stitches on the leaves and flowers, back stitch on the stems and french knots on the buds, but you can take it any way you like, or just stick to stamping if sewing is not your thing.
You might want to check out our other "wooden" items - we've added some
easels and some really clever magnetic
wooden frames which are a really easy way to turn your stamped projects into works of art.
So what are you waiting for - get making mini masterpieces - perfect for gifts for Christmas!
NEWS FROM THE STORE
As you know - there are lots of new products in our "other brands" section, and we'll be adding a few more embellishment lines later today - sequins, jingle bells and pompoms all ready for Christmas crafting.
We're also still ploughing through the Flora and Fauna releases - adding a whole year's worth in one go is going to take a while!
We have the kit release and vault release along with some restocks from MFT due, but one box has gone astray in the FedEx system - we HOPE it will be here tomorrow - keep everything crossed!
The lastest release, plus last month's release from Neat and Tangled is also in transit and due this week.
We'll then be back in the cycle of ordering all the October releases so keep an eye out for new stuff next week too!
Catch you later
Tara