Iron-On Wall Portraits

Renters and minimalists rejoice, for today you will learn how to take those photos that have been stuck in digital limbo and transform an entire wall (okay, maybe a small wall) into a photo gallery even your landlord can’t object to.  Using a $5 roll of fabric adhesive and your trusty iron, you can take your rented walls from ho-hum to a work of joy.  And when you're ready to move, these prints peel right off with no sticky residue or telltale nail-holes of horror.

 

  What you need:

1. ·      Black and white or color untrimmed photos printed on standard paper
2. ·      Iron-on lightweight fabric adhesive (like Wonder-Under or Heat 'N Bond)
3. ·      Painters tape
4. ·      Iron
5. ·      Thick fabric or towel
6. ·      Old pillowcase 

What you do:

1.  Cut a piece of fabric adhesive slightly larger than your photo.

 

2.  Lay thick fabric or towel on a hard surface, with photo face down on top.  Lay fabric adhesive, shiny side down, on top, so your photo is sandwiched between the thick fabric and adhesive.

 3.  Following the instructions that came with the adhesive, use your iron to fuse the adhesive to the back of your photo.  (If the idea of ironing paper scares you, cover your "sandwich" with the pillowcase before ironing.) 

5.    Trim your photo and peel off the adhesive backing.

6.  Lightly tape your photo in place on your wall and tape your pillowcase over the photo.  

7.  Using the same setting on your iron, fuse your photo to the wall.  If you have heavily textured walls, you may have to go over the fabric several times.  (Alternatively, you could fuse only the edges of your photo to decrease ironing time and minimize the amount of texture picked up by your photo.)

8.  That’s it!   Repeat with remaining photos and enjoy your wall!

But wait!  What if you want to remove it?

When you're ready to remove the photo, just peel it off.  If your iron was too hot when you ironed the image on, part of your photo might refuse to budge.  In that case, simply reheat with your iron to loosen the adhesive and continue peeling.

"Iron-on" Tile Coasters

This tutorial was feature a few weeks ago over at Free Time Frolics:

Iron-On Tile Coasters

Here's the deal:  You're at a rockin' party, dressed to the nines, jammin' with the music, a drink in one hand and fist bumpin' your favorite peeps with the other.  You're halfway through the room when you spy the buffet table, piled so high with delish free food that you're going to need both hands to hold your plate.  Here in lies the problem--what to do with your drink.  Set it down on the food table where someone's peeled shrimp might take an unexpected dive?  Carefully sandwich it under your arm and hope none of the margarita salt rubs off on your Armani silk shirt?  Or leave it on the carefully polished coffee table and chance the wrath of your host by leaving a tell-tale ring?

No worries, my friend, because mankind long ago came up with the answer.  No, it's not the beer drinker's helmet or the 6-pack holster--I'm talking about that age-old denotation of ultimate sophistication:  the coaster.

And today I'm going to show you how to make that coaster the envy of all those purveyors of sophistication, by personalizing it with your own photos.  And we're not just going to cut them out and slap them on with a little white school glue--we're going to use heat transfer.

We've all seen tile coasters, either decorated or painted or decoupaged with photos.  Maybe you even created some last year for Christmas as a kid.  I really thought I'd exhausted the different ways to decorate the common bathroom tile, but when I read about transferring photos to tile using iron on's, I couldn't wait to try it!

What you'll need:

1. 4" x 4" Tile:  This works easier with unglazed tile, but colors are brighter with glazed.  (I sanded the glazed tiles before transferring the photo.)
2. Photo transfer paper
3. Tape
4. Iron
5. Water-resistant sealer
6. Cork or felt tabs

1.  Print your photo on the photo transfer paper, following the manufacturer's directions.  Cut around your image leaving a 1/2" border.  Tape it upside down to the edge of the tile.  This will help to keep the photo from slipping.

2.  Preheat the iron using the highest setting (don't use steam!) and fold the photo back away from the tile.

3.  Heat the tile:  working on a protected surface, and using gloves to protect your hands from the hot tile, place your iron onto your tile for 1 minute.

4.  Carefully flip the photo over onto the tile.  Since the transfer paper smears easily when hot, you need to tack the transfer first by lightly gliding the tip of the iron across the back two or three times.

5.  Iron it down:  Using firm pressure, (and being careful not to move the transfer) iron the paper to the tile.  Go back and forth, pressing firmly around all the image.  Make sure to do the edges really well, because that's the area that seems to have the hardest time with the transfer.  When you are finished, set the timer for one minute and do some deep breathing or something.  You don't want to take the paper off too soon, but you also don't want to leave it on too long or the paper will get stuck to the tile.  (If that happens, heat the paper again and you should be able to get it off.)

You can see that the edges do not come off sharp and crisp, and the image has sort of an aged look to it, but I think that only enhances the end result.

6.  Wait till the tile completely cools (at least 10 to 15 minutes), then seal the tile using 2 to 3 coats of sealer.

7.  Attach cork or felt to the bottom.

I just love the look of this!  I can see a whole row of tiles lined up across a backsplash or several grouped together in a frame.  I'm planning on making a tile planter for a friend, and I'm definitely going to incorporate this technique.

If you like this project idea, you would love the book that I got the idea from.  There are 50 projects, and they're not your regular run-of-the-mill projects either!  Just a few I plan to try:  mirror frame, plexiglass accordion frame, rice paper screen and even a shower curtain! I don't usually purchase real hold-in-your-hands books for diy stuff any more, (that's why we have the internet, right?) but in this case I'm glad I broke down and got it.

Photocraft, Cool Things to Do with the Pictures You Love

Until next time,
Go Get Crafty Sister!

~Sister #2

My Mommy Board Book: Photoshop Tutorial

We have a beautiful little girl staying with us until her mother returns from deployment (you might have seen here in my post about printed fabric pillow dolls).  I decided to make a board book for the baby (she is still a baby, relatively speaking) with photos of her mother.  

Here is the first stage:  Creating the Pages in Photoshop
(Note:  this can also be seen at miller626.blogspot.com where I blog about Photoshop.)

First I found a board book at the thrift store that had seen better days.  This one,
in fact, was destined for the trash bin at the end of the week.

7 Great Photo Board Books

I'd really like to make a photo board book for a special girl (you might have seen here in my post about printed fabric pillow dolls) whose mother is deployed to the Middle East.  I love using Mixbooks, and I've made several photo books through them (their scrapbooking software is very user friendly, and they have wonderful designers who are constantly coming up with new designs) so I naturally looked there first.

Personalized Board Books

Beautiful, right?  However, although they look awesome, the price tag is a little too 

steep for my budget right now.  So I set out looking for alternatives.  Below are some of the creative Board Books I came across in my search.

But first, I did come across this blank board book from Amazon.  I was tempted to buy it, because I couldn't bear the thought of destroying a book, but a quick trip to the thrift store uncovered a 

few that were headed to the trash bin.

So on with the inspiration... 

ABC homemade board book

 Audrey from Audrey Pettit's Weblog created a 

nursery rhyme/ABC board book from a recycled kid’s meal toy.

Homemade board book for baby

Katie created this board book to celebrate her child.  

You can see it over at Katies Nesting Spot

Homemade "first words" board book

I love this board book from Chef Messy that is making its rounds on Pinterest. 

Homemade board book of colors

Here's a cute altered board book I saw at Modge Podge Rocks.  (Love that site!)

Family memories homemade board book

This one over at scrabook-crazy.com is really listed as an altered board book.  

Different name, same concept.  Same adorable-ness!

Homemade board book about Dad

Don't you just love this board book idea from rookiemoms.com?  Dad's face is pasted on top of different "environments" cut out of magazines.

Baby's birth recorded in a homemade board book

Another homemade board book celebrating a child!  Oscar will love having this book read to him!  

You can see it, as well as one titled "Oscar's Black and White Book," over at Homemade By Jill.

Beginner Photoshop Tutorials

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Sister #2 added some great beginner Photoshop tutorials on our "Digitally Speaking" page. If you're a Photoshop newbie like me, you'll appreciate the clear, simple instructions. Hopefully she'll be adding more soon! Take a look at these great before and after shots she did with some of our old family photos:

 

 

Have a great day, and go Get Crafty!

~Sister #3

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