Sun Shade Wannabe

My mother had a temporary carport that was tearing apart at the seams, so she decided it was time to take it down and stuff the trash can with it.  I, however, had other ideas.  Some of the sections were still in tact, so I dug them out of the bin and proceeded to turn them into shade for our back porch.

Completely in tact panel--no rips or tears.

Cut right down the middle.

Next I pulled out the sewing machine and hemmed the edges.  Yes, I know it's not perfect, but no one will see the him since it will be facing toward the sky.

I had these curtain grommets from a previous project.

They come with a template--all you have to do is decide on the placement, trace, and

cut.

The grommets come in two pieces:  one with a groove around the edge,

and the other with tiny spikes that fit through the fabric into the groove of the other one.

All you have to do is insert one...

and press the other one into place.  (The fabric is folded over, but I am still working on the cut area.)

All that's left is to hang and enjoy the shade!

Until next time,

Go Get Crafty, Sister!

~Sister #2

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.

Tile Planter

I've been stuck on succulents lately, since they're so easy to grow that even my black thumb can't kill them (at least most of them, that is).  So I wanted to make a few planters to bring some of them inside. I have an abundance of leftover tile from previous projects, so I decided to see if I could make good use of it. 

Here are the supplies I used:  premixed grout (love this stuff!), scrap wood, scissors, and of course, tile.  This tile won't really match my decor, but I have so much of this color (and it was only .05 each at the Habitat store) that if I totally screwed up, I wouldn't feel bad about tossing it.  And if it did work, I could always find another use for it.

First, I edged the tile with some of the grout.

 

Then applied one of the pieces of scrap wood.  The size of the scrap doesn't really matter, as long as it is wide enough to attach to two sides of the planter.

 

Here is a side view.  As you can see, I didn't use a huge amount of grout, but since the tile will be standing up, I needed to use a bit more than I would if the tile were to be laying flat.

 

Next I used the grout to attach another scrap.

 

Then I did the same with another tile and allowed them to dry overnight.

 

Next I took a third tile and applied the grout to two sides.

 

I stood that tile next to one of the tiles with scrap and pressed them together.

 

Then did the same with the second prepared tile.

 

I applied grout to the fourth tile the same as the third and attached it to complete the box.

 

Although the box could now stand on its own, the sides were not completely grouted, but I'll get to that in a bit.

 

Next I created the bottom of the box.  I applied grout to four corners,

 

and placed it on "top," (which, of course, will later be the bottom).  After pressing the edges together I ran my finger along the seam to smooth it out.  All the edges now, though, will need an additional layer of grout to smooth and seal the edges.

 

For this application, I took just a small bit of grout

 

and applied it to the seam.

 

Then ran my finger over it to smooth it out.

 

Here is the planter after all the edges have been completely grouted and smoothed.  I also wiped away the excess grout that had found its way to the surface of the tile (bad grout!).   FYI, if you ever have dried grout on your tile, use a Popsicle stick to scrape it off--no scratches.

And here it is with a fake Ikea pretty plant. Now that I know it can be done, I feel more confident about using some of my more expensive tile that will actually match my decor, lol.

Thanks for looking,

and until next time,
Go Get Crafty Sister!

~Sister #2

"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.