Bag Embellishing Part I

This bag was $3.24! I couldn't leave it behind (or the two next to it)! The front pocket was begging for embellishing. I set to picking out paint and screens.

This is going to be a gift for a "tween" so I opted for pinks and purple butterflies and flowers.

It's easier for me to use a brush to paint in the smaller stencils. Cosmo pink and sugar plum butterflies....sounds like a fairytale!

The hair dryer really comes in handy for these projects when you are clustering screens because sometimes the screens overlap which could smear the paint. :( Instead, run the hair dryer over your design for about a minute to set the paint a bit and carry on screening without smudging.

After the base layer of paint has dried, you can add details with other colors. A small, pointed liner brush works great for this. This butterfly has a striped border, and inside wing design which adds a lot to the basic silhouette.

Stay tuned for Part II....

For my mom...

The other night was our library's Crafty Book Club. This meeting focused on t-shirt decorating, altering and fabric painting. Yep, you guessed it! We broke out the Simply Screens! My mom always helps with the meetings and I wanted to make her a special T to wear. She also works at the local high school where they sport the school colors every Friday--Orange and Black. This is a T she can wear over and over all year long!

The Chandelier screen placed on the shoulder was a fun change. I found that the chain at the top needed to be positioned closer to the neck than I originally thought (if I had to do it over again). Tin Foil (metallic silver) shows up really well on black too. Once it's dry, you can glue crystals on top of the design, or stitch vintage buttons in place. If you opt for crystals, try Gem Tac to glue the crystals on. One t-shirt + one screen + one bottle of paint + a few crystals = a happy mama! Yay!

Tip!

Here's a tip for you! no pun intended, of course ;)

But! Did you know you can remove the end of the bottle tip, making a larger hole so it's easier to put extra paint back? I actually just discovered this myself. Waste not, want not, right?

Peace Pack!

Today was the kids first day back to school. Sigh. The school buses were glowing like giant fireflies. The kids were busting out their new school clothes and gear. It reminded me of this cute backpack project using the peace screen and funky metallic paints. And to top it off, I saw a leaf go swaying to the ground on my way home from breakfast. At that point I thought to myself, "ok! I get it! Get busy and live up the rest of the warm weather because it is going to be over before I know it!" So to that I say bring on the remains of summer fun! Strawberry shortcake, a cannonball jump off the high dive at the local pool, or maybe just a lazy read on the ol' porch swing...

Carmi Screens it Pretty!

Our girl Carmi goes to town again, this time with the Random Hearts Stencil! I'm intrigued with all the colors together---and it works! How do you do it, Carm?!? If you are looking for awesome ideas and tutorials, she has the coolest blog. You can also learn about how she decorates shirts with the flat back crystals and embellishments. XOXO.

Simply Screen: Brush Technique

To get a crazy custom effect, try using a paint brush to fill in all the areas on your screen. I recommend practicing first to get the feel of how much paint and pressure you need. You can layer paints to get a shaded look too....check out this video to see the full meal deal! Delicious!

More Back to School...

I've always been a sucker for school supplies. Maybe even more so since I don't have to actually go back to school... ;) These pencil bags were a buck a piece which was great because I've never actually screen printed on nylon, so I wasn't in a lot if the project flopped.

It worked just fine! You can brush another color of paint on the pouch before screen printing to make it extra cool. For the pink one, I brushed cosmopolitan on first then screen printed it with silver. The metallic paints looked really good on the nylon. Sporty screens are great for the boys! Sometimes it's tricky to make stuff for boys---this was easy!

Yearbook style! 2 sweet. 2 B. 4 gotten. Oh Yeah!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Notebooks Screened Rad!

The stores have been hopping with back-to-school shoppers. I found these updated composition notebooks for 25 cents each! Crazy. 25 cents?!? I had to have some...

So fun and fast...use whichever screen you like! I used the multi-color technique on each of them. It took me around 20 minutes to do all three including clean up.

This checker pattern makes me think of Vans shoes back in the 80s. I sealed each print with a layer of varnish such as Royal Coat so the screen printed design is protected. "Write" on!

Riding the Crazy Craft Train!

Last week was crazy! I took off for the Craft and Hobby Association Show last Sunday. It's non stop craftiness at this show, from scrapbooking, painting, glitter, glue, glass painting, jewelry making, clay, sand art, yarn and I could go on and on and.....on. Not to mention your favorite crafty celebs! It was great to see old friends and make some new friends. I passed out lots of Simply Screen samples too. Free stuff! Yay!

I was excited to meet the Craft Critique girls finally! They did a fun review of Simply Screen. It's cool to see how different people approach screen printing.... You can check out the review here. As for me, I'm going back to nurse my crafty hangover with a little "nip of the dog"...screen printed note cards. ;-)