Printing on Tea Towels

I love textiles and wanted to try my hand at printing on tea towels. I thought these would make great Christmas gifts and I also hope to do this project with a class of Kindergarteners. I bought a package of flour sack tea towels that are 27x29 inches. The flower shape I cut from a sheet of craft foam and glued it to a piece of corrugated cardboard. I rolled oil based ink onto the flower and printed a border all the way around the outside and added four flowers to the center. You need to re-ink each time you print. When the ink had dried overnight I used an iron to heat set the flowers. Make sure you place paper towel or newspaper on top of your ironing board cover because some of the ink will transfer. I tested the cloth to make sure that the flowers do not run when washed. They did not, but since this is the first time that I am trying this I would not recommend washing. I'm going to experiment a bit more and will you keep you posted, but for now, the process is decorative and NOT for drying your dishes.

Decorate your own Candle Holders

These custom candle holders are the perfect accent for your garden party and make an excellent rainy day activity for children, even though we haven't had had too many days like that here in New Jersey yet this summer. I always keep extra candles on hand in case we loose our power and these are very inexpensive to pick up at the supermarket. I made the floral drawing with markers on a sheet of copy paper and then ran my original through the printer. I adhered my copies to the glass candle holder with Mod Podge and then sealed it with an extra topcoat.

How to Make a Checkbook Cover

To make this checkbook cover I started with two floral surface designs that I had painted, but scrapbook paper works equally well. I used my laser printer to copy my designs onto card stock. I transferred the template I made onto my floral copy, scored the lines that have the little hatch marks using a ruler and a bone folder, and then assembled the piece with a a glue stick. Very fun!

I Love Orange

My husband and I went to the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville, NJ last weekend and the last thing I expected to come home with was a flat of tubular begonias, gerber daisies and herbs. I couldn't resist all the beautiful oranges. I drew a flower on this cinnamon colored paper, copied my drawing onto glossy card stock, cut out the shape and used a button to sew it onto a hand band.

Oodles of Doodles Easter Basket

Template may be purchased HERE. This is a fun little springtime project to make with your child or for your child. I started with a square of board that is used to mount photos, but poster board would work just as well. I divided my square into nine small squares and used markers to doodle the flower pattern. I flipped it over and drew in the yellow stripes, cut out another piece for the handle and also decorated that piece. I cut along the green lines that are indicated in my diagram below and used a bone folder to score along the dashed line. Holes were punched in the small blue circles so that paper fasteners or brads can join the sides and the handle. I used a little white glue to secure the sides. Add a little bunny mask to your basket here.

Collage Flowers on Canvas

This is a fun project to use up scraps of paper or fabric. For this collage I started with a pre-stretched canvas square. I painted in the sky blue background with acrylic paint. Remember to paint the sides of the canvas to give it a finished look. I collected a variety of printed materials that I found appealing including pages from an atlas, scrap booking paper, and pages from the newspaper. I used a glue stick to assemble the flowers on sheets of white paper. I made copies of the flowers using my printer and then glued the copies with white glue to the canvas. There's no reason that you couldn't glue your original flowers directly on the canvas. I covered the entire surface with Mod Podge and to add some dimension I glued the buttons on top. Burlap, felt and even sheet music are other fun ideas to add interest to the piece.