Contact paper stencils

I made an amazing discovery today. Did you know that you can make your own stencils with your cricut using contact paper?? Why it took me this long to figure out, I have no idea, but at least now I know! Much cheaper than using the vinyl for the cricut or spraying your paper to make it sticky! 

Here is one of my fabulous treasures, I do not have a before picture, and it was in good shape, but boy did it smell. Not sure what it was used for...

So I brought it home, sprayed it down, applied some wood bleach to the entire thing and let dry. Then I stained it with my new favorite color, Jackobean! 

It is going to be a display piece in my shop and at craft sales. It is built from 3 old ammunition boxes, and is very sturdy. Now time to stencil! 

I used my cricut and the base camp cartridge. I cut the word simplify, and applied the cut out from the letters, not the letters themselves. Make sure to press it on really well.

Now it is time for the paint. I used a stipple brush and acrylic paints.

I remove the stencil as soon as I am done painting, no need to wait for it to dry.

Now my only question is, do the other 2 boxes need something on them as well?? 

What do you think?

Missy

Treasure Hunt

I have been out treasure hunting. 

I have been getting up early and seeking out bargans, and there are lots to be found! 

Washboards anyone? 

Look at this beauty!!! I was so excited to find this one! This will be a perfect display in my little shop! 

A dream, an Idea & a dumpster

Shed= Lots of junk stored inside, not the stuff you fix up for fun, but the crap you don't want to deal with so you throw it in there and close the door. 

Close it, QUICK! 

Then comes along a dream, an idea, and a dumpster. 

I love to be crafty and make all kinds of stuff. I have been in a few craft shows, I have even held a sale or two in my home. A shop of my own would be great, but never really thought I could do it. 

I have a great friend who just made her dream a reality this spring and built a beautiful new shop to have her sales in. She asked me if I would like to be a part of this months "shop hop" her and a bunch of other super talented ladies in the area are having an August shop hop, and I just couldn't justify tearing my house apart & disrupting my family for 3 days, so I had to say no, as much as I would have loved to join in the fun.

And then one day it came to me, the light bulb came on big and bright.

We ordered the dumpster, and within a couple of days we turned the crap shed into my future shop! 

My hubby added a window, one from the side of the road. Then he sprayed the entire inside white, using leftover paint and primer from the house. 

I kept telling him that I was not going to spend money on this project! 

So I was digging through the left overs from our old house, and found the perfect piece of railing, and an old plank from the kids old play set.

A few red accents, and the outside is all set! 

So far I have soent nothing!!! 

The little Green Bean will be open for business August 20 & 21 9-5

Stay tuned for sneak peaks inside as I get it ready! 

My shop will consist mainly of my handmade bags, totes, wood crafts, burlap goodies, and some other fun one of a kind items!!! 

Creating your own applique design using a cricut

Here is my guest post that was at Tator Tots and Jello, just in case you missed it! 

Today I am going to share a tutorial with you on making an appliques tote bag. I like to make things that are unique and I use all my own patterns. So here goes! 

Step one is to gather your fabric choices, I love to use scraps for this project.

Once you have your fabric for the applique design, iron each piece onto heat and bond, let cool.

Now, you can either create your own design, or use something like a cricut to help you out. I used the cartridge walk in my garden, and selected the leaf design for this project. You will want a fresh cutting mat and a new blade for cutting fabric for the best results.

I cut 2 leaves of each fabric, 1 1/4, and 2 inch leaves. I used 6 different pieces of fabric. 

Once you have all your pieces cut, peel the paper backing off of them and place on your front tote piece.

My tote is made from a sold medium weight fabric. I cut the pieces 12 x 13. 2 for the outside and 2 for the inside. Iron applique pieces in place. 

Once Ironed on, you are ready to sew them in place. I use the embroidery stitch on my machine, but any stitch will work for this. 

Once all the petals are in place, you can sew the stems. I free hand this, but you could lightly draw your line with a pencil. I also like to make random line stitches all over the front of the bag. 

I then apply fabric circle to the ends of all the other stems, and sew a button in the center. 

The applique part is done, you can do as much or as little as you would like. 

Now I assemble the tote, again, this is all up to you. I like pockets, so I add a back pocket, an inside zipper pocket and extra inside pockets for phones, lipstick, etc. This is all up to you. 

I cut an apply more of my coordinating fabric to the top edges of all 4 pieces. Make sure to line with a heavy weight interfacing, and sew the front and back of the outside together. For the lining, apply all your pockets, top edge, and again sew the front and back together, wrong sides facing each other. You will want to leave a 6 inch opening at the bottom of the lining to turn when finished. 

This is also where you add your straps. Pin them into place on the outside front of bag. With wrong sides together, sew the inside to the outside at the top edge. Turn right side out, then sew opening shut. 

Add a top stitch to the outside edge if desired. And you are done! 

You now have a fun new tote bag all your own design! 

Thanks for checking this out, now be sure to stop by my blog and see some of the other fun things that I like to do! 

Guest post today at Tator tots and Jello

Hey everyone, today I am guest posting over at Tator tots and Jello, come by and see what we are up to!

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/07/guest-project-applique-tote-bag.html

Missy

Candlelight Beige & Antique Glaze

My kitchen is very large, with lots of cabinets and plenty of counter space. I did a post about it a while back when we added an old entertainment center in the dining room it looks just like it was built for the space. You can see that post here. The kitchen/dining room area only needed one other thing. PAINT, not on the walls, but the cabinets. So I decided last week, thanks to miss funky junk herself that now was the time, Gitter done!!! 

So we dismantled all the doors, and emptied all of the cupboards, what a chore that was! 

All the hardware was removed too, and I decided to paint that as well. I used Krylon's old rubbed bronze spray paint. 

29 doors, 14 drawers, so that means 118 screw heads, 58 hinges and 43 handles all needed to be spray painted! I used foam board to stick the screws in so they stood upright. I put 3 coats on, just to be safe. 

I painted all the cabinets candlelight beige, and then applied a layer of glaze over the top. 

Our kitchen looks like we added about 20 lights, I can not believe the difference it made! 

I also decided that all my little wood accent pieces needed a makeover as well, so I painted my bread box, knife block, & paper towel holder red. 

Now if only I had a red kitchen aid mixer....

Now if you didn't read the dining room post, here is what the cabinet looked like before:

I applied the same paint and glaze to this piece as well

Yesterday was the grand opening of my good friend Krista's new shop, Snowman Hill, be sure to check her out, AMAZING stuff! And I picked up a few things that look perfect in my newly painted kitchen.

She really has some of the best stuff around, so if you live near Duluth, stop by to see her, you will not be disappointed! 

Above my island is an old window hung by chains, that is a fun little display that I like to change out with each season. 

And finally the jars that I made, inspired by Miss Mustard Seed, we keep cereal in them for the kids, they love to write on the outsides of the jars each time we put a new kind in there! 

Thanks for looking at my kitchen, now be sure to stop by Donna's at Funky Junk Interiors, and the next Gitter Done post is August 4th, you still have time!!!! 

Addendum to this post. after seeing my kitchen I had a few suggestions to paint the chairs red too. 

My little helper was busy taking them apart for me. 

MUCH better!!! Now I am done, really I am! :)