Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2020

My 4th of July Mantel - Oh how I love you so!



So by now, we all know that I LOVE the 4th of July.... and now with a bigger house, we can decorate more! I'm sure my husband just loves that ;) So I slowly decorated that Mantel thinking that he wouldn't notice. I don't think he minds since he is so patriotic and love the 4th of July as much as I do. 

On my large sign on the left, I found that surface at Hobby Lobby with an orange clearance sticker. I can't even remember what design was on it, but I knew a coat or two of black chalk paint would make it into a great chalking surface. Once done painting it, I picked 2 retired transfers called Freedom and Homespun Stars.  
Retired Freedom Transfer
Homespun Stars
Retired Homespun Stars Transfer
This transfer fit just perfect of this surface! I actually only used the bottom half of the freedom transfer- It's so large that you can cut it into 2 parts. You could really cut it up a lot smaller, but i love the layout that it already has. I cut the Freedom transfer in 2 and laid the bottom half on the lower section of the surface. I stirred all the chalk pastes before starting. I picked Candy Apple, Blue Jay and Bright White for my paste colors. I kind of picked the paste color as I went down the transfer. After each line, I would lift that section and let it dry. The reason is that if you let the chalk dry in the transfer and then try to lift it up, it will lift up the chalk too and mess it all up. After completing the Freedom portion of the transfer, I randomly added the Homespun Stars at the top. My favorite start in the 3 toned star on the left side. 

I really wish these transfer weren't retired! I would have gotten another set!

Do you decorate your Mantel for any holidays? I'd love to hear all about them! Leave me a comment! 


Like these but not sure what Chalk Couture is- Click here to read all about it! 

Wanna shop for some Chalk Couture stuff? Click here to check out all the amazing items! 


And as always, help a sister out by sharing this post, like it and leave me a comment! 

Until then...

Sara ;)

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

DIY 4th of July Kitchen Towels


One of my favorite holidays is 4th of July! I love to decorate the outside of my house and the inside of my house. I'm always on the look out for great 4th of July decorations, especially at Hobby Lobby, Target and Marshalls. My collection of decoration is growing and i'm ok with that. 

One day while strolling through the dollar section at target, i'm sure with a Starbucks, I saw this set of 2 Kitchen towels. For $3, I couldn't pass it up! They were perfect for the 4th, and I had an idea to use Chalk Couture Ink to add a little extra to them. 

I'll show you how I made them! 

Supplies needed: 
-Kitchen Towels - I got mine in the dollar section- 2 towels for $3!
-Chalk Couture Ink - I used Cadet and Candy Apple 
-Chalk Couture Small Squeegee
-631 Vinyl
-Cutting Machine- I use a Silhouette Machine 
-Transfer tape - I use clear shelf protector for the dollar store! 
-Parchment paper
-Heat Press or Iron

Step 1: Get your towels ready- remove all tags and press them if needed if they are wrinkly. 


Step 2: Choose your designs that you want to add and cut them with your cutting machine. I chose Let Freedom Ring by Dawn Nicole Designs and Retro July 4th by Sophie Gallo. When getting ready to cut your design, you make have to tweak it a bit. With the design - Let Freedom Ring- I had to remove the outer cutting line from the design. I learned this by cutting it and trying to weed it, and figuring it out the hard way. 

Step 3: Reverse weed the design. Once all the weeding is complete, adhere transfer tape on the top on the design. Press it down firmly with your scraper. 


Step 4: Place the design on the towel where you would like it. Press it down firmly with the scraper over and over and over. Start to lift the transfer tape up from the top and carefully pull down, watching out for the small pieces. You may need to take the end of the scraper and hold down the small pieces to keep them from lifting. After you have completely lifted the transfer tape up, I like to place a piece of parchment paper over it and run the scraper over it again just to make sure they all adhere to the towel. Place wash tape around the edge of the design to make sure you don't get ink on the towel. 


Step 5: Time to INK! Grab your ink and open it up. Stir it well. Always stir! Dip your squeegee into the color and run over your design carefully. There is not mesh with this design so you can't be rough with it. 


Step 6: Once you have completely inked your design, remove the washi tape first and then the vinyl from the top and pulling it down. Now take a sharp weeding tool and remove the small pieces that are left behind. 


Step 7: Let it dry or use a dryer to dry it out if you want to use them ASAP. I always let them dry over night. But I did just buy a heat gun so maybe that will change ;) 

Step 8: Once dry, now you heat set them. That way you can wash them and the design won't come off. I use a Cricut Heat Press but you can use an iron if you don't have one. I set my heat press to 300 degrees and set a 30 second time. 


And just in 8 easy steps, you have DIY custom kitchen towels!
 
I paired my kitchen towels with some tea towels that I tye dyed! I love how they came out! 

What would you put on your kitchen towels?  Let me know!  


Like this but not sure what Chalk Couture is?!?- Click here to read all about it! 

Wanna shop for some Chalk Couture stuff? Click here to check out all the amazing items! 

And as always, help a sister out by sharing this post, like it and leave me a comment! 

Until then...

Sara ;) 

Friday, June 26, 2020

Need a beach tote? Make your own!


When I first got into Chalk Couture, I had all these ideas to make my own transfers to create more personalize items. I tried to make a few with mesh, and I even bought some screen print frames. It was not easy! Now I know why using Chalk Couture Transfers are so much easier to use. But with life, work, 3 kids, a husband and a dog... things get pushed back to the back burner.  

But this week I was on vacation, so I decided to try it again. I bought this tote bag at Hobby Lobby and thought it would a great beach bag. So naturally I had to put something mermaid on it. I reached through my Silhouette files and found the perfect one called Be like a Mermaid and Seas the Day by Megan Hardy Designs. It's the perfect size for the front part of the tote. 

Want to know how I made it? 

Step 1: Cut your design out with your cutting machine. I use Silhouette. I used some old 631 Vinyl that I had lying around.  Now this is where it gets tricky. You have to reverse weed the design. This means you have to weed out the lettering. Normally you leave the lettings and weed out the background area, but you want the ink to go on the letting area. 


Step 2: Once all the weeding is done, you are going to take transfer paper and carefully place on to of the whole design. Smooth it out and press firmly to make sure it all sticks to the transfer tape. Lift design off the backing and make sure all the small little pieces are coming along with it. Place the design on tote where you want it to go. If you are not sure on where you want the placement, figure this out before. Unlike a Chalk Couture transfer, I don't think you can really move this one around. Once it down, it would be hard to move. 

Step 3: This step is gonna take some time. Take your scraper and run it over the whole area on where you design is. make sure to press firmly, especially on the areas that have tiny pieces. These tend to want to get stuck on the transfer tape when you are lifting it. Once done with that, you are going to carefully like the transfer tape up off the design. This will take time... and patients... lots of patients! Start at the top and start to pull your up. Have the scraper in your hands because the small little pieces like come up with the transfer tape. Once the tape is off, take a sheet of parchment paper (I got mine off amazon and its precut and pops up out of the box) and place it over the design and again, use your scraper firmly to push down on the design. This is just to make sure you are adhering the design really well to the tote. 

Step 4: Place some tape on the side of the design to make sure none of the ink gets on the tote. Open your ink colors and stir them up. The inks I picked are Couture Teal, Couture Coral, and Shimmer Gold



Step 5: Time to INK! Set all your inks out so the are easy to reach. Once ready, dip your squeegee into the ink and start your 1st color. Since this doesn't have mesh to keep the vinyl from moving, you have to be careful when dragging your ink around on the design. The ink doesn't dry as fast as the chalk does, so you have more time to work with it. Carefully, but firmly drag the ink around making sure you completely cover the open areas of the design in ink. Any extra ink that you have left on your squeegee can go back into your ink jar. Now you can move onto the next ink color until you have completed all your ink colors. 


Step 6: Take off the tape that surrounds the outside of the design. Now you are going to start peeling up the design. This can be tricky since there is not mesh to hold it together and make it one seamless lift. It took a little time, but I did it slowly so it wasn't too hard. Once you are done lifting the made part of the vinyl, there will be small pieces left. I used a picker to get the other small pieces up without dragging it. Since this is just vinyl, you can throw away the pieces you lift up. 


Step 7: Check out what you just made and be proud of it! And let it dry. I normally let it dry over night. Once dry, place your parchment paper back over it and use your heat press (or iron) to heat set it. With the heat press, I set it to 300 degrees and set the timer for 30 seconds. Since the was a longer piece, I had to do it in 2 sections. 


Step 8: Boom! Your done! Now I have a large beach tote to haul all the shit my family needs at the beach. 


Let me know what you think! What would you put on your beach tote?  

Like this but not sure what Chalk Couture is?!?- Click here to read all about it! 

Wanna shop for some Chalk Couture stuff? Click here to check out all the amazing items! 



And as always, help a sister out by sharing this post, like it and leave me a comment! 

Until then...

Sara ;) 









Thursday, May 21, 2020

My take on May Club Couture - Love Conquers All


I finally got a chance to get to my Club Couture Transfer since my youngest was down for a nap and the other kids weren't being too needy and were watching TV. I knew this was my time to get some chalking in!

I'll show you all my steps and walk you through the process.

Here's what you need to make this: 
Club Couture Transfer
Chalk Pastes 
A Surface
Fuzzing Cloth
Small Squeegee
Stir Sticks

1. First things first is picking out your chalk colors you want to use. I wanted to use pastels for this so I used:

Seafoam (retired)
Bright White 
Wisteria
Morning Sky 
Peony  
2. Before starting, I like to stir all the chalk paste, so it has a good consistency when I am ready to use  it.  

3. Next I lay my surface down and figure out how I want my transfer to lay on it. Then I fuzz the transfer so it doesn't stick to surface too much. You don't want to ruin a transfer by it being too sticky and stretching it. 


4. Lay your transfer down on your surface and make sure that it has adhered well. To get crisp lines, press down and make sure there are no air bubbles. 


5. Start chalking! Start with the 1st color at the top and work your way down. That way if you need to lift it, you can pull down, but continue to chalk. 
      ***Tip- To make sure your chalk doesn't dry before its ready to take the transfer off, you can you the lift method. Chalk a section, and then lift just enough where you have chalked. Either hold and let it dry (long way) or hold and dry with hair dryer (short way). I didn't have my hair dryer handy so I just let it dry. Once its dry, which doesn't take too long, carefully lay it down, but don't press it down. Just press down where you haven't chalked again if it lifted a bit.



6. Once you have completed everything, go wash your transfer! I like to wash it right away because sometimes the paste or ink will stain it. I like my transfers to look new so I try to take care of them the best I can. I have the best way to wash them and let them air dry too! Ill have to make a blog post soon! Wash your squeegees and your stir sticks too while you are at it! I normally only use 1 squeegee, and just clean it with a baby wipe between colors. Saves on cleaning time. 

7. All done! Time to show off your masterpiece! 


I LOVE how this turned out! What do you think? 
 I can't wait to see what June's Club Couture will be! 

Like this but not sure what Chalk Couture is?!?- Click here to read all about it! 

Wanna shop for some Chalk Couture stuff? Click here to check out all the amazing items! 

And as always, help a sister out by sharing this post, like it and leave me a comment! 

Until then...

Sara ;) 



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