My babies - Canvas Silhouettes

In the past few days I have been working on a Silhouette project. I got the inspiration from Pinterest and found many good tips there as well.

Here are the 3 finished canvases. I am so proud of it, it looks a lot like them to my great surprise.

Here are the steps and a few good tips I gathered along the way on how to do it.

1. Take good profile picture of the kids. Preferably with a white background.

2. I converted the image to the outlines in Photoshop (if you want an explanation on how I did this, let me know, and I'll add it).

3. Use a wall paper (טפט) to print on.

4. Make sure you print on the other side, not the shiny sticky side, I tried printing on the shiny side and the ink will not dry.

5. Cut the image out carefully.

6. Spread Mod Podge on the canvas. This is a very important step. I'll show you at the end of this tutorial what happens if you don't. Wait for the glue to dry completely.

7. Peel the wallpaper and stick it on the canvas where you want the image to show.

8. Paint the canvas, front and sides. I used acrylic color.

9. Wait until the color is fully dry and peel the wallpaper. You can see how the canvas is looking after I peeled the wallpaper and on the left side, you can see the wallpaper on a scrap paper.

10. Spread another layer of Mod Podge to protect the color, also I find the color to be a little sticky even after fully dry and the Mod Podge layer just makes the canvas nicer to touch. Once that layer is dry you are done.

Here is a picture of the 3 canvases I made hanging on the wall.

 And lastly, remember in step 6 I told you it's important to paint the canvas with Mod Podge before you start with the color.

Here is why: notice how in the left side picture (no mod podge) the color bleeds into the canvas and you don't get a clean line when you remove the wall paper. I had to learn this the hard way... But hey - at least you now have a picture to learn from :-)

How to make an envelope for mini cards

Yesterday I posted about mini cards and got a question on how I did my envelopes, so I prepared a quick tutorial.

Here are the envelopes you will be making

For your convenience here is a PDF file you can download - How to make an envelope for mini cards (Believe it or not, but finding a way to upload the PDF file took me more time then this entire post... if you have good suggestion to pdf upload let me know in the comments).

Let me know if you want a video, I'll be happy to add one later this week.

Blank mini cards

I prepared a few mini cards for my mother-in-law. She asked for card for all occasions, so she'll have a stash she can use when needed.

I also prepared matching envelopes. I used my new Martha Stewart scoring board.

Here is a look at all the cards. They are all 3''*3''

The last one is slightly larger 4''*4'', I tried that size, but didn't like it.

Here is the lot. Next on my crafting table is a few misc cards for my mom.

Baby Boy Card

I saw this card on the Lifestyle Crafts ideas gallery and I just won a pack of Pool layering paper from Hero Arts (love it!!) and I wanted to try it so immediately I knew this is what I am about to do.

I added the hand charm to the card. This is a good luck symbol in the middle east, and is often added to baby elements. I really love the effect of it. This is the first time I am using a charm on a card,  but with the way it turned out, you will see lots more.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Magent Note Holder - Tutorial

A few weeks ago I published a few pictures of a Magnet Note Holder I created and I got a few requests to post a tutorial on how I made it.

I wanted this to be a very detailed tutorial, so this is a very heavy picture post.

Here is what you will need:

• Base - I use cereal box carton, it's sturdy enough and at the same time not too thick to cut. Also the Granola Bars boxes are great for that.
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• Bone folder
• Glue
• Ruler
• Patterned paper - For this demonstration I used 8''*8'' (about 20*20cm), but you can also use 12''*12'' (30*30cm).
• Magnet page

Cut the cereal box to 4 3/8'' * 6 6/8 '' (11*17cm)

Cover it with the patterned paper

Make sure the colored side of the base is fully covered and the kraft side is the side that is showing (we will cover it in a bit with the magnet, but just in case you have small pieces of magnet and not a full sheet, and the kraft side will show up, it's nicer then the colored side.)

Now you can cover the back with the magnet.

A note about the magnet - you can either buy a sheet of magnet and cut it, or you can use the magnets you get from stores or in the mail, I put it in water, clean the paper side and get a great magnet to use. 

Now let's create the box. Cut a piece of patterned paper size: 10.5'' * 3.3'' (26.5*8.5cm)

Scor it at: 2 3/4'', 3 1/4'', 7 3/8'', 7 7/8'' (6.5, 8, 18.5, 20 cm)

and then at 1/5'' length  (1.5cm) - this is at the bottom, this is what will create the bottom of out box (so that the notes will not fall down)

You can also use card stock for this, but I find the patterned paper easier to use and fold and it's sturdy enough for the use it will get.

Now if you fold it, you can already see how the box it build. Since I used a 8*8 (20*20cm) paper, I didn't have enough length so I cut another strip of paper and connected it, and then cut at the right length.

Cut the two small flaps at the bottom of the box.

Now, you can fold the box and adhere it with glue.

Use your fingers or a pencil to make sure all the crevices are tightly glued.

Adhere it to the base we created before. And, that's it, the box is now ready and you can decorate it.

Here is my final product

And last thing, a small tip I saw in one of the videos from the amazing Britta Swidersky is how to put stickers straight on the page with ease. Stick it on a ruler first, make sure it's straight and then stick the top part to the page, remove the ruler and voila!! your stickers are straight without any hassle.

 

Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask in the comments and if you use this tutorial I would love to see your creations, post a link in the comments.