Sew Dang Cute Crafts

Adding Even More Character To a Room With a Stencil

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Next up in Jessica’s room makeover was the stencil.

*If you aren’t quite up to speed with us yet, be sure to check out the original room and the paint we are working with.*

I love the dimension and extra somethin’-somethin’ that a stencil can give to a room. It can add that extra “wow factor” that really makes the room!

Jessica and I turned to Royal Design Studio for the stencil, and had so many fantastic options to choose from. In the end, we chose the Tailfeather Allover stencil.

Isn’t it so pretty?!

Guess where that is.

The closet!

I told you we had big plans for it and this is just the tip of the iceberg!!!

Seriously, you are going to DIE when you see what’s going to happen to this space!

This stencil is light and airy. Sophisticated and carefree. It’s perfect for the ambiance of the room.

Let’s take another step back to see that beautiful stencil with the painted walls.

Remember the before?

Aren’t you just loving how it’s all coming together?

If you still are skeptical – trust my vision. The best is yet to come.

I’ve heard from many of you that you would LOVE a stencil in your room, but are scared to try because you think it will be too hard.

Well I’m going to show you just how easy working with a stencil is. (Seriously, we did this closet in about 1.5 hours and most of that was prep stuff and washing the stencil periodically).

Tip #1 - Use spray adhesive AND painter’s tape for the stencil. Lightly spray the back of the stencil and stick it to the wall (or whatever surface you are painting).

*Note: The picture below is from a different stencil that I used in another room. The action is the same, I just forgot to take a picture of spraying the stencil this time*

Spray adhesive usually works by itself before you get any paint on the stencil, but after it has a little bit of paint on it, I found you had to use a piece of painter’s tape here and there to keep it completely in place.

Tip #2: Roll off the majority of the paint. Now that the stencil is in place we can get some paint on our brush. I should also mention that using a good brush is another tip. This is one time when it’s worth it to spend the extra $$ and get a good brush.

Anyway, back to getting paint on your brush. Go ahead and roll it in your tray and roll most of it off.

THEN…..

Have a towel that you never want to use again nearby and roll most of the paint off again.

By the time you’ve done this you will have hardly any paint on that brush.

This little trick is what I found prevents bleeding. You really don’t need very much paint at all.

Once you’re to this point, go ahead and roll the brush over the stencil. Keep rolling until you have the area covered (you may need to go back for more paint, but I found that I could cover the entire stencil with one dip in the paint).

Then here’s the best part. You only need to do one coat (depending on the paint you use)!!!

Remove the stencil and step back to admire your handiwork.

Tip #3: Use Registration Marks. All of the stencils by Royal Design Studio have registration marks that make it a breeze to line up your stencil and seamlessly continue your design. This stencil had little triangles at each of the four corners, so when I first stuck the stencil up on the wall I used a pencil and traced each of those triangles on the wall. Then when I went back to continue the stencil, I simply lined up the triangles on the wall with the triangles on the stencil and kept on going. Since we didn’t use very much paint, it dried in a few minutes so we could start our second stencil fairly quickly.

Tip #4: Clean Your Stencil. After a few uses, the paint builds up on the stencil, which can make it easier for the paint to bleed. I’m probably too nit-picky about this, but I wanted it to look the best it could so every 3 uses I would rinse the stencil off in the tub. The paint comes right off with water and only takes a few minutes. Dry the stencil off with a clean towel and you are ready to continue.

So now we got most of the closet painted. However, look closely at the top. There was just a little bit of a gap that we needed to fill in.

Fortunately, the stencils by Royal Design Studio are sturdy and flexible. They bend enough that you can tackle things like corners or the tops of closets. We sprayed about 5” of the bottom of the stencil and stuck it on the wall by lining up the registration marks. Since there about 3/4 of the stencil wasn’t stuck to the wall, but was bending over away from it, Jessica held the top of the stencil for me so the weight of it wouldn’t pull the lower part away from the wall, and we were able to get the entire space stenciled.

Any guesses what’s coming next? Hopefully, I’ll be able to tackle it this weekend and post about it soon.

If this got you really excited to try a stencil, just wait until next week and I *might* be able to help you out with that. {Giveaway hint, hint}.

If you just can’t wait until then, go check out Royal Design Studio and pick out the perfect stencil for you.

And because RDS loves you guys so much, you can save 10% by using code SEW10.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Paint: A Simple Way to Make a Big Difference in a Room

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:25:00 +0000

One of the best ways to change a room is by painting it. Something about changing the color can do so much. It can add light and life to a room. If you missed all the before pictures of Jessica’s room that we are giving a drastic makeover, check it out HERE.

Jessica wanted a beach-themed room. She wanted to drastically lighten up the existing room. It was too dark. We needed a room where she could walk in, relax, and escape. So we turned to Dutch Boy paint. With hundreds of colors, we had plenty of options, but in the end we chose Allegheny Green.

It is EXACTLY what Jessica was looking for. In fact, the whole night we were painting she kept saying “I love this color” over and over. It’s so much prettier in person.

So the color is perfect, let me tell you what else Jessica and I LOVED about this paint.

1. The lid of the paint can.

It has a lid that screws on and off so it is super easy to open and close.

2. The handle of the paint can.

Whoever designed this paint can knew what they were doing. This handle makes it SOOOO much easier to pour the paint. Which also leads me to #3…

3. The spout of the paint can.

Genius! Pure genius! So easy to pour and much less mess. I’m tellin’ ya, this paint can is fabulous!

Now to the paint itself.

4. It eliminates odors. Using Arm & Hammer odor eliminating technology, it masks up any household odors leaving the room smelling fresh and clean. I also noticed that it is a very mild paint smell, so it doesn’t overwhelm you at all when you walk in the room.

(Personally I love the smell of paint so it wouldn’t have bothered me if it did, but it’s not strong….just sayin’).

5. Great application. It went on so smoothly and had great coverage!

The white we used was a different brand (which shall not be mentioned because it was being cursed at for it’s terrible coverage and uneven application). The two paints do not even compare. The Allegheny Green was FAR SUPERIOR (and they did not pay me to say that…that is our absolute honest opinion).

At the end of it, Jessica was asking me “Where do you get this paint? Because I would definitely use it from now on”. Seriously, those were her words. I’ve used other paints that I am perfectly happy with, but the real deal breaker is the paint can. SOOOOO NICE!

So in case any of you are wondering the same thing, go HERE and enter your zip code to find a Dutch Boy retailer.

Do you want to see how else we used this paint?

Good. Stick around and I’ll be back (hopefully tomorrow) to share with you the next step in this room makeover!

Jessica’s Room Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Hey everyone! I know haven’t posted in about a week and let’s face it, I’ve been a sporadic blogger the past couple of months. Lots of reasons for that. One is I’ve been taking a much-needed step back and enjoying time with my family. I may get into that more in a couple of weeks, but now is not the time.

Another reason I’ve been MIA is that I’ve been helping my BFF IRL (gotta love acronyms) do a room makeover in her house. It’s coming along beautifully and I’m so excited to share it with you guys! You are going to love it (at least I hope you will).

Many of you have mentioned that the thought of a complete room makeover overwhelms you. A lot of you have also mentioned that you love step-by-step basic tutorials, so this room is going to be brought to you step-by-step. That way you’ll see that if I can do it…anyone can do it.

Come on in with me to the room we’re working with…

First wall you see when you walk in the room is this bookshelf wall.

If you turn to the left you will see the window wall.

Continue turning to your left and you will see the bed wall.

I want to take you back to when you first walked through the door. See the little wall that sticks out?

That my friends is a closet.

Yeah, that’s my two-year old’s head in the bottom of the picture.

But anyway, back to the closet.

You are not going to believe what I’ve done to this thing. It’s by far my favorite part of the whole room and I think it’s going to blow your mind when I reveal what we did with this space. It’s awesome!

I hope you will all follow along as this room comes together, and who knows, maybe it will give you the courage to tackle that room you’ve been wanting to makeover!

Silhouette Tutorial: How to Cut and Apply Vinyl

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I am overwhelmed by the response to the Silhouette tutorials. You guys are so sweet. Thank you for all your kind emails and comments!

One of the requests I’ve had from many of you is a tutorial on vinyl, so that’s what we are going to learn today. If you saw my “I love you because…” wall last week, then you’ve seen the vinyl I’m going to be making.

STEP ONE: Open up Silhouette and let’s get our page set up. Click on the “Page settings” button in the top right hand of the toolbar. It’s the red and black rectangles one. My roll of vinyl is only 9” wide, so I need to change the height of my page to 9”. Then I want my quote to be about 2 feet long, so I’m going to change the width of my page to 24”.

Just so you know, the CAMEO can cut up to 12” wide and 10 feet long!

STEP TWO: Click on the text tool, located on the left toolbar (it’s the one that is a letter “A”).

You should see a text style settings on the right side of your screen. Choose which font you want. I selected CAC Shishoni Brush.

Then go ahead and type.

Obviously that is not 24” long, so I need to resize it. Click on the Select tool (arrow at the top of the left toolbar). Now you should be able to see a box with some drag points around your words.

Notice right now it is only 5.595 inches long. I’m going to click and drag on one of the corner boxes until my words are about 24” long. I don’t need it exact, so 22.965 is just fine for me. If you do need it exactly 24”, adjust your page width higher (refer to STEP ONE) so you can drag your words a little more to make them bigger.

You can now move it around to wherever you want on the page, then you are set to cut.

STEP THREE: Send to Silhouette. Click on the button just to the right of the print button that looks like a printer with a paper with a red letter “A” on it.

My settings are already set up for vinyl, but if they weren’t I would click on “Change Settings” and be brought to here.

Choose your media (in this case it’s Silhouette Vinyl).

Note: It says to set my blade to “1”. I have found that every machine is slightly different, so the best way to figure out if that’s the right setting for your machine is to do a TEST CUT. If you click on that, it will just do a little cut at the top of whatever you are cutting (page, vinyl, whatever). For my machine, the “1” mostly cuts all the way through, but I would run into a few snags where it hadn’t. So for vinyl, I set my blade to “2” and I haven’t had a problem since.

Once you have your cut settings where they need to be, click on “Send to Silhouette”. Make sure your Silhouette is turned on and hooked up to your computer and it will have you load your media.

Once it’s loaded, you will click on “Cut Page”. Then sit back and let the Silhouette work it’s magic. Unload the media and you will have something like this.

Peel away the vinyl you don’t need. You might need to use an Xacto knife or something similar to get the parts inside letters like “e” and “o”.

Cut a piece of transfer tape that will cover your vinyl.

Peel away the transfer tape from it’s backing.

Apply the transfer tape to your vinyl piece. Smooth it out and make sure it’s on really well. I like to rub a popsicle stick or credit card over it to make sure the vinyl is really stuck to it.

Peel away the transfer tape with the vinyl now on it.

Then stick your vinyl where you want it. This is where I use the popsicle stick or credit card again to make sure the vinyl sticks to the wall.

Peel away the transfer tape.

And you are now done!

Let me know if you have any questions and also if you have any other requests for Silhouette tutorials!

Thanks and have a great day!

And the Winner of the Cinnamon Roll Cookoff Is…

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

In reference to my quest for the BEST cinnamon rolls recipe, I made over 200 cinnamon rolls in the space of 4 days, and my family (and friends) all agreed that the our favorite recipe is…

Pioneer Woman’s

These rolls are melt-in-your-mouth yummy! And really easy to make.

Usually for breads you need a fancy mixer (i.e. KitchenAid, Bosch, etc.). For these rolls you don’t!

You just need a stovetop and a big saucepan.

I tried this one a couple of ways. I did it by making the dough late one night, then sticking it in the fridge overnight to make hot cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then another day I made the dough and immediately made them into rolls. Either way works, which I love. That way I can make up the dough the night before to save time! The dough can be refrigerated up to 3 days, so this is a recipe that can definitely fit in your schedule.

These rolls don’t use eggs like most of the other recipes, so that’s another ingredient you don’t have to worry about.

Another thing I like about these rolls is the filling. It uses melted butter and sugar, while others used brown sugar and softened butter. I found the melted butter and sugar to blend flavors better with the dough, and it wasn’t as overpowering.

This recipe also makes A LOT of rolls (about 4 dozen). So I decided to experiment with the icing. The recipe calls for a maple icing that also uses coffee. I don’t drink coffee so I just used a little more milk.

Now I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when it came to this icing. I’m not a big maple fan, and I wasn’t sure about mixing that flavor with cinnamon rolls. BUT I was pleasantly surprised. The maple flavoring *might* be my favorite icing. It was my 5-year old’s favorite as well. The maple seems to perfectly compliment the cinnamon rolls and if you want these for breakfast, then the maple flavoring really seems to fit the bill for that occasion.

I also tried Pioneer Woman’s cream cheese frosting.

This was my husband’s favorite. He absolutely LOVED the rolls with the cream cheese frosting! Personally, I thought it made the rolls too rich, but I was the only one who felt that way.

My 6-year old also really liked the cream cheese frosting. It was her close 2nd. But her favorite was actually the basic powdered sugar, vanilla, milk frosting in Our Best Bites everyday cinnamon rolls.

This is the other one that *might* be my favorite. I couldn’t decide between this one and the maple. Both are absolutely delicious!

I also decided to experiment some more and modified Pioneer Woman’s recipe to make Orange Rolls (recipe in her book).

I actually preferred them the next day (reheated of course since rolls must be eaten warm in my opinion).

While these were perfectly scrumptious, we liked the cinnamon rolls better. However, they were a nice change of pace over the weekend.

Like how my daughter ate the middle out of the cinnamon roll?

It reminds me of those “How do you eat your Reese’s commercials?”

Well those are my results. Did any of you try any or all of the recipes?

Window Treatment for Odd-Shaped Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000

This post has been a long time coming. As in many of you asked for it 5 months ago when I posted about Ryker’s nursery – the window treatment, specifically the fabric covering the odd-shaped part of the window.

I would have posted it all those months ago, but you see the window treatment isn’t done yet. I still need to add blackout drapes like I did in my other son’s room. However, life just hasn’t been in my control lately and the drapes haven’t been a top priority, so they still aren’t done.

So why post now you ask? Well over the last couple of weeks, I’ve received about a dozen more emails asking me how I did that fabric up in that window, so I figured I better just buck up and write this post with the window as it is.

DISCLAIMER: When I first made this fabric covering, it was with pink gingham for my girls’ room about 3 years ago. Back when I had no idea about things like seam allowances and just knew how to thread my sewing machine and press down on the pedal to make the machine stitch.

Fast forward to summer of 2010. The girls moved out of this room and it was becoming the nursery for my son. The pink gingham had to go, but I wanted to reuse the velcro and blackout fabric (because I’m ~~cheap~~ frugal like that).

Wait….velcro and blackout fabric??? Ok, now let’s explain the tutorial.

STEP ONE: I got a piece of butcher paper (any large piece of paper will do), and traced the shape of my window. Then I cut the piece out to use as my pattern piece.

STEP TWO: Pin the pattern piece to your desired fabric and some blackout fabric, then cut 1/2” around the pattern piece of both fabrics. (Remember how I didn’t know about seam allowances in 2009? I didn’t allow the extra 1/2” and just cut the fabric out the exact same size as my butcher paper pattern piece, which is why it doesn’t fit exactly in the window.)

STEP THREE: Get some adhesive velcro and stick one of the sides to the window frame. I chose the soft side of the velcro. I’m not sure why, but that’s what I did. Place your pieces all around the window frame. I used about 14 pieces for my window.

STEP FOUR: If you are smarter than Tam of 2009 you will NOT use the other side of the adhesive velcro, but will get some regular velcro for this next part. However, Tam of 2009 was very new to DIY stuff and she used the adhesive stuff for this next part. Sew the other side of the velcro pieces (mine were the rough sides now) to the blackout fabric, making sure they line up with all the pieces on the window frame.

Don’t pay attention to the brown fabric and topstitching. I’m trying to do this tutorial post-project done. Your fabric and blackout fabric should not be sewn together yet. Also don’t pay attention to all the yucky yellow parts around the velcro where the sun discolored my blackout fabric over the past 3 years where the glue was (another reason not to use the adhesive velcro on the fabric).

If you used the adhesive velcro like I did, you have now just gunked up your sewing machine with glue. See….not too smart of me, huh?

And if you are thinking, why even sew the velcro if it’s adhesive?

Because the blackout fabric and fabric will be too heavy for the velcro to hold on it’s own and your velcro will come off the fabric and the fabric will fall down. (Do I know this from experience?…yes I do).

STEP FIVE: Sew the blackout fabric and your fabric RST (right sides together), using a 1/2” seam allowance. This will be the side with the velcro on it for the blackout fabric. Leave about a 6-10” opening in the bottom. Clip the corners, being sure not to cut through the stitching, and turn the entire thing inside out through the opening. Iron the entire piece flat, then topstitch around the whole thing with a 1/4” seam. This will close up the opening and keep the two fabrics together better.

STEP SIX: Hang it up in your window!

This is what it looks like from the outside.

Doesn’t look too bad, if you ask me. Much better than tinfoil anyway, and so much better spending a fortune on a custom-made blind, right?

Now that sun won’t be glaring through the window every morning right in my baby’s eyes!

I hope that helps all of you guys out that were wondering about this! Please let me know if you have any questions.

For Those of You Using Express Scripts

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:01:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I wanted to pass on some information about Express Scripts and Walgreen's because I know of lot of you may be affected by their recent contract negotiations. As of January 1, 2012 Walgreens is no longer part of Express Scripts' pharmacy provider network.

Express Scripts is essentially a middle man between pharmacies providing the health care service and employers and health plans who pay for the medications. Unfortunately, the two companies could not reach an agreement and ended their contract. For more on those details, you can see the press article Walgreens and Express Script.

This is affecting many people. Many of these people have a relationship with their Walgreens pharmacist and are now having to go elsewhere. Some people are having to pay more and drive further to get their prescriptions refilled, which isn't making them very happy.

To try to make things easier for those who use Express Scripts, Walgreens is working on "making this transition as smooth as possible and is doing all it can to help patients continue using Walgreens when possible, or take care of them as they are forced to leave Walgreens in order to use their in-network coverage."

"It is important to know that only patients with certain prescription insurance plans managed by Express Scripts are affected, so it is best to check with your local Walgreens pharmacist or the back of your prescription insurance card to find out for sure if you're impacted."

One thing Walgreens is doing to help patients, is offering a special promotion in January on annual memberships for Walgreens Prescription Savings Club.

For $10 a year, a family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger, and pets. Individuals may join for $5.

With membership you will receive discount prices and savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and all generic medications, flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizer, and diabetic supplies. Plus you'll receive bonuses when you purchase Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services.

If you would like to support Walgreens and stay updated on this situation, follow along with Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook.

My Quest for the BEST Cinnamon Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:07:00 +0000

For some reason, lately I have been on a mission to find the absolute best cinnamon rolls recipe. I reached out to you guys on Facebook and many of you had the same suggestions.

Pioneer Woman’s

Paula Deen’s

Cinnabon Clone on All Recipes

Our Best Bites

Some of you also mentioned you had your own family recipes that are amazing!

(Thanks Betsy for sending it to me)

This weekend I’m going to try out one or two or all of the recipes and see which one I like best.

How about you? Want to try these out with me?

Once you make them, I would love to hear how they turned out and what you think. Come back here and tell me.

If you already have made them, let me know in the comments which one you prefer.

Or if you have your own, I would LOVE for you to share it with me!!!!

Together we will all discover the BEST cinnamon roll recipe, right?!

24-Frame Photo Collage

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:31:00 +0000

My husband has been bugging me for ages to put up something on our dining room wall – preferably pictures, and he would like them to be past photos (meaning not of our kids at their current ages).

If you follow me on Facebook, then you know last week I was working on going through 6 years of photos to make this same 24-frame photo collage that Char of Crap I’ve Made created several years ago.

Do you know how hard it is to narrow down thousands of pictures to only 24?

Trust me….it’s tough.

But the hubs and I managed to get it done and tada!

Every single one of these photos stirs so much emotion in me – whether it makes my heart melt or laugh out loud, they each have special meaning.

I love the life and color it adds to my family and dining room areas.

Like Char, I grabbed 24 of these frames at IKEA and taped them together with duct tape. They come in packages of 2 for $3.99, so it works out to be about $2/frame. Not too shabby if you ask me.

I wasn’t sure how to hang it, so I dropped by and looked how Char did it. (Big advantage of living across the street).

She used these Picture Hanging System things from Lowes.

They have a level in them and come in a variety of sizes, so they are perfect!

I used two of them. First you mount the part with the level to the wall.

Then you mount the other part to the frame.

And it hangs like so…

LOVE!

Let’s just take a closer look at those cute kids.

They definitely keep me on my toes, but man I sure do love them!

"I Love You Because..." Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:53:00 +0000

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. My kids always enjoy our Thankful Tree that we do in November, so along those same lines, I thought it would be fun to do an "I Love You Because..." wall in February.

My girls and I did started this while my boys were napping. We wrote down why we loved each member of our family. While I'm hoping this will generate all sorts of warm, fuzzy feelings, I have to say that my almost 5-year old is cracking me up with her answers.

For her sister and brother:

For Mom and Dad:

She cracks us up all the time! And if you could hear her say these things in her unbelievably high-pitched voice, I'm sure you would be rolling on the floor with us.

We decided to write our answers on hearts, and thanks to Lifestyle Crafts and their newest line Sweetheart, we cut out a bunch of hearts in no time at all. We laid a bunch of the dies on the cutting platform, covered them with paper, then rolled them through the Epic Letterpress (dies also work with Cuttlebug and Big Shot).

We used the Nesting Hearts, Nesting Eyelet Hearts, and Nesting Doily Hearts dies.

Then look how cute the baking and cake dies are!

You can see the rest of the Sweetheart line HERE.

And as always...you can grab these and any other Lifestyle Crafts products for 20% off with code "SEWDANGCUTE"!

Do you have any fun traditions you do in February to celebrate Valentine's Day?

Using Your Silhouette to Make Stencils

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:22:00 +0000

Giveaway winners are announced on Facebook and sent an email by me so I can keep the blog clear for projects and such, but per request I'm going to let you all know that the winner of the Silhouette CAMEO is Shanda Bear and she has already contacted me to claim her prize. Congratulations Shanda!

However, if you did not win you can still grab a CAMEO and a fabric ink starter kit for a discounted price of $299 with code DANGCUTE. Today and tomorrow are the last days for the promotion, and we’ve been told that there are only a limited supply of machines.

If you already have a machine, you can use the same discount code (DANGCUTE) to get 20% off all fabric ink supplies.

In case you missed the tutorial on how to use those, you can see how I made some t-shirts with the fabric ink HERE.

I had such a great response from you guys with the Silhouette “How To” week, that I decided I’m going to try to post more Silhouette tutorials for you guys. They’ll be more step-by-step than this project today (sorry I made this a couple of months ago and didn’t take as many pictures along the way)

Last year I saw this frame and wreath that Amy of The Idea Room did and immediately fell in love.

I decided my hallway needed just that, so I went about making my own.

I started out with this frame that I picked up at my local thrift store for $8.

I removed the picture inside and the metal clip thingys that held it in place. I painted the frame with white spraypaint and sanded it a bit to distress.

I wanted to add the patterned glass etching to the frame, but didn’t want to spend the money to buy a stencil. Enter my handy, dandy Silhouette. Using vinyl, I cut out several pieces of the design I wanted, then applied the vinyl to the back side of the glass.

If you look closely, you can see where I overlapped vinyl pieces so the stencil covered the glass completely.

Then I took some Krylon Matte Finish and sprayed the whole thing.

Once it dried, I removed the vinyl and voila!

The wreath is hanging from a knob I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

For the wreath, I followed these instructions by Design Sponge.

Mine was made infinitely easier and faster thanks to my Accuquilt GO!Baby Cutter and circle die cut. I had to cut out over (300) 3” felt circles, and the GO!Baby made that SOOO simple.

I love how light and airy it is!

So pretty!

My Resolutions–Please No Laughing or Judging

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

***Only a few more hours to enter the Silhouette CAMEO giveaway. Go HERE to enter. Winner will be announced on Facebook, so make sure you are a fan so you don’t miss it!***

In 2012 there are a couple of things I really want to do.

1. Run a Marathon

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a jock. Exercise is so many things to me – hobby, stress relief, “me” time, etc. One of the things I’m going to do this year is run a marathon. It might come as a shock to some of you that I’ve never done this. I’ve run a couple of half marathons, and I did complete an IRONMAN 70.3 in the summer of 2009, but I’ve never actually run a marathon by itself. As much as I would like to do another IRONMAN, I just don’t have the time to train for it at this stage in my life. Even though it will be tough, I do feel like I could fit in the running training. Especially, since I have this to help me.

Run Less Run Faster is a book that I recently got and I am loving it. It has training programs where you only run 3 times a week. It focuses on the QUALITY not QUANTITY of running. It’s completely personalized for your own fitness level and goals. I’m going to start out with the 12-week training program for the 5K. Which means I am going to be running the Running of the Leopards 5K on March 24, 2012.

I’ll tweak my training a bit around the beginning of February so I can start my 18-week training program for the Utah Valley Half Marathon on June 9, 2012. Then that leaves me 21 weeks to get ready for the St. George Marathon on October 6, 2012.

2. Give Up French Fries

I shared this with you guys on Facebook and I know it might seem like a strange resolution. It’s not that I eat French fries a lot, but whenever I do, I feel sick afterwards. They just don’t digest well. I want to eat healthier, because when I do I feel better, my workouts are better (performance, energy, etc.), I sleep better. The benefits go on and on. Something that is going to help me with my goal to eat better is this cookbook.

I’m so excited to dig in and start trying these recipes. (Hopefully I can lose the last bit of my baby weight as well).

3. Finish my daughters’ shared bedroom and my son’s sports room.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you know that last April I started making something with 21 charm packs.

What did I start making? Twin-sized puff quilts for both of my daughters. I haven’t worked on them in 9 months. I got a little burnt out, had a baby, yada-yada-yada… This is the state I left them in.

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

Must.Finish.Those.

They’ll look so good in their room, which is really close to being done.

Then there is my 2-yr old son’s room.

I’ve got this awesome Play Ball fabric from Riley Blake Designs, that I need to figure out a quilt with.

I’m getting that done this year, too!

Well those are just a few of mine. I’ve got a couple more, but they are a little more personal.

Follow along with me this year as I make them happen.

Plus I’ve got lots more in store for 2012!

What are some of your New Year’s resolutions? I’d love to hear!

Top 10 in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:08:00 +0000

***If you are looking for the Silhouette CAMEO giveaway, go HERE***

2011 has been such a great year for me and my family. As far as my opinion goes, the best thing I made this year was this little guy.

He was the perfect addition to our family, and 6 months later we are more in love with him than ever.

As far as creative juices go, you guys had some clear favorites. So let’s get to those.

TOP 10 of 2011

10. Rainbow Birthday Cake

This was a fun one to make for my daughter, and she absolutely loved it!

9. Summer Activity Board

We had a great time doing all these things together as a family this summer. My kids loved looking at the board and picking what to do.

8. Reading Treat Box

I’m glad you guys liked this one, because it was one of my favorite things I made this year as well. It has helped motivate my daughter to read every day. In fact, she doesn’t ever miss because she really wants to get her treat for the day!

7. Family Motto Sign

I love that my family finally has a family motto displayed in our home. So much thought went into this and there are so many principles and lessons we can teach our children through this short, simple motto.

6. Spider Cider Jars

I was a little surprised at the reaction to this one. It was one of those last minute “I’ve got to have this up tomorrow” projects. Even Tori Spelling liked it. LOL!

5. Ryker’s Nursery

This has become one of my favorite rooms in the house (even though it’s not quite done yet). Hopefully, I can get it finished in 2012. The green furniture is definitely my favorite refinishing project I’ve ever done, and the diaper stacker is still one of my most popular posts (it was in 2010 otherwise it would have easily been in the top 10 this year).

4. Moorish Trellis Stenciled Rug

Stencils were such a big thing this year, as well painting rugs, so it’s no big surprise that putting the two together would be a hit. This was one of those projects that was just plain fun to do and I absolutely loved the end result!

3. Recovering an Ironing Board

This one was part of my new and improved laundry room, which was also in the top 10, but I decided to combine them. It’s one of the few rooms in my house that is done!

2. The CHRIST Book

I am so grateful for the response to this. With over 20,000 downloads in the last month alone, I hope many of you were able to bring CHRIST back into your holiday season.

1. The Guest Bedroom

This was a clear winner for the year. Several projects in this room (including the Styrofoam Wall Art, Duvet Cover, and No Sew Fabric Cornice) were also in the top 10, so once again I combined them.

Of course yellow being my favorite color, means this room has a very special place in my heart. Also pretty much everything in this room is DIY, so I have a great feeling of pride and satisfaction when I walk in there.

Well that’s it. Were your favorites in there? Please feel free to check out all my projects and tutorials for more.

Thank you so much for making 2011 great and sharing it with me. I am so grateful to each of you – for your kind comments, pins, emails, etc. I truly have the best readers.

Thanks again and I am really looking forwards to 2012!!!

Linked to:

Tatertots and Jello

Someday Crafts

Silhouette Tutorial: Making T-Shirts with Fabric Ink

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Don’t forget to enter to win a Silhouette CAMEO!!!

Giveaway HERE.

One of the most fun things to do with a Silhouette is make t-shirts. Some of the things I’ve used are heat transfer material, iron-on vinyl, rhinestones, or fabric paint and a freezer paper stencil.

Well I got my hands on a fabric ink starter kit, and guess what?! I used it to make more t-shirts!!!

So let’s continue with our week of Silhouette tutorials with how to use the fabric ink, shall we?

I got the shirts at Target for $4.99 each, then everything else (including the shape) came in the starter kit.

You can use whatever shape you want, but the starter kit comes with 10 shapes already. I liked the scroll shape, so I went ahead and sized it to fit my shirts then printed it off on the stencil vinyl, which is also included in the kit. I printed two since I needed one for each shirt.

Next you need to peel out the design to make the stencil.

Take a piece of transfer tape (from the starter kit) and press it on top of your stencil.

Remove the backing from the vinyl.

Stick entire thing onto shirt in desired location.

Remove the transfer tape.

Place a piece of cardboard or cardstock in the shirt so the ink doesn’t bleed through.

Now we can start painting. You can use either the sponge or foam brush. I liked the sponge. Dab it in some paint and go to town. Seriously, it’s easy enough that I let my girls do their own.

Let the ink dry. It took about 2 hours for ours.

Once the ink is dry, iron it to set the ink.

Then you are done!

I have to say that I was really impressed with the fabric ink. It looks natural on the shirt (like screen printing).

It’s sold in a lot of different colors, but you can buy just the magenta, cyan, and yellow and make all these different colors by mixing.

I’m definitely going to buy those 3 colors!!!

If you want to as well, all fabric ink supplies are 20% off December 29 – January 5 with code DANGCUTE.

Then remember that you can get the fabric ink starter kit and the CAMEO for only

$299 with the same discount code DANGCUTE!!!

Add both machine and starter kit to your cart, then at checkout use the discount code.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Silhouette CAMEO Giveaway ENDED

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:01:00 +0000

I’m so excited to share today’s giveaway with you!!!

One of you gets to win a Silhouette CAMEO!!!!!!!

In case you want to read more about this machine, check out this post HERE. And to see all the projects I’ve done using the Silhouette click HERE.

If you are following along with the “How To” tutorials this week, don’t worry, I’ll be back later today with another tutorial using the fabric ink starter kit.

Speaking of the fabric ink starter kit.

December 29 - January 5th, you can grab it and the CAMEO for only

$299 with code DANGCUTE!!!

Add both machine and starter kit to your cart, then at checkout use the discount code.

If you already have a machine, you can still get a deal: 20% off all fabric ink supplies with code DANGCUTE!!!

Oh yeah, I mentioned I was giving one away!!!

Here’s how to enter:

(one comment per entry please)

* Like Silhouette on Facebook (Make sure to tell them I sent you)!

* Follow Silhouette on Pinterest

* Like Sew Dang Cute Crafts on Facebook

Giveaway runs until Tuesday, January 3rd @ 8 pm MST.

**Note: Giveaways are possible on Sew Dang Cute Crafts because of my awesome readers/followers. Therefore, if you would like to be eligible to win, I ask that you are follower of this site. Please also have an email listed either on your profile or in your comment(s) so I can contact you should you win.***

Thanks and good luck!

If you want more chances to win, here are other sites that I’m aware of that are also giving a CAMEO away. I’ll keep adding to this list as I learn about them.

Today’s Creative Blog

Skip to My Lou

Craftaholics Anonymous

Silhouette Tutorial: Print & Cut Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:55:00 +0000

The Silhouette is fabulous for making a quick tag or note.

I dropped the ball on getting neighbor gifts done before Christmas. So this year, we went with New Year’s gifts instead.

Simple enough tag, right?

Using the Print and Cut feature of the Silhouette, they really were simple.

Step 1: Create the tag. Open your image. I used the 4-tag set.

Using the “ungroup selected shapes” button that we learned about yesterday, I edited my image down to the one tag I wanted to use. I also used the rotate button to turn it 90 degrees. If you want to rotate the image a set degree (90, 180, etc.), use the rotate button (the curved arrow). Otherwise, you can click on the green dot by your image and rotate the image to your preference.

I need to resize my image so it’s only about 2 inches wide, right now you can see it’s 3.540 inches wide. So if I click on one of the boxes at the corner of the image, I can drag it until I’m where I want.

Step 2: Add words. Using the Text button (The “A” button in the side toolbar on the left), I typed my message. Then I resized it and centered it so it fit inside the tag.

Right now, my Silhouette would cut those words. I don’t want that, so I click on my “cut style window” button, then select “no cut”.

I do want my words to print on the tag, so using my fill color and line color I fixed it so the words would print black.

Now that my tag is made, I want the words and shape to be one image so I use the “group selected images” button that we discussed yesterday.

After that I’m going to copy and paste my image so I fill up a page. Now I’m ready to print.

Step 3: Print. I need to click on the “Registration Marks Settings” window and select “Show Reg Marks”. Make sure all your images are within the correct area (within red lines and reg marks).

Then go ahead and print using your regular printer. There’s a print button at the top left in the Silhouette toolbar.

Once you’ve printed, place your paper on your cutting mat and we are set to cut.

Step 4: Cut with the Silhouette. When you click on the “Send to Silhouette” button (the button right next to the print button), it will ask you a series of questions.

If you haven’t already printed, it will ask you to print. Since we’ve already printed, click skip printing. Load your mat into the Silhouette and click on “continue”.

Then you’ll see a page similar to below.

Click on “Detect automatically”. The Silhouette will now detect those registration marks that printed so it knows where to cut.

IMPORTANT: You must detect the registration marks EVERY TIME. Even though I’m printing multiple pages of this same thing, I need to detect EVERY TIME so the cut is exactly where I want it.

(Trust me, I’ve learned this from experience).

I have my settings set for Cardstock and was told the recommendations for my blade. Sometimes I use these recommendations and sometimes I tweak them a little.

ALWAYS DO A TEST CUT!!!

The settings given are general guidelines, but I’ve found that every machine is just a smidge different.

If it doesn’t cut through enough, increase the blade number. If it cuts through too much, decrease it. I usually only have to tweak it one number to get it right if it isn’t right already.

Once you’ve got your settings where you want, click “Cut Page”, and let the Silhouette work it’s magic.

Then it just a few seconds, you have your tags cut out!

Tie them up and your tag is done!

Please let me know if you have any questions!!!!

Come back tomorrow. Hint: remember how I told you I *might* be able to help you out with getting that Silhouette CAMEO you wanted for Christmas?

Silhouette Tutorial–Group & Ungroup Buttons

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Two of the tools I use quite frequently with my Silhouette are the group and ungroup buttons, located at the bottom left of the page.

To show how they work, I’m going to start with this keys image.

Let’s say I only want to use ONE of those keys, so I need to erase part of the image. The easiest and fastest way to do this is to use the ungroup selected shapes button.

Once you click on it, all the different shapes will be “ungrouped”.

Now I can go through and click and delete the parts I don’t want, until I'm left with the one key I liked.

See how even that one key is made up of a couple of shapes? I simply click on the “group selected shapes” button and now it’s back to one shape.

The “group selected shapes” button is also very useful when you have several parts of an image and need to resize the whole thing.

For example: let’s add some more to this key, like words and another image.

I need to resize this, but it would be a pain to size each shape individually, so I am going to select all (CTRL, A),

then hit the “group selected shapes” button to make everything one shape.

Nice feature, huh?

Try it out. I guarantee you will love it and find yourself using it all the time!

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Let’s Talk Images for the Silhouette–Theirs and Yours

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Welcome to Silhouette “How To” Week!

I am so glad you guys gave me input on what you wanted to learn about.

It helped me get a better idea of what to include in this “How To” week. In fact, I decided to kick off things by answering some of the questions many of you asked.

First of all, everything I am going to do is with the regular software that comes with your machine. If you haven’t installed it yet, it’s one of the CDs included in the box. Pop it in your computer and follow the prompts to get it installed.

Once it’s installed and you open it up, you’ll notice a little book button at the bottom of the side toolbar.

This is your library. Several images are already included with the software.

You can click on the mouse button just below the library button to be taken to Silhouette’s online store where you can purchase more shapes for only $0.99 each.

See the weekly clearance button? This is a page where you can get shapes for less than $0.99.

Then there is the FREE SHAPE OF THE WEEK. Make sure you click on that every week.

I subscribe to the Silhouette blog. They post the free shape every week, so it’s a good reminder for me to grab it. They also post tutorials and project ideas, so it’s a good blog to read anyway.

Another great way to save is by purchasing a subscription.

Some of you wanted to know about importing your own images.

Yes you can do that. So that’s the tutorial we are going to discuss today.

Step 1. Click on the rectangle box above your library button (picture of the book) to go to your drawing area.

Step 2. Open your image. File->Open, or you can click on the folder with an arrow at the top left of the toolbar.

In Files of type, click on the drop down menu and select All Files.

Then you should be able to see your image to open it. I’m going to be opening “Barbie”.

Click OK and it’s opened.

Step 3. Trace image to get cut lines. Click on the Trace menu button. It’s the square with blue in it at the top right of the toolbar.

Click on “select trace area”, then you will be prompted to draw a box around your image.

Notice that my image is now mostly yellow, but you can still see some black. Adjust your trace settings (high pass filter, low pass filter, threshold) until your image is yellow.

Then click “trace” and your cut line is set. If you ever want to check where your cut lines are, click on the scissors button, which is your cut style window.

Mine shows red lines on both the outer edge of my image as well as red lines on the inner part of the image. I don’t want it to cut on the inner part, so I’m going to undo the last couple of steps, then go back in the trace menu and click on “trace outer edge” only.

Now when I check my cut lines in the cut style window, I only see red lines on the outside of my image.

Which means I am set to cut. I can now adjust my image to the desired size and use it as I wish!

We’ll go over more about cutting and sizing later this week, but hopefully that gets you started on images.

Please let me know if you have any questions!!

Silhouette Tutorials Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Without a doubt, the #1 request I get for tutorials is for Silhouette ones.

I figured a lot of you may be getting one of these under your Christmas tree this weekend (and if you aren’t don’t worry, I *might* be able to help you out with that later next week).

So I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate a whole week to learning how to use one of these amazing machines.

Step-by step tutorials to get you comfortable using your Silhouette machine – whether it’s the CAMEO or the SD.

I’ve got a couple of things in mind already, but before I finalize the week I wanted to ask you guys if there was anything specific you would like to know how to do with the Silhouette?

Then just in case you can’t wait until Monday to start, here’s a tutorial learning how to print, cut, and design.

DIY ABC Magnets

Merry Christmas everyone and don’t forget to leave me your request for tutorials in the comments!

Tis the Season to Give: {Expressions Vinyl} ENDED

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:14:00 +0000

I’ve got a couple more fun giveaways to round up our “Tis the Season to Give” series of giveaways

(and trust me….you don’t want to miss the one I’ve got next week to wrap things up).

Today’s giveaway comes from Expressions Vinyl.

I mentioned yesterday in my Birth Stats Scoreboard that Expressions Vinyl is the best vinyl I have ever used by far!

It's easy to work with and stays in place. It's high quality without the big price tag. In fact, talking with several people who run vinyl businesses, they use Expressions Vinyl themselves.

Simply put….it’s the best vinyl for the money and is the ONLY vinyl I will buy!

Vinyl is one of my favorite supplies to craft with.

I’ve used it by itself:

As well as a stencil:

If you have your own cutting machine, like the Silhouette (SD or Cameo) or Cricut, Expressions Vinyl can cut the vinyl for you so it fits your machine. Awesome, right?!

You've got so many options with Expressions Vinyl, from indoor and outdoor vinyl to iron-on heat transfer andinkjet printable vinyl.

They've got TONS of different colors, so they are sure to have what you need.

Now for the giveaway part….

One of you lucky readers is going to win a $25 Gift Certificate from Expressions Vinyl!!!

To enter:

(Please leave a separate comment per entry)

* Like Expressions Vinyl on Facebook.

* Like Sew Dang Cute Crafts on Facebook.

* Sign up to receive Expressions Vinyl Coupons & Specials. (You’ll also get 10% off your order)

Giveaway runs until Wednesday, December 28th @ 8 pm MST.

**Note: Giveaways are possible on Sew Dang Cute Crafts because of my awesome readers/followers. Therefore, if you would like to be eligible to win, you must be a public follower of this site as well as have an email listed so I can contact you should you win.***

Thanks and good luck!

Birth Stats Scoreboard

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:01:00 +0000

One of the rooms I’ve been working on this year is my 2-year old son’s sports room.

I thought it would be fun to make a scoreboard to put up on the wall.

But this isn’t just any scoreboard. This one is a…

Birth Stats Scoreboard

My son was born at 1:02 p.m (so 13:02 military time) on June 14, 2009 (6-14-09).

I thought it would be a fun way to add a personal touch to the décor.

Plus it looks great in the room!

I started out with a large piece of cardboard (39”x 28”), some black butcher paper, Mod Podge, and spray adhesive (not pictured).

I used the spray adhesive to glue the paper to the cardboard, then clipped the corners like so.

Still working with the spray adhesive, I folded the excess paper over and glued it to the back, so I had the entire thing covered.

Since I wanted to be able to wipe off any dust this might collect hanging up on the wall, I covered the entire thing with a coat of Mod Podge to seal and protect it.

After that, I turned to my Silhouette and cut out all the vinyl.

The font for the numbers is Scoreboard.

I got my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl, which is hands-down the best place to get vinyl (both quality and price). It’s my absolute favorite and I don’t like to use any other kind of vinyl.

I tried frosted glass vinyl at first, but then you couldn’t really see the numbers.

(Plus this was a bad picture because it was a stormy day)

So I took the frosted vinyl off and replaced it with contact paper instead.

Much better!

Fun right?

Personally I love it!

It’s always fun when you picture something in your head and it turns out just how you wanted it!!!

2011 Christmas Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:18:00 +0000

The last few days have been interesting ones.

And when I say interesting, I mean “I never want to repeat them”.

My laundry machine has been constantly going, the Clorox wipes have been in constant use, I’ve shampooed my entire upstairs, mopped all my floors, etc.

There’s been a bug going around and my family caught it. Unfortunately, I also caught it. Yesterday was the worst of it. I couldn’t keep ANYTHING down. It was awful. I was dehydrated and lost 4 pounds in 12 hours.

Fortunately, it was only a 12-hour thing and I feel better today (as do my children)!

So I figured I’d better share this post before Christmas is over.

Every year I make/buy my kids Christmas ornaments.

It’s a tradition we did in my family growing up and I love seeing all the different ones over the years.

As soon as I saw these hand-stamped ornaments from Amy of Positively Splendid, I knew that was what I wanted to do for 2011.

Remember a Christmas craft I mentioned making with my SIL’s Nicole and Amanda? This is the craft we made, and here are each of my kiddos.

My girls:

My boys:

I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!

It’s going to be so fun to get these out each year in the future and see what my kids looked like and also what they wanted for Christmas at that age. This is seriously such a brilliant idea!!!

I used my Epic Letterpress from Lifestyle Crafts and the Nesting Frame 8 die for the metal part, then just used soda pop cans for the metal.

I love seeing my cute little angels on our tree.

Hope you guys are all enjoying your holiday season!

Countdown to 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:43:00 +0000

Lifestyle Crafts just released their newest line of cutting dies!

It’s called Countdown and is perfect for making those New Year’s Eve party decorations.

I received several of the dies and including the party hat and confetti in the first picture.

I also received this fun cupcake holder (pretend there’s a cupcake in it).

and I absolutely LOVE the Celebrate alphabet!

Go check out the rest of the dies in this line and make sure you use code SEWDANGCUTE to save yourself 20%!!!

Stenciled Table Runner with Martha Stewart stencils by Plaid: Guest Post {Nicole of Wannabe Crafty}

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

A little while ago, I received some fabulous Martha Stewart supplies from Plaid.

I was so excited to try them out.

I even had a couple of projects in mind.

However, I haven’t quite been able to get those done JUST YET.

Fortunately, I have a fabulous SIL who made a few things recently, so you could see how awesome these products are.

(Don’t worry, I still have my projects in mind and will get to them, hopefully sooner rather than later).

One project that Nicole made with the Martha Stewart glitter paint was my PB Knockoff Noel Wall Art. I love her turquoise version!!!

Here’s Nicole to share another project she made.

Hello all you Sew Dang Cute Crafts fans!! I'm Nicole from Wannabe Crafty! Wife, mother, triathlete, and DIY-er!

I am so happy to be here today sharing this gorgeous stenciled table runner!

Know how Tam said that her Christmas Advent Calendar just makes her happy when she sees it? That is this table runner for me! I LOVE IT!! This beauty adorns the console table in my foyer, where I needed a white table runner to go with my Christmas decor. I wanted a subtle silver sheen and a little red accent, and that is exactly what I got. I love the finished product even more than I ever imagined when I envisioned this project!

The table is right next to my husband's office so he walks by it several times a day. In the 24 hours since I finished this runner, he has made at least a dozen sincere compliments on it! Can I just tell you how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel inside to know that my very-supportive-but-non-craft-appreciator husband genuinely loves something I made?! Hehe!

Sewing the runner was pretty basic, and it's just white canvas material, so the thing that really MAKES this table runner and gives it that chic look is the stenciled design- it's the Moorish Circles stencil from Martha Stewart's new craft product line! When I was over at Tam's house earlier this week working on our Christmas Advent Calendars, she showed me her box of Martha Stewart supplies. I was already familiar with the new craft paints since I'd used them on my Turquoise NOEL Sign, but I was pretty excited to see all the stencils. I had never stenciled anything before (*gasp*, I know), so Tam kindly offered to let me borrow one. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it!

The whole project was SO easy and quick, thanks in large part to the MS stencil. First I grubbed through my fabric stash and found some white cotton, red cotton, and white canvas (left over from my Canvas Christmas Wreath, which will be posted on my blog later this week). I set the red aside to make the pleated trim later. I cut the white canvas and cotton to be the same size as each other (fyi, my finished runner measures about 9.5" wide by 58" long). I sewed the white fabrics RST, turned them RSO, and pressed the seams flat. If you are adding trim, DO NOT top stitch yet- that comes very last.

Also, my stencil design only runs down the center of my table runner and does not touch the edges. If you plan to stencil the entire fabric surface you should stencil it before sewing anything together. I sewed first because I wanted to be able to line my stencil up with the final edges of my table runner.

It's already time for the fun part- stenciling! You need:

Your partially sewn table runner

Martha Stewart stencil

Paint (I did not use fabric paint because I don't plan to wash the table runner)

Tape

A paper plate

A brush conducive to stenciling* (more on that in a second)

FIRST, line up your stencil and tape it down.

Get your paint (I mixed silver with white to get a really light silver, hence the cup in the photo). You have to use an UP AND DOWN MOTION WITH YOUR BRUSH when stenciling to avoid getting paint under the stencil. So whatever brush you think you can best do that with based on your experience, your paint, and the surface/material you are stenciling on. Martha Stewart also makes all kinds of brushes, but I didn't have an MS brush so I used an ordinary round artist brush. Also, it's important to DAB OFF NEARLY ALL THE PAINT onto your paper plate before painting on the table runner. This will also help prevent bleeding.

One section done! MS instructions say you do not need to wait for you paint to dry before removing the stencil, so I didn't (making the whole project quicker!).

Then you simply line your stencil up with the handy-dandy registration marks. You may need to wipe the paint off this section of the stencil to see correctly; MS makes a brush and stencil cleaning solution but a baby wipe worked for me. Wipe gently so you don't bend the thin stencil. The stencil is transparent enough to see through even with my light silver paint on white fabric. I had no trouble using the registration marks, and they worked perfectly- I'm the one who painted the table runner and even I have no idea where the "joints" are. Seriously, using this Martha Stewart stencil was a breeze, even for a stenciling-rookie like me.

Once you've finished stenciling your table runner, press the fabric ends under under, insert your trim and pin it in place (buy some trim or make your own like I did). Finally, top stitch the entire runner, securing the trim in position.

Voila!

I think the best kinds of DIY projects are the ones that are simple and fast to make, and look incredible when finished. This Stenciled Table Runner definitely fits that bill! I am so thrilled with everything about it, especially the moorish circles stenciled design. Thank you, Tam, for letting me borrow the stencil! I am sold on the Martha Stewart stencils and will for sure be using them on future projects (not limited to table runners). Though I will be making another stenciled table runner for year-round use. Hey, my husband even said he wants me to leave this one up all year, that's how much he likes it! The bright red doesn't match our normal decor, so... oh darn, I guess I'll just have to make another stenciled table runner ;) Which Martha Stewart stencil should I use for my next runner? Which one(s) are you going to use?

Thanks so much Nicole! I seriously love that girl (and her new runner)!!!

Afton Jean Charity Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Tam @ Sew Dang Cute) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:50:00 +0000

If you never read another post by me again, then please at least read this one.

I’m sure many of you have heard of Kami of No Biggie and about the recent loss of their sweet baby girl Afton Jean Bigler.

Afton was born at 26 weeks and lived for 7 days. Kami was so sweet to share the entire story on her blog.

I can’t even imagine what the Bigler family is going through right now.

All I know is I have wanted to help. I’ve been thinking for several weeks “what can I do?”

I finally came up with an idea and I need all of your help to make it happen.

Kami’s insurance isn’t going to cover all of the expenses, so I am hoping that we can all help out with those costs with a charity giveaway.

It involves 30 yards of Make Life fabric by Moda!!!

That’s about $300 worth of fabric.

I would like to raise money to give to the Bigler family.

If you would like to voluntarily contribute to this cause, you may do so by clicking on the donate button below.

Then please leave a comment on this post.

As a way of showing my appreciation, I am going to randomly select one of the commenters to give the 30 yards of Make Life fabric. You may leave a separate comment for every $1 donated to increase your chances of receiving this “THANK YOU GIFT”.

I’m going to leave this opportunity up for 10 days, so until Monday, December 19th @ 8 pm MST.

Now I’m going to plead with you.

Please share this giveaway with all of your friends and family.

Even if you don’t want fabric, this could be a great Christmas present to someone who does.

Let’s raise as much as we can to help the Bigler family in this difficult time.

Thank you so much!

Sew Dang Cute Crafts

Adding Even More Character To a Room With a Stencil

Paint: A Simple Way to Make a Big Difference in a Room

Jessica’s Room Makeover

Silhouette Tutorial: How to Cut and Apply Vinyl

And the Winner of the Cinnamon Roll Cookoff Is…

Window Treatment for Odd-Shaped Windows

For Those of You Using Express Scripts

My Quest for the BEST Cinnamon Rolls

24-Frame Photo Collage

"I Love You Because..." Wall

Using Your Silhouette to Make Stencils

My Resolutions–Please No Laughing or Judging

Top 10 in 2011

Silhouette Tutorial: Making T-Shirts with Fabric Ink

Then remember that you can get the fabric ink starter kit and the CAMEO for only

$299 with the same discount code DANGCUTE!!!

Silhouette CAMEO Giveaway **ENDED**

December 29 - January 5th, you can grab it and the CAMEO for only

$299 with code DANGCUTE!!!

Silhouette Tutorial: Print & Cut Feature

Silhouette Tutorial–Group & Ungroup Buttons

Let’s Talk Images for the Silhouette–Theirs and Yours

Silhouette Tutorials Anyone?

Tis the Season to Give: {Expressions Vinyl} ***ENDED***

I’ve got a couple more fun giveaways to round up our “Tis the Season to Give” series of giveaways

(and trust me….you don’t want to miss the one I’ve got next week to wrap things up).

Birth Stats Scoreboard

2011 Christmas Ornaments

Countdown to 2012

Stenciled Table Runner with Martha Stewart stencils by Plaid: Guest Post {Nicole of Wannabe Crafty}

Afton Jean Charity Giveaway

Silhouette CAMEO Giveaway ENDED

Tis the Season to Give: {Expressions Vinyl} ENDED