Octavia Frosted Winter Cushion Tutorial Part 1

Crikey get me posting two days in a row! As promised I'm back with a tutorial to make the cushion I showed you yesterday. I've decided to break the tutorial down into three parts due to the fact that it's quite a big project and I want to be able to give lots of hints and tips along the way. In addition I upgraded to Windows 10 and it has caused a problem with my printer which has delayed this tutorial slightly.

I've listed everything below that you need for the project, but the important things are obviously the CD or Digital Download, Reynolds Freezer Paper, Plain Fabric (I used cheap polycotton curtain lining), Bonda Web and a sewing machine or needle and thread. If you can't get the Freezer Paper you can substitute it with low tack spray glue and card but I found this didn't work as well for me. You could also use the pre prepared fabric sheets that can be bought easily online, although that would not be a cheap option.

Firstly cut a sheet of freezer paper to your required size (my printer takes A3 paper so I used that but if your printer can only do A4 that will be fine too, you'll just have to join your fabric or make a different shaped cushion).

Next take the curtain lining and press it flat, then cut so that it slightly overhangs the freezer paper. With the shiny plastic coated side of the paper facing upwards, lay the fabric over the paper and then starting from the centre of the fabric carefully rub the iron over the entire area. The fabric and paper should now be lightly bonded.

Next trim the fabric down to your paper size. I used a guillotine as it gives a nice neat edge with no frayed bits. If after trimming the fabric you have a problem with the fabric curling away on the corner re-iron that area and allow to cool. Alternatively you can use a very small piece of tape, but be aware that this area will not have any print.

It is important that there are no raggy edges as they will most likely snag in your printer. You are now ready to print onto your fabric. Place the fabric into the manual feed slot of your printer and then press print. Your print settings should be as shown in the picture below.

Once the fabric has printed you can carefully remove the paper and put it to oneside to use for the next panel (I used a single piece of freezer paper for 5 panels of fabric). Gently iron the printed fabric and then repeat the above process to create as many sheets as you need.

If you notice black smudges on the edges of your fabric, don't panic! Most of them will be removed when you cut the cushion to size and if you should happen to have any left they can easily be hidden with a bit of acrylic paint or some careful placement of lace or ribbon! We'll cover that in more depth if need in part three of this tutorial.

Hopefully I've not put you off and you'll join me for part 2 of this project where we will print and prepare the images and embellishments.

If you have any questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

I wanna tell ya a story........

So grab a coffee and settle in for a long post!!! It's time for another challenge over at Stampotique and this week we're challenging you to use Mustard, Orange & Navy. Yep I groaned too, but I actually think the combo works really well even if it did have me ripping my hair out wondering what on earth to do!

It would've been oh so simple had I planned ahead and used the C&S card that I made for CASual Friday's the other week, but oh no little Miss Disorganised merrily created a card for that challenge and blogged without even looking at the forth-coming challenges for Stampotique!!! Eeek lesson learned!

Then I made the fatal mistake of catching a glimpse of what the other girls had done and full scale panic set in (Pop over to them to have a look and you'll see what I mean!). So I gave myself a slap and tried to focus on the project for several days in a row and....... Nothing!! Dontcha just hate it when that happens??

Then, just when I'd given up all hope I spotted a picture several times on various  Pinterest board's for a salt scrub which I thought would make pretty nice Christmas gifts for my girlfriends. This then led to much googling of various homemade scrub and beauty recipes (I know you're wondering where this is going, but hang in there with me!?) and eventually I hit upon a brown sugar and honey one which immediately sparked an idea for this project! So there you have it the secret to my creative thought processes - just genius huh? Rofl! :D

Anyway, this is what I've eventually come up with, not fantastic, but it fits the challenge! I hope you'll be kind after all my pain - lol!

I started off by sterilising an empty screw lid jar and ensuring that all of the adhesive used to hold the label on with had been removed. The scrub was then made up loosely based upon this recipe (I made a larger quantity, and used olive oil and some almond and orange extract for fragrance and adjusted the texture of the scrub by adding a little more sugar). Once the mix had been placed into the jar and I'd made sure that the lid was on firmly (believe me this is essential!!!) the jar was cleaned up with an acetone nail polish remover to get rid of every last trace of oil.

I then inked some cardstock with Distress Ink and scanned the background into my computer before using the Freezer Paper Technique to print it onto some fabic. A single flower from Daisy Daisy was then stamped randomly over the fabric before ironing to set the inks. I used a cereal bowl as a template to cut the fabric into a circle. The edges were lightly frayed (if you don't want the edges to fray at all, simply run some PVA around the edge before cutting.

Next I stamped Big Bee several times onto some white shrink plastic, coloured with pencils. Once shrunk I added Glossy Accents to the bodies and Stickles to the wings. These were attached either end of some jute twine which I then used to secure the fabric jar cover.

I didn't want to waste the inky background paper that I'd made to create the fabric with, so I made a tag card with my Sizzix Tag Die. To create a little more interest, I sponged Distress Inks through a piece of sequin waste and knocked back the colour in places by dry brushing with Gesso. I then used some navy paint on the end of a paint brush to add more interest.

The word BEE was created from some old paper scrabble tiles that I've had kicking around in my stash for ages - they've simply been inked and then punched with a circle punch, before being given a layer of Glossy Accents. I then used some blue ink to stamp the Grass before attaching more of the shrink plastic bees.

Well I think that's about it, well done if you managed to stay with me - told ya it was an epic post!!! Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Recycle It

Altered Body Butter Tub & Some Studio 12 Candy

Good morning. I've got an altered project to show you today using an empty body butter container, some paint and the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD. I hope you like it! Oh and I whilst I'm here, don't forget to hop on over to the Studio 12 blog as I believe there may well be candy ;D Also, a quick heads up for those of you who asked me to let you know when Studio 12/ Polka Doodles are appearing on Create & Craft - well it's Tuesday 3/7 at 8am and 2pm.

Anyway, this supposed to be a short post, so onto my container......

I started out by using the freezer paper technique to print out the Polka Dot Rose Paper from the Welcome Home Kit onto some fabric. I then used the fabric to create the pin cushion lid. The tub was painted with Gesso, crackle medium and acrylic paints. I printed of several elements from the All Sewn Up collection onto tissue paper and then decoupaged them onto the tub. To finish I added a pearl bead string from my stash.

I'm going to use this pot for my fancy hat pins that were given to me by the lovely Clare and the mini buttons that I seem to have an increasing collection of!

That's it for me today. I hope you all have a fab Sunday (hopefully I'm en-route to The Craft Barn if the scheduling widget has worked).

Thanks for stopping by

Claire x

I'd like to enter this tub into the following challenges:
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything goes
Creative Belli - Anything but a card
Whimsy Stamps Challenge - Anything but square
Love To Create - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Depths of Distress

Well that was short 'n' sweet!

Well did you tune into Create & Craft at midday today to see the release of the new Studio 12 Picknix Collection 1 CD? If so you'll have seen that 80% of the stock went in the first 15 minutes and was a complete sell out before the end of the show! Unfortunately that meant very few of the samples got shown (and looking at the first camera pan round there were some crackers) but worse still hardly any of the collections on the disc got shown! You can watch the show here to get an idea of what I'm talking about!

However, there is some good news, you can buy the download version from here.

Anyway, here's one of mine that I spotted on display. I'll show the rest of them as and when I get time to write up the blog posts, although I might just cop out and pop some photo's on :/

This was a really quick and easy card that was created in Craft Artist Professional and then printed out onto fabric using the freezer paper technique. I simply dropped one of the backing papers onto the template, added the cross stitched heart, placed the word art sentiment onto blank area of my template and hit print. I then cut out the sentiment and frayed out the edges, trimmed around the main image and adhered it to a piece of card before mounting onto the card blank. To finish I added some Glossy Accents to the needle, faux stitching around the edge and some buttons.

I have to say I honestly think this one of the best collections that Polka Doodles have released - I pulled together a few samples, but have had to grab a note book to jot down my other ones! If you happen to buy it, please let me know so that I can stop by your blog and see what you've created with it.

Well that's it from me - I'm off out for a walk whilst the sun is shining (before it gets dark/rains), just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get blown away! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Frosted Designs - Stitching
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts - Doodle On It
By The Cute & Girly - Cute as a button
Tando Creative - Fabric
Can You Digi It - Buttons
Digital Tuesday - Anything goes
LEJ Designs - Button It