Screen Printing Workshop

a little while ago some friends and myself gathered at the beautiful shop of Tea With Gladys for a crafty morning. we learned how to screen print in a simple and effective way, a technique we would be able to do ourselves at home too. Darcy, my friend and owner of Tea With Gladys, was our darling host and she did such a great job. because of the drying process that takes a while, we started off with drawing our designs on the silk screen right away. then we used mod podge to black out the areas we didn't want printed. while our designs were drying we enjoyed tea, delicious cupcakes and of course admired the beautiful items in this pretty shop full of candy vintage colours, pretty prints and handmade items.

after the mod podge dried, the fun part started: the actual printing. we used fabric paint and plastic cards to swipe the paint through the silk screen and onto our muslin bags. I did a few roses, there was a deer, dragon fly, beautiful bow, a puppy, sunshine, hearts, a cameo... we really got creative and couldn't stop printing our designs onto bags and tea towels. what fun we had! we got to take our own designs home, for later use. now to find time to do some more printing. if you got the creative printing itch too and would like to use this easy and effective technique at home, just google 'screen printing embroidery hoop' and you'll get enough tips and videos to get going.

enjoy!

Crochet Class

today I was invited to give a crochet class to four wonderful ladies. they were so enthusiastic, so motivated, and so good at it, the afternoon flew by in a second! I prepared basic stitch swatches of single, double and half double crochet as examples. they each got a little write up of the stitches and the crochet heart pattern, with a finished heart I made for them. I took some of my favorite books with interesting projects, some examples of my crochet work and different types of yarn and hooks. we made plans to meet up again soon, and I can't wait to go on with granny squares and round shaped coasters and other items!

no such thing as sharing a craft, a passion and a wonderful afternoon in good company ~ thank  you ladies

Burlap Crafts

in the craft group this week

we worked with burlap

instead of sitting around the table, we worked in the garage, on the ground, with scissors, paint and tape

and we had a wonderful time doing that

again thank you so much for all your ideas, they were very helpful and inspirational !

in no time the ladies came up with the most beautiful things

taking out a few threads in a row leaves a nice gap structure

cutting off the corners of the burlap bag, using them inside out results in great little baskets

and acrylic paint on burlap turns out to be working great

don't the table runner for the outside table in the garden, and the little May baskets look fabulous ?

as for myself, I tried stamping with a round sponge, but that did not turn out quite as good I had hoped

I guess the stamping surface should be more flat, since the burlap itself is already uneven

directly painting onto the burlap however, turns out perfectly

and together with some regular painter's tape, you can create the most fantastic patterns

this was a great first meeting with burlap, at least for me it was a first

and it leaves me with a nice chevron pattern, that I have to find a purpose for now

~

to thank you for all the great ideas that inspired us this week

I would love to send out a burlap bag to you

to be specific, I would love to send out a bag to Tereza

she enthusiastically wrote about her project of burlap and screen printing it, 

which got us to the idea of painting the bags

and just because I feel like it, I am going to send out two more !

I would also love to send out a bag to

 Janina because she made the effort to write down a cute idea she came up with herself

and Barbara because she gave us ideas in her comment, and sent pictures afterwards to illustrate the ideas

thank you all ladies!

please send me an e-mail with your address and the bag of your preference, so I can send them out to you

something else that's going on here this week, has to do with a beautiful scarf...

more about that very soon !

Burlap Crafts

the craft group comes together every other week

last week, one of the ladies came across an ad for burlap's

I never heard of that word, in case you haven't too, they are coffee bags

in preparation for next week's craft group, I picked them up yesterday

and I invite you to have a look at these pretties ...

I love their rough look, natural colors and nice prints

they do remind me of the Dutch post bags, but the burlap's are much more open-woven

the question is

what to make with them ?

I actually hope you will come up with some great ideas ...

outdoor cushion covers I heard someone say

bunting for a Summer garden party I thought

but I am sure you have other beautiful and inventive ideas

~

in the mean time they make a perfect subject for my pictures

the camera and I, we love these bags

they are the perfect subject for one of my favorites : contrasts of rough and delicate items, tulips in this case

perfect, right ?!

but I am absolutely serious about the request for craft ideas

if you like the bags, and leave a great idea in a comment to this post between today and the end of April

I might send you a bag

how is that ?

Pompom DIY

pom pom pomperdy pom

in craft group yesterday we made pompom's

little effort, big results and fun

we used all kinds of colored tissue paper

and followed this easy photo how-to from Martha Stewart

the tutorial prescribes rectangular sheets, which results in more round shaped pompoms than square sheets

around 7 sheets per pompom worked really well for us

the round roses out of a thicker paper are fun to make too

fold a rectangular sheet of sturdy paper like an accordion,

open them and set them in a circle with double sided tape

if you add strings to the pompoms and circles, they would look really nice hanging above a party table

~

do you remember the beautiful mobile I found in Chicago a few months ago?

well, I finally took a moment to put it together and hang it above the table in my craft room

two white tissue paper pompoms, two smaller white and blue striped ones

and the mobile, all attached with washi tape to the lamp

I love to look at them, slowly moving, overlooking the maple tree in our garden that currently is in full bloom

now this is Happy Spring !