Deco Me Crazy : FABRIC tutorial

Okay, I have had so many people ask me how in the world to decoupage. And a couple of you asked what in the world decoupage was. Im here to tell you. Decoupage is one of the greatest craft inventions of all time. With a little bit of creativity, you can decoupage anything. You can transform a boring, outdated item into something funky and modern. And you will be able to say you did that. You made that. Not only that, its also fairly cheap. You can absolutely transform a cheap piece of furniture for way less than you realize. The above dresser took me about two hours, and cost less than 30 bucks. Of course it may be more if you don't have something to decoupage. I often go to yard sales to find things to decorate. One mans trash is always another mans treasure. This dresser was free. And im totally not ashamed that I picked it up from the side of the road.I saw its potential right away. Okay so lets get started shall we??....

Items we need:

*Mod Podge

 (you can find it at your local craft store, or even some walmarts)

*Cheap Sponge Paint brushes

*Your choice of fabric, or paper. Pictures would even work.

*Scissors

*The item you plan of decorating.

This is a close up of the mod podge.

Like I mentioned above, I am decorating my daughters dresser. Im doing a princess theme. In this tutorial we will be doing a dresser.

**I must mention...before you start to do anything to your piece, please remember to make sure its washed. If you use water, make sure the piece is dry before we continue.**

If you are decorating a big piece of furniture, I suggest pouring the mod podge onto the piece. If you are doing something small I would dip your paint brush into the mod podge instead. You don't want too much on your piece.

 

Then brush on like you are painting. You don't want your coat to be thin or too thick. But enough to have your fabric stick to it.

Here is what it looks like with the coat on it.

Next place your fabric on the wet mod podge. You don't want to take your time on this step because the mod podge dries rather quickly and then you would have done the above step for no reason. I do not like to pre-cut, but for those of  you that are perfectionists, you could away measure and precut for the size you need. After placing your fabric on the piece, use your hands to smooth out the fabric. I always smooth it out from the middle out with both hands. You want to make sure there are no bubbles, cause then it would look kind of weird. Make sure the fabric is tight and smooth.

. 

For those of you that measured and precut, the next step isn't really for you. For those of you that didn't precut, just cut the fabric wherever you want it to end. I wanted me fabric to end underneath the drawer. About four inches or so. 

After its as smooth as you can get it, and as tight as you can get it, pour or paint another coat of mod podge on top of the fabric. Let dry and then add another coat. I always add at least two coats, and sometimes I use three coats. Just depends.

Now I mod podge the bottom, top and sides of the drawer.

Just use the same steps as above for the sides of your project.

And let dry for at least an hour.

If you have holes that you need opened, like I have holes for the hardware that need to be opened, all I did was take a screw driver and poked it through the back a little to find it on the front, then took the screwdriver to the front and just basically shoved it through.

Then add your hardware. I actually bought new drawer pulls for this dresser, but you could always just paint the old pulls or just use the old pulls. For the dresser in my bedroom, I actually went to hobby lobby and got unfinished balls, and painted them and found screws that would fit in the holes and made new pulls  :D

So there you have it. All I did that I didnt show you was I painted everyone on the dresser except for the drawers white. Always do your painting BEFORE you start on your decoupage. Especially if you combine the paint and decoupage on the same piece.

 Please if anyone has any questions feel free to ask me!!

Cute Candle craft

So I ♥ to be crafty. And I decided to share with you one of my crafts that I did. I have been gathering things for a benefit yard sale that I am going to be throwing in the next couple weeks and one of the donations were these very boring glass cylinders. A lot of people use these for weddings, or just as candle holders. And I thought instead of trying to sell them as they were, I would decorate and sell them that way. I think they turned out super cute. I did two for fall, one for christmas, and then just one black, white and red. Now this is my first craft blog, so im not sure how this will turn out, but I hope you like it :D

Okay first you need to get your supplies. Here is a list.

*Scrapbook paper of your choice. You can use one kind, or several different kinds

*Scissors

*Hot glue, two sided tape, or just tape.

*Glass cylinder.

*Ribbon (in some of mine I used crafters rope)

I picked these two colors. One for the background color, and one for the accent color. 

I cut out a strip of the accent color to go on top of the main fabric.

I don't like to measure too much, so what I did was just lay the glass cylinder on top of the paper and cut at the bottom of the glass. This way the paper is the same lenth as the cylinder.

Now with this step you can use tape, two sided tape or hot glue. Remember tho if you use hot glue to never put the hot glue directly on the glass as it can break it. And if you have a hot glue gun that can be adjusted, make sure its not on the highest setting. I use tape. If you use tape its easier to change out paper. If you decide you want to do it over next year or something then it would be best to use tape. So I usually tape the middle first and then tape the sides.

Then bring the rest of the paper around and tape the paper closed. You should not be able to see any of the cylinder on the outside. I do like to often use hot glue for this step, that way the tape wont be visible to guests.

Next...do the same step with the middle piece. You don't have to use another piece, you can use another piece, and you can use several different pieces. Use your imagination on this part. 

Then use some ribbon to tie around. Again, you don't have to do this step, but I think it looks better. In a lot of mine I like to use the thin crafters rope and I think its super cute. Then what I do is I either put a large candle in the cylinder, or I put sand art sand in it and then place a candle on top. Remember with any candle to never walk away from a lit candle, and always make sure to keep an eye on your candle. When these candles are lit they are really nice. These would be great as gifts. You can make baby shower candles, you can make bathroom candles. The possiblities are endless.

Im sorry if this blog isnt great in explaining, and kind of scattered, but this is my first  crafters blog so im still learning. If you have questions please let me know!!