Stenciling » DIY Inspired
04th Dec2012

Stenciled School Spirit Shirts

by Dinah Wulf

Apply here payday loans

If you know a child in elementary school you can probably relate to this post.  As you know, buying clothes provided by the school can get quite expensive. Being the budget conscious crafty mama that I am, I decided to help my best friend find a DIY alternative to these pricey shirts and made our own Stenciled School Spirit Shirts.  I love stenciling projects and have done quite a few.

I decided to make some custom stencils for this project with the school name, the mascot, and the girl’s names. My trusted go to is Stencils Online.  I have used them for most of the stencil projects that I have done on this blog because their product lasts over-time, they are easy to store, and also very easy to clean.

Here are the materials you will need:

  • Clothing items
  • Fabric craft paint
  • Spouncers
  • Paper plate
  • Custom stencils
  • Paper towels
  • Cardboard
New here?:Enter your email address!

The first thing I did was design my stencils at Stencils Online custom stencil design studio.  I have to tell you that these stencils were so much fun to make.  You can choose from a variety of fonts, sizes, and even shapes.  The shirts we were making are for a 5 year old so the five inch size was the perfect size to fit across the chest or back of a t-shirt. I designed my words, ordered them and they arrived at my front door in no time.

***DIY Inspired Reader Exclusive!  If you would like to try the Stencils Online custom stencil design studio, enter the code “DIY15″ to receive 15% off of your order!  This will be good through January 4, 2012.***

To start the project, I find it best to iron the article of clothing using a little bit of spray starch. This is an optional step.   It doesn’t have to be perfect, but the stencils and paint will apply very nicely if ironed first.  We placed a piece of cardboard under the shirt, if the shirt had buttons to ensure a flat stenciling surface.

Next, place your stencil on the desired area. Saturate the spouncer with craft paint, and dab the excess onto the plate before stenciling the shirt.  Stencil the word onto the shirt by using a straight up and down motion holding the stencil in place with the other hand.

Allow your shirts to dry completely (approximately 15 minutes).

We decided that we wanted to add the school mascot to the shirts.  We created our own stencil by recycling a plastic container, finding an image on Google images, tracing it, and using an exact-o knife to cut it out.

Here are some after photos with our lovely model, Tiffany!

Follow Stencils Online on Facebook!

 

 

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts, Kid Stuff, Kids Craft Ideas
Tags : , , ,
2 Comm
14th Nov2012

Recycled T Shirt Bunting

by Dinah Wulf

I wanted to spruce up my mantle for the holidays so I decided to make a Thanksgiving banner.  Naturally, I wanted to use recycled materials so I found an old wrinkled cotton T shirt in my husband’s side of the closet (my side is neat and tidy of course!).  There was a huge stain on the front right on the chest so this was perfect for my recycled T shirt bunting.

Here are the materials you will need:

  • Old clothing item
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Paper (to make your flag pattern)
  • Iron
  • Spray starch
  • Fabric paint
  • Spouncer
  • Stencils
  • Ribbon or rope
  • Hot glue

Instructions:

Step One: Grab and old T shirt or any other piece of clothing.  Feel free to play with colors and textures.

Step Two: Make your flag pattern.  I used a piece of cardstock (8”X6”).  It’s easiest to start with a rectangle, measure the center of one end, and draw a diagonal line from one corner to the center mark for both sides and cut.

Step Three: Cut out your flags.  I chose to spell out “Give Thanks”.

Step Four: Lay out your flags to iron and spray it with starch.

Step Five: Iron your flags.

Step Six: Stencil your letters using a spouncer.  I chose green my favorite color!  Check out my stenciling tips I from my stenciled place mat project. You can purchase these stencils online.

Step Seven: Allow your letters to dry and then hot glue each flag to your rope.  I bought 3 yards of rope they had on sale for the holidays and cut it in half.  It was perfect for my recycled T shirt banner!

Here are some AFTER photos.

I took these during the day…

 

Have you signed up for my emails?  I’d love it if you did! :)

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts, Holidays, Trash To Treasure
Tags : , , , , , , , , ,
3 Comm
13th Nov2012

Shoe Box Lid Clock

by Dinah Wulf

I recently painted my guest room and I wanted to add some DIY wall art so I decided to recycle some shoe boxes and make shoe box lid wall art instead of buying paint canvases from the craft store.  For one of them, I thought I’d turn into a clock using a clock kit from a craft store.   You can turn practically anything into a clock!  Consider using other recycled items like books or paintings.  Here is how I made a shoe box lid clock.

Here is what you’ll need:

  • Shoe box lid
  • Craft Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Stencils
  • Spouncers (sponge stencil brush)
  • Clock Kit
  • Drill

I started off by choosing my color pallet and laying out my shoe box lid and painted it with two coats.  Allow it to dry in between coats.  It dries fairly quickly (approximately 15 minutes).  Using stencils and spouncers, I added my design by carefully saturating the tip of the brush, removing some excess, and stamping the paint down onto the stencil in an up and down motion.  This helps prevent bleeding.  Allow the box to dry in between stencils if you are using more than one.

Next, drill a hole into that area you want your center of your clock to be.  Follow the directions on your clock kit.  Typically you put the hour hand first, the minute hand second, and the second hand last. Add a battery.   Viola!  There you have it!

I ended up hanging my shoe box lid clock with a thumbtack among other lids that I painted.  You can add rubber putty at the tip of your thumbtack to prevent slipping.

Here are some more after photos.

 

Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurner

 

 

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts, DIY Artwork, Trash To Treasure
Tags : , , , ,
3 Comm
05th Nov2012

Shoe Box Lid Wall Art

by Dinah Wulf

I’ve said it a hundred times and I’ll say it again!  I’m cheap!  Let me add to that; I may have an acute hoarding problem as well.  Wait. Is “acute hoarding” and oxymoron?   Anyway, I recently painted my guest room and I wanted to add some DIY wall art so I decided to recycled some shoe boxes and make shoe box lid wall art instead of buying paint canvases from the craft store.  They turned out great, I must say!

Here is what you’ll need:

  • Shoe box lids (Papa sized, Mama sized, and Baby sized)
  • Craft Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Stencils
  • Spouncers (sponge stencil brush)

I started off by choosing my color pallet and laying out my shoe box lids in the arrangement I wanted to hang them.  Next I painted each box lid a different color.  I used two coats for each.  Using stencils and spouncers, I added my design by carefully saturating the tip of the brush, removing some excess, and stamping the paint down onto the stencil in an up and down motion.  This helps prevent bleeding.  Allow each box to dry in between stencils.

I ended up hanging each lid with a thumbtack.  You can add rubber putty at the tip of your thumbtack to prevent slipping.  For one of my paintings I added a clock (I’ll show you that tutorial later).

Here are some more after photos.

Tip:  I have used many different brands of craft paint in my day and I have to say that the easiest and best to work with is Martha Stewart’s craft paint.  It goes on like butter!  For these I used the satin finish… oh and I used her stencils too!

Here are some more fun trash to treasure ideas and tutorials!

Subscribe to my emails! I’d love it if you did! :)

Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts, DIY Artwork, Trash To Treasure
Tags : , , , , , , ,
7 Comm
11th Sep2012

DIY Recycled Jar Tea Light

by Dinah Wulf

I’m pretty sure I save every single jar after it’s empty.  Pickle, spaghetti sauce, salsa… I don’t discriminate.  The Mason jar is beautiful but I think it gets too much credit (don’t get me wrong, I’ve done several Mason jar crafts in the past and I still LOVE them).  For this DIY Recycled Jar Tea Light, I decided to use a pickled beet jar.  Yes, I eat pickled beets…yum!!!

Materials:

  • Jar
  • Burlap scraps
  • Scissors
  • Wire or a wire coat hanger (I used 20 gauge because it’s easy to work with)
  • Spouncer
  • Craft paint in the color of your choice
  • Stencil of your choice
  • Wire cutter
  • Pliers
  • Hot glue
  • Tea Light

First, cut your burlap so that it fits nicely around your jar.  Next, stencil your burlap and set aside.  Wrap your wire around the mouth of the jar several (4-5) times depending on the desired thickness.  Cut another piece of wire for the handle wrapping each end securely around your wire circle as shown.  Place the wire circle with handle around the mouth of the jar.  Locate the ends of the wire circle and pull taught.  Pliers may help.  You may have to massage the circle accordingly.  Tuck in the ends of the wire.  Finally, hot glue the burlap around your jar and insert and light your tea light.

I thought six of these spelling out “boo” and “eek” would be really cute on the mantel for Halloween.  Hope you try it out!

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts, Holidays, Special Occasions, Trash To Treasure
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6 Comm
09th Jul2012

Stenciled Butterfly Wall Art

by Dinah Wulf

Recently, I wrote a post on DIY Butterfly Wall Art from items I found in my craft closet.  With my daughter’s garden themed birthday party coming up, I decided to make another craft scrap art piece.  I wanted to use it as part of the decorations at her birthday party, as well as hang it in her room after.

Once again, I didn’t have to buy anything new.  I had every item already sitting in my craft closet.  I even had another ugly painting that I inherited when my husband and I moved in together.  If you don’t have an old ugly painting, blank canvases can be purchased at any craft store.  Also consider going to a thrift store and recycle an old one.  It may even come with a frame you can reuse.

Here is what I used for my Stenciled Butterfly Wall Art project.

  • Old painting or canvas
  • Burlap
  • Staple gun and staples
  • Craft paint
  • Spouncer
  • Stencils
  • Paper plate
  • Glue gun and glue sticks
  • Craft Butterflies

I started off by covering the painting with burlap that I had from my Stenciled Burlap Placemat project by attaching it with a staple gun.  Make sure you pull the fabric taught as you staple it.  Next, I laid out my stencils and butterflies in the order I wanted them placed on the canvas and took a digital photo of it.

I stenciled my daughter’s name on the bottom right and stenciled a butterfly in the center.  Check out my Stenciled Burlap Placemat project for stenciling tips and tricks.  Next, referring back to my digital photo, I hot glued each butterfly onto the canvas.

Both quickly and easily I have a unique and personalized party and room decoration that didn’t cost me a dime!!

 

Have you signed up for my emails? I’d love it if you did! :)

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Pass it on!
Category : DIY Artwork, Kid Stuff
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , ,
8 Comm
11th Apr2012

Burlap Stenciled Placemats

by Dinah Wulf

I love the rustic look of burlap and I wanted to try and make my own placemats. I decided to make them more unique by stenciling them.

I got these beautiful stencils from iStencils. They have a full unique line of stencils for walls, clothing, airbrushing, and just about any kind of craft. I originally thought about creating a custom made stencil and found that Stencils Online can do that by simply providing the art work.  They will even make custom stencil quotes that are perfect for painting on walls. Ultimately I decided to go with the alphabet letter stencils.  There were SO many fonts and styles available to choose from and finally I settled on 3 inch upper case industrial letters for this DIY project.

Here is how I made my Burlap Stenciled Placemats. I will share some burlap and stenciling tips along the way.

I purchased my burlap at a fabric store for $3.99 a yard, and of course I had the 40% off coupon.

An average placemat is 18.5” by 12.5”.

I found it easiest to use an existing placemat as a guide to cut your burlap BEFORE you wash or clean it.

Burlap Tip #1 Washing: I recommend hand washing burlap instead of machine washing.  You can machine wash it in COLD, however be prepared for a messy lint trap and a lot of fraying. More on cleaning burlap to come…

Cut out the desired amount of placemats.  It’s OK to cut two placemats at a time.

Burlap Tip #2 Fraying: Use a liquid seam sealant like, Fray Check to stop the burlap from fraying.  Protect your work surface with cardboard and keep the sealant out of reach from children.  Allow it to dry completely (about 30 minutes).

Burlap Tip #3 Wrinkles: Next, using spray starch iron the wrinkles out of your burlap placemat.  I used a linen (high) setting and it worked nicely.

Now, leaving the cardboard to protect your surface, you are ready to start stenciling.

Stenciling Tip #1 Brushes: Different paint brushes work; however I highly recommend using a spouncer, especially for this project.  It looks like this.

I am using acrylic craft paint for this project.

Stenciling Tip #2 Paint: For small craft projects like this, the less paint you use, the better.  Apply two light coats (in general) to maintain clean lines. Also consider using tape or another adhesive to help keep your stencil in place. I personally didn’t use any because the iStencil I have was easy to control.

In an up and down dabbing motion, gently  but firmly apply the paint.  One coat works perfectly for this project.

I am stenciling words, so started with the last letter in each word first on the bottom right hand corner of my placemat.  The iStencil makes it so easy to align each word.  Allow these letters to dry (ten minutes-ish).

 

Stenciling Tip #3 Cleaning: In the meantime, make sure you wash your used stencils with a gentle soap and water and allow it to dry flat.

Burlap Tip #4: Take these placemats outside and give them a shake!  Shake off the excess burlap debris.  Trust me, you’ll thank me later…

Here are a few AFTER photos of my Burlap Stenciled Placemats.

 

 

Have you signed up for my emails? I’d love it if you did! :)

Enter your email address:Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Pass it on!
Category : Crafts
Tags : , , , , ,
29 Comm
14th Mar2012

Antique Chair Update

by Dinah Wulf

My taste is very eclectic.  There are several reasons why I can appreciate so many different styles.  I inherited this antique corner chair.  When I first got it, my mind went racing with different colors and upholsteries. BUT after some research, I found out that this chair may actually be worth something.  I didn’t want to jeopardize its integrity by permanently altering it…just in case. I liked the chair, but I wanted to update it a little.   So when I came across Simply Spray fabric paint.  I knew what to do for this antique chair update.

I used lettered stencils and numbered stickers for my design.  (By the way, the year I chose was COMPLETELY random). After ironing my fabric, I taped the lettered stencils onto the fabric with craft tape.  For the numbers, I used the outline of each sticker versus the actual number for stenciling purposes.  THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA EVER! It made spray painting SO easy.

Next, I taped off the rest of the fabric that I did not want spray painted.

In a well-ventilated area I followed the directions on the Simply Spray paint can, and sprayed one coat of paint.

Next, because I was using stencils, I dabbed the top with a paper towel.

When my paint was dry, I used a staple gun to attach my newly painted fabric onto the seat.  I kept the original upholstery so I did not ruin the chair.  I loved how it turned out.  Here are some after pictures.

 

Pass it on!
Category : DIY Furniture
Tags : , , ,
22 Comm
20th Jun2011

How to Paint a Dresser

by Dinah Wulf

How to Paint a Dresser

I salvaged this chest of drawers when one of my best friends moved (AKA: It was free!!).  Although it was already beautifully hand painted, it wasn’t my style. I decided to repaint it using a wall stencil in the same color as my wall DIY sconce project and my envelope pillows.  I’m not going to lie; it was quite taxing because of the several coats of primer and paint.  Needless to say, it took several days to paint but I’m happy with the finished DIY product. Here are the steps on how to paint a dresser. Here is the before and after:

I did not need to sand this dresser because the surface was already smooth.  I did, however need to apply two coats of primer, since the existing artwork was so dark in color.

I painted two coats of the base color next and then I used a wall stencil for the design.  On a side note, smaller stencils will make your project much easier! Make sure the paint is completely dry in between each coat.

When stenciling the drawer with the accent paint color, make sure the stencil is flat. Keep adding coats until you reach the desired color.

For the final touch, I purchased blue ceramic knobs at Habitat for Humanity Restore for only 25 cents each! Habitat for Humanity Restore has everything you need for DIY any project.

Tip: A sample size of paint is plenty for this project.  You can find sample sizes at a discount (50 cents to $1) at Lowes “Oops Table” or at Habitat for Humanity Restore. Another inexpensive option is to use spray paint.

 

 

Pass it on!
Category : DIY Furniture
Tags : , ,
2 Comm