How To Make A Stenciled Burlap Canvas & A Fun Event!

Before I get to the Stenciled Burlap Canvas, 

there's a very special event coming up this Sunday, February 16th from 1-4 pm.

It's the Michaels - Hometalk Pinterest Party at all Michaels stores across the US and Canada.

There will be featured bloggers at select locations HERE

I will be at the Michaels Store in South Charlotte at 7836 Rea Rd in the Stonecrest shopping center and I hope you will join me!

Check out the Pinterest inspired displays at your local Michaels store, buy your supplies, and meet us in the classroom to create your own pin-worthy project.

I'm sure y'all know about Michaels Stores, but do you know about Hometalk??? Hometalk is a home and garden social network. You can get inspired by wonderful projects, post your own project or ask a question and you don't have to have a blog. You have your own page and you can interact with others.

There's a giveaway at the event on Sunday too!

Follow Michaels on Hometalk to enter to win a $100 Michaels gift card!

Five winners will be announced on Hometalk's Facebook page on February 17th after the party. 

 Now here's the "How To"

I spent a couple of hours in Michaels picking out my supplies. 

Don't know about you, but I can't help picking up a few things whenever I'm there. 

Ribbons, markers and cake supplies are my downfall. Come to think of it, I like the aisle with the craft punches and stamps too. Here are a few things I picked up for the crafts I made.

The first project I made was super easy and is one that anyone can make. Michael's makes it really easy with their stretched burlap canvases. They are available in an array of different sizes. The one I picked had 3 canvases, so I made two and will demonstrate one on Sunday.

The first thing I did was to do a mock up of where I wanted the flowers to go. I used a Martha Stewart stencil and some cardstock. After stenciling, I cut out the flowers and placed them where I wanted them to go on the burlap canvas.

There wasn't a stem in the stencil kit, so I made my own using a piece of cardstock and some tape.

I removed the first mock up flower and taped down the stencil where I wanted it to go. Notice I taped all around the stencil so I wouldn't paint through the other flower stencils.

I'm not really proficient at stenciling, but I did figure out that paint on the foam dauber needed to be blotted on some paper before putting it to the stencil. 

Practice makes more perfect  applies in stenciling.

After painting the 3 flowers and stems and letting it dry, I cut 40" of ribbon. The actual color is closer to Radiant Orchid, which is Pantone's color of the year for 2014.

I tied a knot in the center of the cut ribbon, then tied a bow.

The bow has to be tied tightly.

Once the bow was tied, I hot glued the end to the back at the top corners of the canvas.

Voila! The finished project! The whole craft should take you 30 minutes or less.

Here's a list of the supplies I used for this project:
1 artists burlap canvas
Martha Stewart stencil
cellophane tape
wide satin ribbon
glue gun and stick
white craft paint
small foam paint daubers

Tomorrow I will show you how I made the super simple ampersand  sign on another burlap canvas. I'm sure you can guess, but just humor me!

Here's the classroom at the Michaels in Stonecrest. 

Isn't it cute???

I hope ya'll will come out and see me at Michaels on Sunday from 1 to 4. 

If you can't visit me in Charlotte, be sure to visit the Michaels store near you. 

You can see how I made the ampersand on the burlap canvas HERE

Pam

Disclosure: I've partnered with Hometalk and Michaels for this event, but the opinions and love for crafting are all mine!

joining: 

Savvy Southern Style

Jute Covered Vase

How many times have you pinned a project on Pinterest and it just keeps calling you to make it? 

 The project looked simple enough, and I thought I'd give it a try. Here's the photo I pinned:

teachcraftlove.blogspot.com

All you need is some 4 ply jute string, an inexpensive glass vase and hot glue. You can find these glass vases at a thrift store for a buck or two.I found the jute string at Hobby Lobby.

It took me a little more than an hour to glue the jute string on the vase. I only burned myself a few times, but no blisters : )  

I had a hot glue epiphany while doing the project, though...

I learned that it's better if the glue isn't super hot because if it's a little cool the glue is easier to manage and doesn't get all over the place. Plus, you don't get burned (as much)! I just unplugged the glue gun if the glue got too hot and then plugged it back in when the glue was difficult to squeeze out.

 Remember that for your next project and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble.

Here's my finished project.

The jute wrapped vase goes great in a coastal themed room; here it is in our daughter's bookcases.

You can find the original post for this project HERE.

Pam

Pinterest...Another Reason To Watermark Your Photos.

Hey everyone! Happy Friday to you!

Gonna rant today, but it's for your own good and could affect traffic to your blog and even get you more followers, so read on!

I'm not a photographer and my photos aren't on the professional level, but I now watermark my photos put up on my blog. As always, there are a few exceptions~ I don't watermark my boring tutorial photos.

I don't mind people using my photos and encourage everyone to share. Of course, if you use someone's photo for profit, that's another story.

Having said that, please watermark your photos! With the popularity of Pinterest, photos are being pinned every day and because some Pinterest users don't know how to pin properly or something happens with Pinterest as you are pinning, sometimes the original website is missing. 

I really love the  dining room below and would love to visit the website or blog and maybe even become a follower, but because I don't know where this photo is from, I can't.
(update:Thanks to Lisa, who commented below, I now know that this dining room was designed by  Hunter - Barnes interior design and the website it originated from is cococozy.com. Now I need to go to my Pinterest page and repin it!)

Here's what the photo looked like when I pinned it...

You can see that there's a blogspot.com listed on the top right above the photo, but when I  clicked on it I got a Google 404 error...whatever that means!

Here's a photo of my daughter's shabby chic bedroom with my diy Design Fanatic watermark on it:

 If for some reason, website link is missing, at least the person looking at the photo can google the blog name.

There are several free photo editing software downloads on the internet...I use Picasa. 

Would love to know if you use editing software that's free and what it is....please let us know!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Pam