Just Add Ribbon!

        Summer isn't even over yet, but decorations for fall and Halloween are everywhere, so I guess it's time to get crafty!  

        At one time I would have made everything from scratch, but now there's so much available that's pre-made, all we need to do is to add our own personal crafty touch to make it our very own....  ( Isn't it nice when we only have to do 10% of the work and get 100% of the credit.... 😜)

        For this project, I simply up styled a kitchen towel and scarecrow topper with ribbon to make a guest towel and towel ring for the half bath....  EZPZ Quick'n EZ..... 

Here's a list of what I used

Ribbon from Gwen Studios:

    7/8" Gros Grain - Orange and Black

    3/8" Leather animal print

    5/16" Faux suede - Black studded

    Tassel trim - Black

Scarecrow Topper

10" Embroidery hoop

Kitchen towel - Black

Silk Maple leaves

You will also need scissors, fabric glue and/or glue gun with fabric glue sticks

1. Measure then cut pieces of each ribbon and trim a little longer than the width of the towel.

2. Center, then adhere the animal print ribbon on top of the orange. Starting at the bottom  edge of the towel, adhere the ribbon and tassel trim in place as shown below. 

3. Adhere the scarecrow topper over the top half of the embroidery hoop.  Cut pieces of tassel trim and studded ribbon the width of the scarecrow topper then glue along the bottom edge as shown. Narrow, double sided tape also works well to adhere the faux suede ribbon in place.

4.  If desired, add additional silk leaves at each side of the topper and a black bow at the center.

5.  Hang the finished towel over the scarecrow towel "ring", or simple hang over the oven door handle.

 

Please note: I used fabric glue to adhere the ribbon to the towel since it's for decorative purposes only - even in the bathroom! 

Ribbons and tassel trim was provided for these projects by

available at Walmart and online at Walmart.com

Enjoy!

Yours truly,

Julie 

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Foiled Again

        Gilding has always been a popular technique used to decorate wood, statues and more in Ancient Egypt and beyond. Gold leaf was also applied to lettering, borders and figures in illuminated manuscripts as early as 400 A.D. and even used to decorate food in Japan. It's changed a lot since then of course, with updated techniques being developed for the hobby and craft industry making it available in a variety of forms and colors for today's makers.

        As a member of the Designer Crafts Connection, I received a trial package of toner card stock and colored foiling sheets from Ann Butler Designs.  Ann is a long time friend, and I was excited to try her new product line. I'd enjoyed working with Renaissance foil on wood back in the 90's and was looking forward to a more simple way of adding foiled designs to paper. There's nothing more elegant than foiled accents for cards and more!  

To create foiled projects you will need:

1. AnnButler™Designs toner card stock pack (floral, geometric or variety)*

    

2. Deco Foil paper

3. Hot Laminator (I used a Royal Sovereign, 12" laminator)

4. Card blank and/or 6" x 6" wrapped canvas 

5. Paper trimmer & scissors

6. Adhesive

7. Gwen Studios 3/8" satin ribbon and Rinea™ embossed foil paper

*I received three geometric toner card stock designs, 3 pieces of black toner card stock, plus royal blue, purple and turquoise foiling paper

Let's get started:

1. Plug in your laminator; switch to hot

2. While the laminator is warming up, place a colored sheet of foil COLORED SIDE UP on top of one of the toner design papers. Place between a folded piece of copy paper then feed into the laminator. Ann recommends passing the sheet thru twice. 

 

3. The colored foil is now adhered to the toner paper. Starting at one corner, gently peel the foil sheet away.  The color from the foil will have adhered to the design and the negative part of the design remains on the clear sheet you removed. 

4. Place the negative sheet on the black toner paper, cover with the copy paper then feed thru the laminator 2x. This design will adhere to the black paper.  I repeated this process using the 3 sheets of decorative toner paper, 3 sheets of colored foiling paper and the 3 sheets of black toner paper.

Now that I have my foiled paper, it's time to create!

1. Card (4" x 6"). 

Cut a 3"x 5.5" piece of foiled toner paper. With top and bottom edges aligned, adhere to center of 4.5" x 5.5" piece of purple embossed paper foil then adhere to the front of the card.  Referring to photo, adhere two, 5" pieces of ribbon across the bottom of the card. Trim ends as needed, or fold under. Adhere sentiment (included in pack) on top of the ribbon then glue a small bow at the top to finish.

2. Wrapped Canvas (6" x 6")  

 

Adhere the 6" x 6" toner paper design directly on top of the canvas. Print a favorite saying, or quote on photo paper, mat with the same design on the black toner paper, then glue to the front. I cut and matted each word then glued in place for a different look. Adhere 2 lengths of ribbon, side by side around the outer edge of the canvas.

3. Leftovers!

There's always something to do with leftovers! Create tags, small gift cards, or simply use smaller pieces as embellishments for a multitude of other projects!  The opportunities are endless...............

You can find more designer projects using Ann's toner paper on the 

Designer Crafts Connection blog! 

Sparkle on!

Yours truly,

Julie 

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!