Fabric

Linen Wedding Organizer Envelopes with a Little Flair

8 · Jul 23, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Wedding planning… I am DEEP into the planning of my first daughter’s wedding that is coming up in a little over a month. I have taken the approach of staying as organized as possible for this monster project. Really, that’s the only way you can prepare for a wedding and not lose your mind! I found some linen organizing envelopes at Target from the Hearth and Hand line created by Joanna Gains the other day and thought they would be perfect to keep things organized for the wedding. Of course, I needed to add some labels and in true WhipperBerry fashion, they needed to look classy. I turned to DecoArt for a little help with their Stylin’ paint perfect for home or fashion accessories of all kinds!

• This post is brought to you by DecoArt •

Wedding Organization

Wedding planning is NOT for the faint of heart. So many details, so many emotions, so much stuff! It really pays to be as organized as possible. Like I said before, I found some linen envelope organizers that I thought would be perfect to keep receipts, notes, menus and the like organized. I identified 4 areas that I thought would be good to have specific folders for,

Budget
Travel
Food
Design

Budget

This is where you can keep your notes as far as your budget goes along with receipts for everything purchased and paid for.

Travel

If your family is anything like ours, not everyone lives in the same place. Many family and friends will be traveling from elsewhere and this is a great way to keep track of those notes and itineraries.

Food

Food is one of the big elements to the reception. This is where you can keep track of proposals, budget, menu items, and such.

Design

You can think of this folder as your Pinterest hardcopy. Notes for your overall design of the event, different design elements, floral ideas, invitation ideas and so much more. Keep track of those ideas here along with any other pertinent information for the overall look of the event.

Linen Organizer Wedding Labels

There are a couple of different steps to this easy project and here’s a quick snippet of my Instagram Story to show a little more about how this works.

Label Design

I designed the labels in Cricut Design Space and used my Cricut Maker to cut out the vinyl for the project. I love making stencils with leftover vinyl and then using some DecoArt paint to create all kinds of projects. I’m thrilled to find that I can do the same with fabric, canvas, and leather now as well with DecoArt Stylin’. Here are some the key benefits to DecoArt Stylin’,

Flexible paint specially-formulated to prevent cracking or peeling
Bonds to surface to create a seamless finish
An ideal color palette for fashion décor
Water-based
Soap and water clean-up

If you are a Cricut user (if not, I highly suggest that you should be, they go hand in hand with paint!) you can access my design in my Design Space profile. If not, you can create your own stencils designs using other design software and use either a cutting machine or craft knife to cut your stencil out of vinyl or freezer paper.

Linen Wedding Organizer Envelope Supplies

Here are the supplies you will need for your project.

linen or canvas folders
DecoArt Stylin’ Paint
vinyl, stencil vinyl
transfer tape
stencil sponge brush or a makeup sponge

Instructions

Cut out your stencil and weed the vinyl make sure to keep the negative side of the design. That just means that you’ll need to remove the letters from the vinyl and leave the rest of your vinyl as the stencil. Be careful that you keep a good eye on the middle sections of letters and those darn dots at the top of “i”.
Cover your stencil in transfer tape and remove the back of the vinyl.
Carefully place the stencil onto the fabric folder and press down with a brayer or scraper tool. Fabric typically has a texture that is going to make it a little tricky to get a truly clean line but, if you press your vinyl down well, you’ll have a pretty good seal.
Remove the transfer tape carefully.
Place a quarter size amount of paint onto a paper plate and use your sponge to lightly dab the paint onto the surface of your organizer. Keep the paint LIGHT to avoid any paint leaking under the stencil. It’s better to have several rounds with light paint than to have an unsightly leak area.
Cover your stenciled image until you have the coverage you would like.
Let dry.
When the paint is dry, remove the stencil and get to work on that darn wedding!

Disclaimer • This is a paid post with my friends at DecoArt. I am a member of the DecoArt Core Creator program and do receive payment and product to help facilitate these creative posts. However, keep in mind… I will NEVER share something I don’t truly love and use in my everyday life.

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Create Great Design Even With Your Canvas Laundry Bins

14 · Mar 15, 2018 · 5 Comments

Who wants boring laundry bins? Create a little bit of sophistication for your laundry room with these canvas laundry bins coupled with this fun design that I created just for YOU! Designed with the Cricut Iron-On Lite & Cricut Easy Press in mind, I knew that my laundry dreams were about to come true. Come learn how to make a set of your own.

+ This post is brought to you by Cricut +

Canvas Laundry Bins

My love affair with industrial canvas laundry bins started way too far back to even think about. It actually may have started when I saw “Annie” the first time. Remember when she escapes from the orphanage in the laundry bin? Well, I do! I’ve wanted one ever since. For my tiny laundry room, one of those large industrial bins just won’t cut it. When I found these smaller scale canvas bins, my heart about skipped a beat. They are super heavy duty, they are really meant for commercial use. You’ll be passing these babies down to your grand children… They’ll become heirlooms! Oh, what a story they will tell!

Of course, after only purchasing one, I had to find more because ONE just wasn’t enough! I wanted a complete set. One for whites, colors, darks & linens. Yes, I know… small laundry room but, I have a plan for that also. Planning, always planning. For now, I want to create a really cool, industrial looking graphic for the blank sections of the laundry bins. Of course, I head right to Cricut Design Space to WHIP something up.

Creating Designs in Cricut Design Space

I love working in Cricut Design Space. It’s easy to use as a beginner and even advanced users can create all kinds of great designs within this platform. I have a tutorial on how to prepare your designs to be cut on your Cricut machine. It’s super easy and makes working on a cutting machine so much easier than other brands I have worked with. Soon I will have a tutorial video on how to actually CREATE your own designs within Cricut Design Space so, stay tuned!

If you love this design and don’t want to have to recreate it yourself, you’re in LUCK! I am sharing my design file in Design Space. All you need to do is click HERE to be linked directly to Design Space.

All you need to do is sign into your account, load your Cricut Iron-on Lite into your machine and click MAKE IT. Let the platform guide you through the cutting process. Depending on your subscriptions and previous purchases. You may need to purchase one of the fonts. Once you’ve purchased it, it’s yours to use from now on.

Supplies

Canvas Laundry Bin if you are a Sam’s Club Member OR HERE for Amazon (It’s less expensive at Sam’s club)
Cricut Machine • I’m using the Cricut Maker here
Cricut Iron-On Lite
Cricut Easy Press
Iron-On Protective Sheet or cotton towel
Vinyl Weeding Tools

Instructions

Open my laundry bin design in Cricut Design Space and cut your Iron-On Lite. Make sure that you MIRROR your image so that it will cut correctly. Also, place the matte side of the Iron-On Lite facing you when placing it on the cutting mat. (Yep, that’s me… cutting wirelessly with my PHONE!! Cricut is so awesome!)
Weed the design using my FAVORITE vinyl weeding tools! Well, I love all of my Cricut tools. They are seriously a guarded possession in my house.
Pre-heat your Easy Press to 325˚ and set the timer for 50 seconds.
Now, here’s the slightly tricky part (don’t worry, we can work through this.) In order for the heat transfer vinyl to adhere to the canvas surface, you need to heat press the vinyl on a hard surface. Well, with this laundry bin, it’s a little tricky to find a hard surface. I improvised, I placed a wood crate into the bin, topped that with a box full of cans, topped that with a wood cutting board and then wedged some decks of playing cards under the cutting board until I had a nice solid surface. I told you it was going to be a little like bubble gum and duct tape but, it totally worked! Just make sure that the surface that you are using can take the heat. DO NOT place something plastic or anything that would melt or be destroyed by the Easy Press. That would be so sad!
Place the weeded heat transfer vinyl onto your laundry bin, make sure it’s centered correctly. Cover design with Iron-On Protective Mat or a cotton tea towel to protect your project from the heat.
Place the Easy Press onto your bin, press the timer button and lightly press down onto the Easy Press. I found this canvas is a little tricky and it took a few passes to get the Iron-On Lite to adhere to the surface. With a little patience, I was able to get the desired results. You are really looking for the Iron-On Lite to start to melt into the fibers of your fabric.
PRO TIP • After a few passes with the plastic protective coating on your vinyl, try and remove the plastic film and then replace your towel or protective mat and take a few more passes. That’s how you talk a suborn surface into accepting the Iron-On Lite like a pro!

That’s it! You now have a super classy canvas laundry bin that your family will fight over for generations. I know that’s going to make doing laundry a way more stylish chore now!

What are you dying to create with all of your Cricut goodies? What are your favorite products to work with? Are you loving the Iron-On Lite like I do or are you more of a paper person. Love cutting fabric? No worries, Cricut can handle that! Tell me about your dream project.

Disclaimer • This post does contain some affiliate links they are purely for tracking purposes and are not paid links. However, I did receive payment for my time and received product to help in the creative process. However, keep in mind, I will only share products that I truly love and use in my everyday life.

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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How to Make Stylish Fabric Banners with the Cricut Maker

7 · Feb 26, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Forget the scissors & craft knife! I have a sure-fire way to create the most amazing graphic-driven fabric banners for your kiddos room or next event. NO sewing skills required! How cool are those fabric banners that are made out of felt? You know where I’m going with this! Come learn how to make graphic banners with the fabric without mind-numbing hand-cutting. If you want to see which is best, the Cricut or the Silhouette then read about that comparison here.

+ This post brought to you by the lovely folks at Cricut +

Tools of the Trade

Having always been in LOVE with creating graphics, the idea of being able to design graphic driven projects out of fabric has always been a desire of mine. However, I don’t have the patience to sit with scissors or craft knifes to cut out my graphic elements. I was thrilled at the advent of the original Cricut back in the day. It revolutionized crafting, as we knew it, at the time. However, it just didn’t have the cutting chops for fabric. The new Cricut Maker is just as revolutionary as the first cartridge based Cricut in the Fabric world. It’s TOPS for sure!

Vintage Adventure Room

I’ve been working on a room makeover for my little guy, Gage. We created a vintage adventure room that covers everything land and sea. It’s all about adventure in this great big world of ours. I wanted to have some animals of the sea & land represented in the room. I used my Cricut Maker to make a vinyl stencil for this cute fox storage chest for his little gadgets and gizmos.

Next, I wanted to make some sea loving creatures for some fabric banners on his wall. We LOVE Narwhals and jellyfish at our house quite a bit so, I knew I had to create something with these two ocean gems. After a little design work, I came up with these cute designs.

Supplies for Fabric Banners

The next trick, making these designs into fabric banners for Gage’s room. I rummaged through my fabric stash and found some colors that would go well with the room design.

Here’s the rest of the supplies you will need.

fabric
Heat n’ Bond
Cricut Maker
Cricut Rotary Cutter
Cricut Bonded Fabric Blade
Cricut Fabric Cutting Mat
fabric glue
wood dowel
cotton rope
sewing machine (optional)
thread (optional)

Instructions

First, you need to create your design within Cricut Design Space. You can use either the large library of fonts that they have compiled at Cricut or, use your favorite fonts on your computer. You also have access to thousands of graphics that you can use to personalize your space or dress-up your party.

How to Prepare Graphic to Cut in Cricut Design Space

When you are working with multiply colors of fabric or paper, Cricut Design Space has some brilliant features that I really like. Instead of typing them all out I thought I would create a video for you watch that teaches you exactly how to prepare your designs to cut that really makes the cutting process so much easier. Click on the image below to watch the video.

Cutting Fabric

Now that your designs are ready to cut, it’s time to prepare your cutting mats. If you are cutting fabric, you need to make sure you are using the fabric cutting mat and the fabric rotary cutter. If you happen to have a rotary cutter that needs to be changed, here is a tutorial on how to do that. Cut your fabric to fit the cutting mat and place it on the mat.

PRO TIP • Don’t worry about cleaning the fabric cutting mat of all the fuzz & threads after you use it. It will work just fine with fuzz & threads. Attempting to clean the mat actually does more harm than good.

If you are planning on ironing your graphics onto the banners, you’ll want to iron-on the Heat n’Bond BEFORE you cut your fabric. (I use my Easy Press, which I LOVE!) In that case, you may want to use the Bonded Fabric Blade when cutting your fabric. I say that with a caveat, I found that the bonded felt that I used cut better with the rotary cutting blade.

Graphic Placement on Banners

Once you have all of your graphic element cut, you’re ready to place them on the banners. I like to layout my design onto the fabric banner first, to make sure I like the placement. That’s where the Cricut Weeding Tools come in real handy. I LOVE those tweezers!

Next, I use the Easy Press to warm the surface of the fabric banner and then lay down my graphics again quickly. Then, I cover them with the Iron-On Protective Sheet or a cotton dish towel if using a standard iron and press my graphics onto the banner according to the Heat n’ Bond directions.

3D Graphics on Banner

One really fun thing you can do when cutting graphics in this manner, you can add some little 3D elements to your design. I thought it would be fun to have my narwhal’s fin to pop out a bit to give him a little more character. When I was pressing the narwhal onto the banner, I placed the used backing of the Heat n’ Bond under the fin with the shiny side of the paper facing the fin. That would mean the it wouldn’t stick to the fabric or the paper.

Now, his cute little fin will pop right out!

Creating Banner Hanger

Now, to hand the cute banners that you just made. You need to either sew a pocket for the dowel or use fabric glue to create create the pocket. I prefer the sewing method however, if you don’t have a sewing machine, you don’t need to run out and purchase one just for this project.

You need to fold your fabric over to create a pocket large enough to feed your dowel through.

When you have the banner with the dowel ready to hang, attach the rope and hang on the wall!

Now, I know you are going to want to save this tutorial and share it with all of your friends (wink, wink!) Here is a handy graphic to Pin…

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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12 Cricut Maker Projects + How to Replace a Cricut Maker Rotary Blade

39 · Jan 26, 2018 · Leave a Comment

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Cricut Maker! I’m especially loving creating more with fabric these days. I’m always looking for more Cricut Maker project inspiration & ideas on how to take care of my machine. For example every Cricut Maker user, there comes a time when you will need to change out your rotary blade. This is something that is relatively new to the Cricut world and is super easy to do following the proper instructions. If you are new to creating with Cricut, the Cricut Maker Rotary Blade is the magical blade that cuts fabric when using the Cricut Maker machine! With its gliding, rolling action, it cuts virtually any fabric quickly and accurately – without backing material. It’s pretty fabulous! After you’ve cut to your heart’s content, you will eventually have to change out your blade, here’s a tutorial for how to replace a Cricut Rotary Blade. And, if you’re not sure if a Cricut or a Silhouette is right for you then make sure to read that article first. Ok so, down for the tutorial.

Below is a quick Pinable graphic that you can save so that you can reference it later on how to change your Cricut rotary blade. You can even print a PDF version of it HERE if you’d like.

How to Change a Cricut Rotary Blade

Before you begin, you need to make sure you remember you are working with a VERY SHARP blade and to be safe while working with it at all times.

Carefully remove rotary blade from your Cricut Maker.
Slip protective cover, from the Rotary Blade Kit over the blade with the large opening over the housing screw. View graphic to view safety warning.
Make sure you feel the protective cover click into place.
Use provided screw driver to remove the screw from the housing. View graphic for step-by-step photo instructions. Keep in mind, the blade is meant to stay within the protective cover. This is a great feature created by Cricut to protect their Cricut family of users. I think it’s genius!
Remove the new blade, already in a new protective cover, from the package.
Place over your housing like before.
Using the provided screw driver, replace the screw making sure not to over tighten.
Carefully remove protective covering and replace rotary blade in your machine.
Just to be safe, I place my old blade, still in the protective cover, back into the packaging before I toss it in the trash.

That’s it, you’re ready to rock’n roll again. Looking for some inspiration on what to make with this fabulous new cutting tool? Here are some that might get your creative juices flowing…