Make-It-Monday: Rubber-Stamped Fabric Keychain

Here was my process for printing the fabric for my keychain...

I was going to use Staz-On ink for this, but I couldn't find my black inkpad.  But I did remember that I had bought some black fabric paint awhile back. (I must have bought it for some project, but I can't remember what that project was).

So, you can do this with your own rubber stamp. All you need is... 

• A Rubber Stamp (mine is a custom hand-carved stamp from Jackbear Stamps, but you can use any rubber stamp)
• Fabric Paint
• Foam paintbrush (you could also use a cheap foam sponge)
• Small artist's paintbrush
• Fabric you want to print on (I used both a cotton muslin and canvas)
• Small piece of scrap wood (optional)
• Iron & pressing cloth (I used a scrap piece of my cotton muslin)

Squirt a bit of the fabric paint onto the foam brush.  Use the artist brush to spread the paint around and into the foam.  The foam will be like a stamp pad. 

My stamp was a bit larger than the foam brush, so instead of pressing the stamp down onto the foam, I held the stamp in one hand and used the foam brush to dab the paint evenly onto the stamp. (I tried doing this earlier with a regular paintbrush before I decided to use the foam brush, but the paint went on gloopy and uneven, which made for a uneven, gloopy-looking print. So I definitely recommend using the foam instead.)

Press the stamp down evenly onto your chosen fabric.

I used a piece of scrap wood to help make sure the stamp was pressed evenly.

Lift up the stamp, and Voila!  Stamped fabric!

My bottle of fabric paint said to let the paint dry for 24 hours and then heat set it with an iron...but I have to confess, I only waited maybe 1-2 hours, since it seemed plenty dry, and I was anxious to make my keychain!

I cut out the design and zig-zag stitched it onto a piece of printed cotton, then made a simple, tiny pillow, stitching in a bias tape loop for the split ring to attach to.

I got this orange & white polka dot cotton fabric from a box of fabric scraps a friend gave me.  I don't work with quilter's weight cotton a lot, but I have lots of scraps with different prints that I've accumulated from friends, so I am looking forward to making more of these in different patterns!

Make It Monday!: Button Stamps from Spools & Craft Foam

Awhile ago on the blog, I showed you the button stamp I made from an empty spool and craft foam. There's a link in the post to the tutorial that originally inspired me, but I've finally gotten around to taking photos for my own tutorial!

Materials:

• Empty plastic spools (you could also use old prescription bottles)
• Craft foam (the kid you find in the kids' craft section)

Tools:

• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Marker, pen, or pencil

Use the spool you want to use to trace 4 circles onto the craft foam (I did 2 circles on blue and 2 circles on red.)

Cut circles out.

Take one circle and punch 4 holes in it to look like button holes (you can do 2 holes if you'd like).

Use the hot glue to glue one of the blank circles to the top of the spool. (You could also use chipboard if you'd like. It might even work better. The first circle is just a base to glue the other part to.

Glue on the "button" foam circle.

And there's the first stamp!

Take the second red circle and use a smaller spool to trace a circle.

Cut the circle out so you have a hole in the middle. The circle should now look like an "O".

Glue the blue foam circle onto the other side of the spool, then glue the "O" on top of it.

Remember when you used the hole punch earlier? Salvage those little foam dots from your hole punch. These will be the "button holes" for this side of the stamp.

Carefully glue the dots in the middle of the "O" to look like button holes. And now the second side is done!

One stamp...two designs!

Note: Be sure to clean your stamp off after using it!...especially if you plan on using the other side right away. Failure to do so will result in inked-up hands! I usually use cheap baby wipes from the dollar store.

I did a smaller one with a two-hole button design.

Happy Stamping! :)

Make It Monday: Recycled Coffee Cup Post-It Notepads

I did a "guest post" over at my mom's blog for a tutorial for making her Post-It notepads using recycled coffee cups.

She has so many cool, crafty ideas, but she "hates blogging" because she never knows how to format the posts... so she gave me posting access to her blog...so I kind of act as her "personal blogger" sometimes! (and write the posts as if I'm her) But even though I wrote the post, the work, directions, and most of the photos are all hers. I just tweak the wording a bit, take a couple extra photos, and edit it all together into a comprehensive blog post!

Anyway...please go check it out and leave her some nice comments! And if you make your own coffee cup Post-It notepad, be sure to take some pictures and blog about it, or put them in your Flickr, and post a link in your comment!

Make It! Monday: Post-It NoteBooks

At my request, my mom wrote the original blog tutorial for these cute little Post-It NoteBooks that she makes. I've done a bit of editing, elaborating, and reformatting... but all the craft work shown in this post is all her! (I should get her to do a tutorial for one of her coffee cup cards/books).

Step 1:

First cut your base card stock 7 1/8 inches by 3 1/4 inches. (I used black...since a friend, who was destashing her scrapbooking supplies, gave me a lot of this thick, sturdy, black cardstock.) Crease at 3 1/2 and 3 6/8. (See picture above.)

Step 2:

Create Flowers or circles from punches or what ever design you want. You can even use rubber stamps, markers, geometric shapes, whatever you want! (This is the fun and creative part!)

Step 3:

Glue a 3 by 3 piece of paper on top of the black cardstock (I used lime green), then glue on your embellishment (I used green & yellow paper flowers).

Step 4 (Optional):

If you want your inside cover to be a pretty pattern or a different color from the base cardstock, you can glue some patterned/colored paper on the inside of the cardstock cover.

Step 5:

Finally, glue the spine of the 3 inch Post-It Note pad into the area where you creased for the folds. (OR, alternatively, you could glue the pad to the bottom of the inside of the booklet, but I recommend gluing the spine.)

And there you have it! A cute little Post-It NoteBook to pretty up your regular old boring Post-Its! You can make lots of them with different designs. You can even personalize them. It's a quick and easy project and can be a great little handmade gift!

*A special thanks to my mom for humoring me and writing the original tutorial on her blog (even though she is insecure about her blogging capabilities!), and for providing most of the photos!*

Tutorial: Bottlecap Magnets

A few years ago, I whipped up these magnets as a last minute Christmas gift for my Dad. (The jewel of this collection is the cap from a special edition aluminum Mountain Dew Bottle). I used an old Altoids mint tin covered with some scrapbook paper as the gift box. Since then, I've started making them to sell at craft shows as a small, inexpensive, impulse-buy item.

To make your own, all you need is:

• hot glue gun & hot glue
• small magnets/"button magnets" (you can find these at most craft stores, but I get mine in the kids' craft section of Wal-Mart for about $5-$6 for 50 magnets)
• bottlecaps (don't forget to wash them!)

Step 1:

First, you'll need to fill the bottom of the cap with a layer of hot glue. (This step is important because the button magnets aren't tall/thick enough to stick up over the edge of the bottlecap.) A good strategy is to You'll need to wait for the first layer to dry before moving on to step 2. I usually make these in batches, so I'll do the first glue layer on about 6 bottlecaps, and by the time I'm done with Step 1 on the 6th cap, the glue on the 1st cap is dry and ready for Step 2.

Step 2:

Apply another layer of hot glue (not too much!) and press the magnet in. Let it dry.

And voila!...Bottlecap Magnets!

So save those bottlecaps! I have all of my friends trained to save theirs (and to be careful when removing the pry-off type of caps). Other places to get bottlecaps are restaurants, bars, and specialty beer stores. Some places will save them for you if you ask nicely!

I drive my husband a little crazy whenever we go to the beer shop now...since, even though I don't like beer, I want him to buy beer based on "this one has a cool bottlecap design!"

These are 2 of my favorite caps that I haven't obtained yet...

This awesome owl bottlecap is from an imported Japanese beer called "Hitachino Nest". The only problem is that it's about $5 per bottle! So I haven't gotten any of these caps yet. I can't justify paying $5 for a beer just for the cool bottlecap.

And this cap is from Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale ("Tempered over burning witches"! LOL! )

Last Minute Gift: Bottlecap Magnets

I'm going over to my parents' house tonight for Christmas Eve Dinner and opening presents. As I was packing up the gifts to bring over, I realized that I had at least two gifts for both Mom and my brother, but only one gift for Dad. So, being the crafty girl I am, I decided to whip up these magnets as a last minute gift. The jewel of this collection is the Mountain Dew bottlecap from a special edition aluminum Mountain Dew Bottle (I have two more, but one is dented and I can't find the other one).

All you need is some hot glue, small magnets, and some bottlecaps. I also used an old mint tin covered with some scrapbook paper as the gift box. First you'll need a layer of hot glue so the magnet sticks up above the lip of the cap...

You'll need to wait for the first layer to dry, then apply another layer of hot glue and put the magnet on. (I usually work on 3 caps at a time, and by the time you're done with the first layer of the last cap, the first cap's layer will be dry enough to apply the second layer)

And voila!...Bottlecap Magnets!

If anyone wants these Boylan's Birch Beer magnets, I'll be putting one set in my Etsy shop soon...and the other set I'll do for a New Year's give-away. Stay tuned!