Thainie Decor: Playing with Mirrors

Looking for a quick weekend project that will brighten up your place?

We have a lot of walls in our condo and they're mostly concrete so putting nails in them is not the easiest thing to do.  There are already a lot of frames hanging on the other walls and so I knew I wanted mirrors.  

I had been eyeing these IKEA HÖNEFOSS mirrors and decided to get 2 packs.  At first, I thought of just doing small clusters but then thought to do a cascading design with them so that it would cover most of the wall.

So this is how it turned out. 

I didn't measure anything but they came out all pretty straight except maybe the last one to the left but I like it anyways!

Sew What?: Pillow Talk

 Lately, I've been crazy about pillows/throw pillows for the couch.  I had just finish doing a big red heart pillow case (you can see a small glimpse in the pic above--will try to post a better pic) after seeing a pin on Pinterest and then I saw another one with the word "hello" and it was so cutie chic that I had to add it to our couch collection!  Also they're cheaper, super easy and fast to make.

You'll need:

• Freezer paper 
• Pillow fabric or buy a ready made pillow case from IKEA (I'm using a thick cotton fabric from IKEA and stitching my own pillow case here--for a great tutorial on how to make your own pillow cases, check out MADE's for simple cases and for zippered cases check out Design Sponge's) 
• Pillow cushion, I got mine at INDEX Mall, 16"x16" for 99 baht---these pillows make great presents (another upcoming post)
• Craft paint for fabric, I'm using Martha Stewarts CRAFT Paint/Multi-Surface Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint in GOLD
• Sponge and bowl for paint
• Iron
• Hidden Zipper (if you're making a pillow case from scratch)
• Freezer paper (I'm using Reynold's)
• Cutting machine (I'm using my invaluable Cameo)

 When you have all your materials, it's time to design the stencil.  Since I was making a 16"x16" pillow and my Cameo can only cut up to 12"x12", I had to factor the pillow size by making a square box that was 16"x16" to get an idea how big the stencil will be.  

Once you have an idea how big you want your stencil to be on the pillow case then you choose the circle shape and then your font.  I'm using "Xiomara" (you can download free at dafont.com) font and then once I fixed the look of the word I used "weld".  When you're happy with your design, cut on Reynold's freezer paper or your stencil media of choice.

 

Now you're ready to iron and paint.

It has taken me lots of practice and fails (a lot) when it comes to stenciling and painting.  

 I have these tips:

• Iron with medium heat, not low or high but medium, just enough to stick the freezer paper onto the fabric but not hot enough to wrinkle and cause little creases that paint can escape and bleed out.
• Careful with edges, anytime you're ironing over/around edges, don't drag the iron, lift, wiggle and press.  Don't drag!
• Sponge paint on instead of brushing.  First put your paint into a bowl and dip your sponge in flat, then squeeze excess on the side of the bowl.  Then press and blot paint on stencil being extra careful around edges.
• Patience....I am soooo guilty of trying to remove the stencil even when the paint is still not dry.  Don't do this, be patient and let paint dry completely before removing stencil.  You will get crisper lines and hopefully no smudges.

Once you're done with painting and removing the stencil, take a scrap piece of fabric and place over the design and iron over to set the paint.

Finish sewing pillow.....REMEMBER!!!!!  Put the zipper on the bottom of your design so that it will not be visible when you have it adorned on your couch!!!!

Happy crafting!!!

Do the hooky pokey...

Did you ever wonder how they do those vinyl stickers so nicely, especially the ones with cut out letters in them?  I finally got a chance to use the hooky thingy (aka Universal Hook) that I bought to use with my Silhouette machine on a labeling project that I've been also wanting to do for a long time....there's a lot I've been wanting to do for a long time....  Anyhoo, so I thought I would do a short tute on how they do it.

Image from Thainie

 - To begin, cut out your stickers with your cutting machine.

- Take some masking tape and gently apply it on top of your vinyl sticker. You don't want the masking tape to completely cover your label.  Make sure you can still see the top and bottom so that you can align it easily to what you are labeling.

- Position your sticker on and rub the sticker until that sucker sticker is on there for good. 

- Gently peel from top to bottom/side to side, depends on your cut out but always take it slow since you don't want to tear the insides.  

- Now get your hooky thingy and start picking at the letters to peel them off.  Be careful if you're peeling against plastic or anything that can be scratched easily.  

- And there you have it!  Wasn't that easy?

 

Here's some repurposed mayo containers for your cooking necessities...

Image from Thainie

  
IKEA plastic boxes for art supplies labelled...

Image from Thainie

*** I'm thinking you can probably use a toothpick or those dentist thingys?  Will have to try it out and let you know how it goes...

 

Kids Room Makeover (or makeunder?)

 I have been itching to paint my children's room since I always feel that the colors were making my kids crazier than usual.  I loved the jungle/under the sea theme and don't get me wrong, I love primary colors but I think for the bedroom it just didn't mesh well.  So I wanted to create a more calmer environment for them and thought light blue skies and grassy fields.  The tree as you can see in the pic was an unplanned addition but there were some bad spots where I had ripped some of the previous coat of paint off and was too lazy to spackle it smooth before painting.  It's amazing how different the room feels now and I think my kids are more calmer too (or it might just be the paint fumes)!  

*** If you would like to makeover any rooms in your home, I suggest using wall paints that are VOC free, matte finish and ask for the type that is easy to clean (just in case your kids go crazy with their crayons).  For this project I used TOA SuperShield paints.  For any wall murals/artwork, I just used crafter's acrylic paints.

*** If you would like to have your children participate in painting their room, I drew the outline of shapes and had my daughter color them in, she did a fantastic job and really enjoyed being part of decorating her room.