Altered Thistle Notebook

I crafted this thistle notebook to carry in my handbag.  I got the pen from Pier 1, and it's the best $3.59 I ever spent in my life!

I created this using a Dollar Store notebook, computer printed image on fabric, Angelic font for the wording, ribbon and a purchased thistle mold.

Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower Pillows

I am completely in love with the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower and the Chrysler Building, too.  I have statues and wall art and wood boxes all over the house with these images on them and I decided to update my bedroom pillows and quelle surprise, I turned to my love of these structures again, some more.

I made them using my trusty Citra-Solv transfer technique and I'm running out of that stuff and need to hunt some more down.

I found images for the tower, the statue and the skyline of New York in a google image search and then downloaded a bunch of different fonts for the printed elements and arranged it all on my fabric and voilà, new pillows.

I did not use zippers to make these covers, bad move, I know.  I'm living on the edge and will eventually curse myself for not using zippers but it was another one of those gotta make it now things and I had no zippers on hand.  I can install them later when they need a wash.

Wood Notecard Box Makeover

My dear friend sent me a wood box that previously held notecards because she knows I'm mad about boxes.

I did a streaked paint job in black on the bottom and then applied flat latex in cream to the lid. I lightly sanded over the cream paint to give it a roughed up look and then did an image transfer using Citrasolv on top.

Because the box has a textured finish, the image is all vintagey looking which is what I was aiming for.

Breadboard With Vintage Ad

I transferred a Graphics Fairy vintage ad onto a breadboard (image transfer tutorial using Citra Solv is here) and I know that I am obsessed with vintage advertising but the pieces I have made are spread out over the house so I don't think it's overkill.  Yet.

Maybe I worked in advertising in a previous life...

Image Transfer Onto Bedside Table Using Mod Podge

I was on the verge of putting this little bedside table into a yard sale and then decided I really should use it in the guest room instead.  Since I'm crazy for image transfers, I hunted for one (at The Graphics Fairy, of course)  that would suit the piece.  I simply enlarged the image into three separate parts that fit on letter sized paper using Word.

After painting two coats of white acrylic, I set to work using the photocopies printed using toner and burnished the image using Citra Solv and to my surprise, it blurred badly.  I painted over the drawers and tried again.  Another fail.  This method worked perfectly on my J.P Coats sewing box project so I was at a loss to figure out why it wouldn't work on this piece, as I had even used the very same paint on it.

I thought I must be doing something wrong so I found some tiny images I had on hand and tried to transfer them onto the sides of a drawer where it wouldn't show, and all three times every one of them blurred badly.  I am completely stumped as to why it wouldn't work this time.

I was not going to give up easily, so I did some research and decided to try out the Mod Podge image transfer method.

I followed the directions as outlined in this really good tutorial, and the dang image rubbed off as I worked on the first drawer, so - another fail. 

I felt defeated but began to work on the second drawer, gently rubbing off only a thin layer the wet paper as instructed, and then decided I was tired of it, so I left it alone overnight to be worked on the next day.

Leaving it to dry overnight after wetting it again and removing a thin layer of paper seems to be the key.  

The next morning, I saturated the leftover paper again, gently rubbing it off, and the image had firmly set onto the paint and didn't come off this time around.

So in a nutshell, this is how I managed to get a good transfer:


Brush a moderate amount of Mod Podge over the image on your photocopy - use cheap thin paper, it's easier to remove later.  Don't brush the Mod Podge onto white spaces  - you'll waste time rubbing it off later.  Don't use an excessive amount of Mod Podge, but don't be stingy either.

  

Position and then lie your copy onto the painted item print side down and gently remove bubbles or wrinkles with your fingertips or a flat item (a credit card would work well).  Do this step gently or you will rip the paper.  Also! make sure your print is properly oriented.  I put one upside down on a drawer by mistake. FUUUU....!  If you are transferring the image to drawers, make sure the images line up perfectly.  I taped my image down and used an Exacto knife to cut the print between the drawers.

Let your piece dry for 24 hours.

Put down newspaper because the next step is messy.  Completely saturate your photocopy with water (I used a spray bottle) and gently rub the paper off with your fingertips using a circular motion. Key word: Gently.  You won't be removing all the paper, there will still be a layer left.  Keep your paper damp as you work.   You will find this step to be time consuming. It's tedious, but be patient and stop yourself from wanting too rub hard because you will end up removing the image.

Let your piece fully dry again for at least 10 hours. 

Completely saturate the paper and gently rub it off with your fingertips again, some more, ad nauseum. 

You may have to repeat these last two steps a few times based on how much Mod Podge you used and whether Jupiter is aligned with Mars or not.  It's hard to say which affects the process more.

I much prefer the quick and easy method using Citra Solv, but if this is the only way to transfer an image onto a painted surface, then it was worth it in the end.

After the image had set and was ready to go, I painted a thin coat of Mod Podge all over the drawer fronts to make sure the faux finish would cover evenly over the areas of the image where trace bits of paper remained.

Next, I applied a glaze (half glaze, half leftover acrylic taupe paint) to give the piece an aged look, and added some drawer pulls that were salvaged from a dresser that was given a makeover a while ago.

Cost of project: zero.  My favourite amount to spend on stuff.

Here is the bedside table before the transformation, in danger of a rehoming: 

As an aside, I often see comments from people who use French ephemera saying that they have no idea what the words mean.  I read an entry where a woman said she chose to believe a transfer she used meant something dreamy and romantic and it literally said 'Quality chicken feed wholesalers.' 


Anyway.


This particular image I have used is either the work of someone not very knowledgeable in French who threw some unrelated and random items together for this ad, or else stores in France sold a weird assortment of goods way back when.


This place sells clothing, stationery, bootmakers' items and cutlery.  That's sort of like a pastry shop selling doorknobs and pillows.

Sewing Box Makeover with Vintage J.P. Coats Ad

I was given a wood box which contained bath products a really long time ago.  It's got sentimental value (and I have a thing for boxes) but it wasn't very pretty, so I've wanted to transform it for a while.  

I turned it into a sewing box that I can keep close at hand in the living room instead of having to run a flight of stairs to gather up the essentials which I am constantly in need of, or so it seems.

The image comes from The Graphics Fairy as usual (love her!) and the Citrasolv image transfer method tutorial is here.

I painted two coats of acrylic wall paint, then mixed up a glaze using the same black paint to add a distressed look and tone down the white paint.

Here is the box looking overdue for a change before:

Spruced Up Knife Block

 

I've been wanting to freshen up my knife block which was shabby but not in a good way.  The blonde wood stood out like a sore thumb and it had an unattractive Starfrit logo front and center.

I used a hand sander and stripped off the finish, then stained the wood using steel wool that had soaked in vinegar for several hours.

I did an image transfer with Citrasolv, using selected parts of an advertisement I found on The Graphics Fairy.  I finished it off with a coat of mat water based fast drying sealant.

Tote With Vintage Stocking Ad

I sewed this simple tote today, transferring a vintage ad for McCallum stockings from the 1930s.

I have a tutorial for the tote here You would sew the tote minus the ruffles shown on the tutorial.

If you would like to know how to transfer images onto fabrics, I have a tutorial for that here.

I had cut this brown eyelet off of a skirt and almost threw it away recently when I was tidying up my stash. I was thinking, when will I ever use this stuff? The answer is, six years after cutting it off of a skirt.  Never throw your stuff away!

Vintage Rooster Print Placemats With Image Transfer Tutorial

I made some placemats today, transferring a vintage rooster image onto the fabric.  I'm placing a tutorial after the cut to show how to transfer images.