The Lavender Tub: Silhouette

Showing posts with label Silhouette. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2014

Spray Painted Monograms - Fast, Fun, & Fabulous

Sometimes I want to add a little WOW to my space without all the fuss - are you with me? I mean, I like to sew and craft properly, but sometimes I just want to make a statement without getting out my sewing machine........cutting the fabric straight.......shopping for all the right materials........ So, when I needed a little focal interest for my outdoor spaces this summer, I just decided to spray paint some.

I cut out monograms with my cutting machine - and spray painted on the pillows I already had. You wouldn't have to have a cutting machine - just freehand cut any design out of paper, or use a ready-made stencil.

I carefully pinned the stencil to my pillows, and spray painted.

Lavender Tub Tip: Prop the pillow so that you are spraying directly on the stencil. You do not want to spray at an angle at all. Do light coats and stay about 15 inches from the pillow surface. Also, tape newspaper around the edges of the stencil to prevent overspray on your pillow. Should you end up with a little overspray - let it dry completely, then lightly sand with sandpaper (depending on the fabric), or rub with alcohol on a Q-tip (test fabric first).

What a difference! I call that Fast, Fun, & Fabulous!

Thanks for stopping by the Tub!

Ellie

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Silhouette Pantry Board

As much as I ~~don't get the bajillion~~ love all the apps out there to keep track of everything in your life - sometimes I just find it easier to grab a marker and jot down things we need to pick up from the store.

This pantry board is just a framed, old piece of white board leftover from our home schooling days. Of course it would serve its purpose as is, but when you have a machine that amazingly cuts out cool shapes - who can resist stenciling a cute design on it?

The best part - I still use my phone to take a pic of it before I head to the store. See, technology works for me!

Thanks for stopping by the Tub!

Ellie

Monday, February 24, 2014

Silhouette - Spring & Burlap

I'm working on my mantel, trying to bring some spring to these parts. I've had my "Let It Snow" (see it here) banner up and decided I really don't mean that anymore - something has to be done to shoo this cold out of here!

I downloaded this split monogram "S" and then added the word "SPRING" to it.

Since I couldn't find a paper I liked to cut it from, I used a dark brown. It had to have a kind of "mossy" look, so I spray painted it a blotchy green and stamped it with different color green inks.

I hope you'll come back to see the rest of mantel in a few days!

I feel renewed already.

Thanks for stopping by the Tub.

Ellie

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Think Outside the Box - Candelabra Sleeves & Post-It Note Trick

One of the problems I ran into on my chandelier restore that I wrote about earlier this week, see here, was the candelabra sleeves. Some of them were missing, and the ones that remained were so brittle they basically fell apart in your fingers. No problem - just buy new ones, right?

Not! I searched and searched, but couldn't find this size anywhere - not even the internet. I finally decided to just make sleeves out of something else......and another search began. I'm not kidding when I say it took me weeks to find a solution. After trying one thing after another, I finally found a less than perfect fit with the cardboard tube that comes in foil purchased at the $ Tree. It was less than perfect because I still had to cut it down the side to fit it over the socket. Once cut, however, it fit snug and held the crystal bobeche' in place perfectly.

Since segments of cardboard tube are not terribly attractive on a chandelier, I decided to cover them with vintag-y, light blue, letter scrapbook paper.

Lavender Tub Tip: Rather than measure and cut all of those rectangles, I just measured what size they needed to be and cut several at one time using my Silhouette Cameo machine.

Lavender Tub Tip #2: When I was gluing the rectangles onto the sleeves, the edges didn't want to stay together. By covering the glued seam with the sticky edge of a Post-it note and pressing it down well, the edges were held tightly shut until the glue dried. Because of how Post-it notes are made, they came off the scrapbook paper quite easily and left no residue behind.

It wasn't my plan to have custom candelabra sleeves, but now that they are finished - I think they add a nice touch.

What have you created out of necessity?

Isn't it amazing what you can come up with

when you're in a bind?

Ellie

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Silhouette - Lavender Tub Sign

Is there anything funner for a crafter than a cutting machine? I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas a couple of years ago, and honestly - I still feel giddy every time I get it out to play. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Of course, one of the coolest projects a blogger would want to make is a sign with the name of their blog.

I found this really awesome frame on Craigslist for cheap. I had something else in mind for it, but the more I looked at it, the more I knew this had to be my Lavender Tub sign.

I painted the frame with ASCP in Antique White. Then I mixed up some homemade plaster paint to match AS's Antionette, and painted over the poster.

To paint the letters on the sign, I cut a stencil out of cardstock using my Silhouette, and laid the stencil on the sign - holding it down with rocks.......yep, we're that technical around here. Using Krylon's Champagne Nouveau Metallic spray paint, I painted the letters - being careful to spray straight on and not at an angle.

I did have a little paint overspray under the stencil, but I really like the softer look of the letters. Yay for imperfection!

I'd like to have a Lavender Tub booth some time, but for now - I think it adds a nice touch to my Lavender Tub bathroom. (The light from the window shining on the metallic paint looks a little strange in this pic, but I wanted share this view. The detail on the frame is so pretty.)