Category Archives: CHA

Top Ten: Cool Stuff @ CHA 2010 (#1-5)

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More CHA fun! … Without further ado, here’s #1-5 of my top ten cool stuff at CHA 2010:

#5. Grungepaper Coat: Great patchwork coat made from scrapbooking Grungepaper. Check out the fab flowers on the detail photo!
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#4. Petaloo Color Me Crazy: Fun paper, cotton, velvet and mulberry flowers to color and decorate for all your creative projects!04petal

Take a closer look at some of what you can do with these flowers. I’d love to embellish some wearable art with Color Me Crazy flowers. What would you do with them?04detail

03paint#3. C&T Publishing‘s Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic & Canvas Books: These are the terrific paints I did my CHA demo projects with. (Get the tutorials here: fabric painting | fabric ribbon rosettes.)

Lots of pigment, brilliant colors, and permanent with no heat setting required. Can be used for many different techniques.

03canvasWant a fun surface to paint on? Try these nifty canvas books! They’re ready for your creative touch.

#2. Rabinowitz Design Workshop‘s Waxmelter Electric Batik Pen: How fun is this? Melt crayon bits or batik wax to make fabulous fiber art or scrapbook pages.02batik

Drum roll, please … The most wonderful thing I found at CHA, the best thing ever for applique-quilters since fusible web …

01me hands and scissor free applique!

#1. Making Memories‘ Slice Craft Cutter: Why should scrapbookers have all the fun? Now the fantastic Slice craft cutter can cut fusible fabric appliques!

Place fusible-backed fabric and the Slice cutter onto the magnetic board, select your design, size, press the button and …01slice

Voila! Fusible applique piece ready to be ironed to your background fabric. (Note: The Slice cutter does not dye your appliques and change their color for you. Two different fabrics are shown in these two photos.)01flowerAnd here’s a tea towel to show off the quick and easy Slice applique project. Want to see the Slice in action? (you know you do!) Check out this video from the Making Memories blog.)01towel

That’s all for CHA 2010! Thanks for joining me! ^_^

Top Ten: Cool Stuff @ CHA 2010 (#6-10)

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What’s more fun than Disneyland and crafty too? The CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Craft SuperShow and Winter Convention & Trade Show at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Quilters know quilt shows, but in case you’ve never been to a CHA show, here’s my Top Ten List of Cool Stuff you’ll find at CHA:

07pencils#10. Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Pencils: Fabulous oil-based colored pencils: Strong, smooth, sharp, gorgeous colors, great for blending, plus no fading or waxy buildup. Need I say more?

#9. Soft Flex‘s Trios: Love color? Love to make jewelry?06trios Soft Flex colored beading wire now comes in fabulous variety packs. Here are two of my favorites from the new 2010 collection: Egg Hunt and Be My Valentine.

08halina#8. Halina Tepper, Button Sculptor: Halina make amazing sculptures from buttons and recycled materials.

08lion20,000 buttons are sewn onto this lion!

08mouseThe cute mouse pincushion has slightly fewer buttons than the lion, but would make a fun addition to any sewing room.

08kangaroosThese little kangaroos give you a peek at how the button sculptures are made. The buttons on the finished kangaroo are made from the same used glue bottles that form the base.

10appliquecake#7. Provo Craft’s Cricut Cake: Use scrapbooking Cricut cartridges in the Cricut Cake machine (specially made to be food-safe, don’t try this at home with your Cricut Expression!) to make sugar gum paste cutouts to decorate cakes with. These super cute animals look like “cake appliques” to me. Peel and stick. How cool is that? Now anybody can be a cake decorator! (Available April 2010)

09studio#6. Epiphany Crafts‘ Button Studio & Shape Studio: As easy and fun as paper punches, make paper- or photo-backed epoxy scrapbooking charms and buttons. (Available April 2010)

Come back tomorrow to find out #1-5!

fabric ribbon rosettes

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rosettes14Today I demonstrated fabric painting and fabric ribbon rosettes at the CHA Winter Trade Show. For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s an online tutorial for fabric ribbon rosettes just for you. (Click here for my CHA fabric painting tutorial)

rosette13 To make a really special rosette, add a beaded fabric cover-button (button-beading techniques can be found in my book, Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry, by C&T Publishing.)

  1. Choose two contrasting fabrics and a coordinating button.
  2. Cut the fabric 18″ wide by as long as you wish. You can use one painted fabric piece and one paint-free, or two paint-free pieces. I don’t recommend using two painted fabrics back-to-back unless you plan to use glue to secure the rosette. It’s a little tough getting the needle through two layers of painted fabric. (I bent a very hefty needle trying.)
  3. Fuse a sheet of Wonder Under to the reverse side of one of your chosen fabrics. (Wonder Under is 17″ wide so it will fit nicely on a piece of fabric 18″ wide.) Trim off the excess fabric with a rotary cutter and ruler.rosette01
  4. Peel off the paper backing and fuse the reverse side of the other fabric to the first piece of fabric. Trim off the excess fabric. You now have a double-sided piece of fabric.rosette02
  5. Use a decorative blade rotary cutter to cut fabric ribbon strips 1/2″ – 5/8″ wide x 17″ long.rosette03
  6. Sew two lines of contrasting thread down the center of the fabric ribbon if desired. Use a different color in the bobbin for the fabric on the reverse side. (This stitching is more decorative than functional. The Wonder Under and fabric paint do a really good job of discouraging fraying.)rosette04
  7. Thread a large needle with strong thread and make a big knot near the end. (Big needles make big holes and you don’t want the knot pulling completely through.)
  8. Find the center of the ribbon’s length and pinch to mark the center.rosette05
  9. Make a loop at one end to form the first petal. With a 17″ long fabric ribbon you can make six 1-1/4″ petals.rosette06
  10. This is the view from underneath your petal. Fold the ribbon at an angle to start the second petal and show the contrasting fabric.rosette07
  11. This is the view from the top again. Fold the ribbon back to the top to make the second petal.rosette08
  12. Fold the fabric ribbon on top to start the third petal and bring the ribbon to the back again to complete the third petal. Look for the center crease you made in step #6. If the crease is part of the third petal then your first three petals are too large for the length of your fabric ribbon. You won’t have enough ribbon left for three more petals. If the crease is at or beyond the fold of the third petal, then you will have enough fabric ribbon for three more petals.rosette09
  13. Continue folding the fabric ribbon from front to back and back to front until you’ve completed all six petals.rosette10
  14. Pick up the needle and thread and make several hand stitches through the center to secure all the petals. Make sure the stitches are close enough to the center to be hidden by the button. If you have a large button you can spread your stitches out further where there are fewer layers of fabric.rosette11
  15. Finally stitch the button on the side you want to call front.rosette12

Voila! Now all that’s left is to decide what to do with your fabric ribbon rosette. Sew a pin back on, glue to a round magnet, or embellish a quilt or purse.

More CHA  fun to come!

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muse monday: inspired by boring fabric

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Got boring fabric? Try some fabric painting fun to jazz it up a bit and turn it into something you actually WANT to use! Here’s the technique I’m giving a demo on at the Craft & Hobby Association’s 2010 Winter Trade Show today:

  1. Start with some boring fabric. If you’re going to use it to make my fabric-painted rosettes, then cut it to be 18″ long. The piece below is about 9″ or 10″ by 18″. The enamel tray is great for containing the mess. Otherwise, you could cover your surface with freezer paper or plastic. (Tape it down taut for a smooth finish.)

    2. fabricpainting01

  2. Using a 1″ paintbrush and Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Paint (the ones in the plastic jars) make random diagonal brushstrokes across the fabric. I used Brilliant Purple here. Dip the paint brush in a little water if you wish, but don’t use too much water at this point because you want to have some opaque areas that block the pattern and some translucent ones that let the pattern peek through. See the lighter sections of purple in the brushstrokes below? That’s where the paint is not watered down. This will dry opaque and cover the pattern. The darker parts of the brushstrokes with the pattern showing through have less paint and more water.
  3. fabricpainting02Now add more water to the paint to make a thinner consistency and cover the entire piece of fabric with a thin coat of paint. You can leave a few scattered sections of fabric unpainted if you wish.
  4. fabricpainting03Add in some more thicker areas of paint.
  5. fabricpainting04Use a stencil to add some bling. I used Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic in Iridescent Rich Gold. I’m stenciling right on the already wet/damp fabric. This will make the pattern slightly less distinct, but more interesting. The water also holds the stencil in place so it makes things easier in that respect: you don’t have to worry about the stencil shifting. Place it straight down, dab the paint into the holes, and lift it straight up again. Repeat as desired.fabricpainting05

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  6. Next comes stamping. Use a paint brush to apply paint to foam stamps. Use less paint for a distressed look or completely cover the stamp for a complete image. If you start out with more paint you can stamp multiple times before reloading with paint and get ghost images. Just don’t put so much paint on the stamp that it oozes over the edges of the stamp. Stamp some images while the paint is still wet and then wait till it dries (or use a hair dryer like I do to speed up the process) and stamp some more to get distinct edges. Notice how the some of the purple checks are fuzzy. They were stamped onto wet fabric. The distinct checks were stamped after the fabric was dry.fabricpainting07fabricpainting08fabricpainting09fabricpainting10
  7. Finally use a small paintbrush on dry fabric to add details. Outline bits and pieces of the design showing through as well as some of the images you stamped, or just doodle. fabricpainting11

Voila! Now you have a fun piece of fabric to use for quilting, embellishing, and more! It would make a fabulous background for ATCs (artist trading cards) or fabric postcards. It would be great for an art quilt, but not so much for a quilt you’d want to snuggle with. Depending on how thickly you apply the paint, the fabric can come out a bit stiff. On the positive side, the painted fabric has more body and resists raveling. Tune in tomorrow to find out what I made with this piece of painted fabric (and get a tutorial too!)

Want more fabric painting fun? Check out Judi Hurwitt’s Rescuing Ugly Fabric post at the Approachable Art blog.