Back When I Thought I was Crafty…

…I mentioned that I had a PDF of the shrink plastic clasp and then I never spoke of it again (the clasp for my S.Y.T.Y.C. entry). Remember now?  I have made the basic line drawing into a PDF that you can color and customize yourself and here are some helpful tips:

I used a sharpie marker to trace my design onto my shrink plastic.

I made several practice banners on paper with my words (Craft or Die) to get the spacing just right and then traced them onto the plastic.

I colored in the design using colored pencils.  Remember, when it shrinks the colors will get darker.  Also remember to color in the white areas with white pencil or they will be transparent.

I cut out the inner area using a super sharp exacto knife.

Once my plastic was shrunk and cooled I color the edges with a sharpie or paint pen, I think it just looks nicer.

Finally I sealed the back with a nice thick coats of diamond glaze.

If you have any other questions just ask, good luck and let me know how they work for you (remember I love to share, but my PDFs are for personal use only).

More of The Chica Bag

I worked on my Crafty Chica bag all day yesterday.  Layering the paint to get solid bright colors over that turquoise fabric took forever, but once I was finished with that I couldn’t wait to start embellishing!  I even went outside to take a “well lit, non blurry” photo for you to see. I am still finishing the lettering and the buttons on the banner.  I also have to finish the lettering on the back piece, I might even have time to work on the lining.  Then I will be able to stitch it all together.  I’m sure by the end of the week everyone will be sick of seeing this bag, but I can’t help it, I’m obsessed.  See the other entries on Flickr.

What I did this Weekend

Last week we had an appointment with the Lincoln Action group, they provide weatherization and during the inspection we discovered black mold in one of our basement walls. Well you know that has to be fixed. Luckily in was contained in a small wall, so this weekend we took the wall down. I cordoned off the area with plastic put on my mask and started ripping it down. My Father was here to help and Marma(my Mother) kept the kids busy. Most of the mold was growing on the back of the drywall and there is no way to get it off, so out it went! The mold was caused by moisture in the wall from an old leak that had already been repaired. I sprayed the interior of the wall down with a mold killing spray, we have a dehumidifier running full blast, and in a few weeks when we’re sure the mold is dead and everything is nice and dry we’ll put the wall back up. We will be replacing one of the studs in the bathroom wall, installing an access door for the plumbing, and putting recessed shelving into the family room wall. And that swimming pool blue paint will get painted over too!

I have also been working on my Crafty Chica bag. I have finished the appliqués. Kelly (refibered) gave me a mini lesson on reverse appliqué at our Lincoln Handmade Team meeting last week. I have started the painting. I’m using regular acrylic craft paint mixed with textile medium, it’s taking a lot of coats to get good coverage, but it worth it.This is the back, I’m going to have to get a shot of these outside so the glitter vinyl is more noticeable! Here is the front, I’ve finished the white areas and am building up the yellow and red areas.

Once the painting is finished I will be embellishing this further with dimensional paint, glitter paint, rhinestones and maybe some sequins. I also have something super special planned for the inside, so check back. The contest has been extended to the 24th., so there is still time for you to give it a shot! (See the Flickr gallery here.)

More Bag Sketches

After considering the advice I received from Christy and Ashley I decided to redesign the front.  I pared it down a little bit (I was sad to get rid of the sparrows), so I could make the banner and skull larger.I think I almost have it.  The skull needs to come down a bit and I might try to squeeze some scissors in there too!

I think the other design had too much going on and since it was smaller it would have been harder to embellish and there will be some serious embellishing!

Let me know what you guys think!

Sketches for the Crafty Chica Challenge

I am working on the painted design for my beach bag for the Crafty Chica Challenge.  I have the bag pattern all ready to go, but first I need to paint the design.  I want to use the “tattoo flash” style that I used for my back patch, but I wanted a new design.

This is what I have for the front, but I think it needs something else/more/different.  I like the top and the bottom, but I need to work on the middle.  I can’t decide if I should add more stuff, start over on the middle portion, or revert back to the design for the back patch. I like the back, maybe the front is just too busy.  I need some advice, what should I do with the design for the front and how does the shape of the bag look?  Leave me a comment and help me decide!