Textile medium and you!

After my initial discovery of the box, I went on my craft store adventure to get some more supplies. I didn't take a close look at the contents until I got home from the craft store.

Peering into the box, I found a rainbow of bottles of…acrylic paint? This is the paint I used in my youth for various craft projects. I remember making a jewelry box out of popsicle sticks as a mother’s day gift and painting it with acrylic paint. But why did I have so many? The answer was in that same box.

Textile medium is a liquid that can be added to acrylic paint to make it “soft” and usable on fabrics. Mixing the two, based on the instructions on whatever brand you get, turns acrylic paint into fabric paint. Instead of being limited by the colors (and price) of fabric paint, textile medium allows the thrifty crafter to make fabric paint from any color of acrylic paint they can find!

This is great for those times when one only needs a small amount of a particular color to use on fabric and does not want to spend too much money on fabric paint. Simply get a bottle of acrylic paint, which usually runs for $1 or less, in the color you want, and mix it with textile medium. Voila! You have custom fabric paint.

The only downside to using textile medium? You MUST remember to heat set it. The bottle of textile medium I have doesn't look quite right, so I think I am going to order this one. It has very good reviews on amazon.

Next time, I might finally try a project!

All About Freezer Paper

(via makeit-loveit.com)

In my first post, I mentioned (and linked to) Reynolds freezer paper. What is this magical product, and why will I be using it for crafting?

Freezer paper is paper where one side has a plasticky coating. It was originally used for freezing meats, as the plastic side prevents freezer burn on whatever you wrap in it. The plastic side, also known as the shiny side, has another purpose. When you iron freezer paper, the plastic side will adhere to fabric! It sticks, but it can be repositioned if necessary. It is like the post-it note of the craft world, if all post-it notes were completely covered with that sticky stuff on one side :)

I'm not completely sure how I stumbled upon using freezer paper to make stencils, but I'm glad I did! I have not used this technique in quite some time, but I will show off the results of trying it again on this blog.

(Source: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/01/what-is-freezer-paper.html)

Craft Store Magic

This blog isn't just for fun. I'm being graded on it for a writing class, and I have to have 4 entries posted by tonight. As I was thinking to myself what else I could write about, I received an email that answered my prayers. It was a 25% off coupon for Michaels!

I knew a trip to the craft store was in the cards for me anyway, but this just encouraged me further. I figured I would go there, take a look around, and hope for inspiration to strike!

So. Much. Fabric paint.

My best friends when stenciling

Just walking in the doors reminded me of the excitement I felt every time I went in during high school. I would stalk the weekend newspaper ads, waiting to see if the supplies I needed would be on sale. As a teenager I worked in an office and at a grocery store. My meager paycheck was enough to go out with friends from time to time. I had to keep myself to a strict budget for craft supplies, and it is something I still have to do. I have found that these restrictions force me to be creative, and I am always looking to improve my creative skills.

I was not disappointed by my trip. I found some inexpensive foam paintbrushes, which will come in handy for many projects, but the big deal I scored was on fabric paint. For some reason, 5-packs of small bottles of tulip soft fabric paint were on clearance for $3 when they are usually sold for $10 each! I now have a rainbow of regular, neon, and glitter colors for whatever projects I set my heart on.

My bounty!

The Box

(Author's Note: My bad! I somehow deleted the content of this post. This is reconstructed from a previous draft.)

It all started with a box.

I was doing my annual spring cleaning when I found it. Don’t you love how the phrase “spring cleaning” makes the fact that most people do a deep cleaning only once a year sound good? It was hiding on the top shelf of my closet, shoved in the back corner. It was a nondescript Sterilite container.

The infamous box. Also, a preview of my amazing photography skills.

Nothing special, but it was full of memories. Jars of fabric paint, a roll of freezer paper, an exacto knife. These, along with freezer paper, were the tools of my trade in high school. In between writing for the school newspaper, doing sound tech for drama club productions, and building robots with the robotics team, I decorated t-shirts and canvas tote bags. Just seeing that box reminded me of how much I enjoyed those simple projects. I would buy plain t-shirts whenever they went on sale at the craft store and stencil whatever I wanted on to them.

Looking back, I think this was the beginning of my personal style evolution. Ten years later, I still love wearing fun t-shirts on casual days or to the gym. The proliferation of inexpensive t-shirt websites (LINK) has increased my t-shirt collection significantly, but there is nothing like choosing your own design and creating something. The most complicated thing I can draw is a stick figure, and I am not very good at photography, but I can paint on a stencil pretty well.

In thinking more about the concept for this blog, I believe it will become a memoir of sorts. It will be the story of me getting back into crafting, but also the story of me reminiscing about the first time I fell in love with crafting. Now that I have some distance from my teenage years, I find that reflecting on them is something I wouldn’t mind doing. I also hope to impart some wisdom on what NOT to do with the projects I select.

So welcome, dear reader, to my journey way way back into the world of crafting. Enjoy the ride!