How to make a Burlap Rose–Part 1

How to prepare burlap for die cutting
How to Die Cut Burlap – Part 2 
My Journey trying to cut burlap on my Pazzles – Part 3

I think, I am late in the game of Burlap!  Funny, loosely woven burlap has traditionally been used for sacks.  I am going to guess that not many years ago, my ancestors used burlap for clothing, or at least that was the stories told along with no shoes to walk in the snow to school.

If you follow my blog, you know that I am a CASE’D crafter!  “Copy and Share Everything”  My burlap flower was inspired by Lorinda’s video.  My Burlap Rose just made this weeks favorite on Splitcoaststampers for the week ending July 20, 2014. 

So, enough rambling, I will grab another cup of coffee and tell you what I learned!

Lorinda’s video will teach you how to create the rose.  If you have never cut burlap before, you are going to be in for a surprise…not a good surprise, but a surprise…the dern stuff is so crooked on the edges…it’s impossible to cut straight.  Take a look at this and come right back.  I will go get another cup of coffee.

Ok, now that you have an idea how to cut the burlap these are the tools you will need.

• Sizzix’s Flower Layers #5
  • Sizzix is out of stock, however I did find mine on ebay.
• Burlap
  • Wallmart, Joannes, Michaels sells this at about 2.99 to 1.99 a yard.  A yard will make a lot of flowers!    You will need three 3.25” Square’s. If you only want to make a few 1/8 of a yard will do.  You can click on the photo and it will take you to this calculator.

 

• Mod Podge
  • Any kind will do…Elmer’s would do.  I even used Liquitex Matte Gell.  What ever you choose to use mix it 1:1 with water. I used a plastic shoe box to mix and dip in.
• Clothes Pins
• Clothes Hanger
• Sicissors
• Pokie tool thing (this is what I use, you can use a paper clip opened up or a needle)  hum, pokie tool thing?  I guess it’s a dentist probe…not liking the sound of that, I will keep it at Pokie tool thing.

Ok now that you have gathered all your things, it’s time to cut your burlap.  Make sure you take a peek at this, if you have never cut burlap before.

Since you are going to be cutting the large image three times, no need to waste your burlap.  I pulled a thread every 3.25 or 3.5 inches across the short side of the fabric. 

Once you have your strips it’s time to mix up your glue.  You don’t have to be exact…just eyeball it and mix it with 50% water in your plastic shoe box.

Take your strips and dip them in their…oh WAIT…..I had to do this outside, close to my garbage can because it’s going to drip like crazy. 

Really wishing I had a clothes line at this point…Now, the card I posted above, I did that bunch of burlap by dipping into the glue and squeezing it out and then hanging it…oh my gosh….yes, it worked, yes, it dried faster, yes, I used way less glue but holy heck Batman, I had to iron it, and iron it again with steam…it was 106 that day and I swore I would NEVER do that again!  Glue is cheep…Air Conditioning not so…

Notice how straight my burlap is….  no ironing this way!

I pour my glue back into the glue container and use it again .

Ok this next step you can do or not…I prep my burlap before I need it, and it would not surprise me if I had a bit of OCD going on.  I trim up my edges.  This makes the next step way easier, if you are concerned with saving burlap, because you can see the edges clearly.

Ah, come on now, aren’t you impressed with how that burlap feels?  Wait until you cut it girlfriend!

That’s all for today folks!  Get your burlap ready and I will see you on the next blog post – Topic – Cutting stiffened burlap on a big shot.  Oh and after that, God Willing, how to cut burlap on an electronic die cutter….

….pssssst….if you took the time to read this and I took the time to write this, please leave me a comment!  It’s the only way I know, if anyone reads them.  It encourages me to write again.  Let me know if you enjoy/or not, my postings.

Ribbon Lattice Work

Well, I gave up, trying to weave my new spellbinders die, Lattice Rectangles, S4-319, however, I did locate the die used in the project on ebay.  As you know from previous posts, the die used in the project is discontinued.

My inspiration came from two sources. 

Amazing Paper Grace
Tara’s Craft Studio

On Amazing Paper Grace, you will find a video.  It is just awesome to watch, she also has a weaving guide.  I had a hard time understanding the weaving guide, so I recreated another that makes since to me.

You will need 2 yards of ribbon for each panel.  If you are going to put the weave on all 4 sides of the box, you will need 8 yards of ribbon.  I have color coded my notes for you.  The blue notes use your first yard of ribbon.  Thread your ribbon up through the first hole and tape down your tail. Notice I say up and down.  That means, thread your ribbon up through the hole or down through the hole.  Also note I say OOUUOO as an example.  That means on your way over to the next hole, cross over, over, under, under, over, over any ribbon on the way

Please please, leave a comment if you give this a shot, I would love to know, if I made the weaving process simpler.  Please check out Amazing Paper Graces tutorial, Grace’s may be MUCH simpler than mine….we are all different and seem to learn, very differently from one to another.

I own a pazzles, but I am not so good at creating with it.  Hopefully, someone will recreate this die, so that those of us with machines can try this out as purchasing the die is a problem.  Here is a scan of the die, in the event you happen to be able to recreate this as a wpc file.

Cupcake Gift Card Holder

Gift Cards-----just hate them!

I hate Gift Cards! Don’t get me wrong here…I always feel like I did not spend time on the wonderful person who will be celebrating.

It seems so impersonal to me. It the way of the world I guess, instant gratification! I believe that the gift is in the giving, not the receiving. So I ask myself, what the heck do I get out of this gift card! NADA. Just nothing. Zip.

So, I have a beautiful grand niece, whom I dearly love celebrating today! Well, I have no idea what this young lady would love to have at 17…..that’s important to me…to get her something she would love….since I see her rarely, I have no idea. So, to satisfy both needs, here is what I did!

First I made a sticky pad for my notes! ha! off topic, but thought you might like to know how I make these….simple, cut your scrap paper, into squares, use repositionable glue stick at the top of one sheet, then cover, glue top then cover…get the idea! great use for those scraps!

 

I learned how to make the cupcake gift cards by searching the internet….actually, I traveled to a craft show that was held about 5 hours away from my home. There was only one class, I wanted to take. They wanted 40 dollars for the class….I wanted to spend my 40 on supplies, since I spent my money on gas, just to attend….and pay to get in….then I knew I was probably going to be buying some supplies to take back home. Kinda irritates me to pay for classes, well, back to the story, I found the exact same class, online! don’t you just love the internet! I found this wonderful youtube VISUAL direction by The Stamp Goddess from Fabulously Artsy, Called Hey, Cupcake! and of course…..spent way more than $40.00 on supplies on the craft show haul in fact, the ribbon I use later on I purchased from that craft show.

One of the first things you will do is to cut a 6” circle and a 2” circle out of chipboard. I used cardstock instead of the chipboard.

I used my EK Scissor Circle, which I love, but have ruined two craft mat! two I say…. one a long time ago, and one today…I used my scissor circle on top of it. Don’t do this.

Now to figure out what I can do with non-stick circles, 2 inches and 6 inches…oh boy…

I am not going to recreate her video or directions….hers is simply awesome. I will just tell you my tips along the way. When she tells you to cut 2X12 inch strips and accordion fold them every 1/4 inch…here is what I do. I score them every 1/2 inch, then flip the paper and score in between (notice on the scoreboard, these are all the places the that have a dot, well that’s in-between the 1/2 inch!

Easy-Peasy!

If you have a hand problem, like I do, pay someone to accordion fold those for you! ha!

No, I did not pay anyone to do that for me, but boy does that cramp my hands.

Scoring like I do, really helped that pain…and when I could not handle the pain any more, I just put a binder clip on it and drunk another glass of wine…

Notice my handy dandy post-it notes there….I am a keeping notes on what I am doing!

Ah life is good, don’t know if the binder clips or the wine is getting me through this part…

Now, when you are hot gluing….yikes! when I see the word, hot glue, I cringe…because I have burned myself so many times. Well no more! Thanks to Cathie at Hot Glue Gun Helpers on Etsy, no more burns! I use this EACH AND EVERY TIME the old glue gun comes out! if you own a glue gun, you should own this!

When you are gluing the accordion folded paper to your form, I used the rubber bands again….they helped me hold everything in place while I was gluing. Now it's time to fit your gift card inside the ball....

Don’t send hubby for gift card, or you might just have to deal with something you did not plan on…..

I used Melissa Frances Ribbon, two layer ribbon on the bottom (only about 9 inches) and then her Floppy blossom next (10 inches). I used her pleated satin for the icing. I have made this cupcake before, and the dern thing took yards and yards of ribbon. Using Melissa Frances Ribbon, because it is already gathered or pleated or in the blossom shape, it took, hardly any! whoopeeeee! And my hands did not cramp trying to gather up all that ribbon. I simply, physically, could not gather the ribbon. Thank goodness I ran across Melissa Frances Ribbon at the craft show, so I could make my second one without so much hand pain.

no time to buy another craft mat! I just had to be careful of the holes, or I would have painted my new ikea furniture! oh dear. I took a bamboo skewer, wooden ball and some baker’s twine…used liquid glass from Close to My Heart to glue all in place, painted red and sprayed with glitter. This took care of my cherry!

While that is drying…off to make the gift box. just a rough measure I know I need a box 4 X 4.

Select my paper...EDIT---as the photos show, selected the paper, screwed up, due to wine...select different paper, because that was the last of the pretty pink, paper. Add to notes, do not drink wine and create at the same time.

Follow the easy box rules. For the lid, I found a die cut that would fit inside the 4” Square. Once I die cut the "hole" just cover with acetate you have been hoarding. of course that means you will have to remember where you stored the acatate!

I forgot to tell you, I decided that I wanted my lid to only have 1" sides.

According to the "easy box rules" and my memory of 3rd grade math. I know I need a 4" lid, and 1" sides x2. Add 1/8 so it will fit on top of the 4" box...

4+1+1+1/8 = 6 1/8

So I just cut my paper to 6 1/8 square and scored 1 inch on all 4 sides, found a die that would fit in the middle of the 4" square, die cut, clip corners tape and took another sip of wine!

Here is the other cupcake I made! The first one took loads of ribbon, which I had to gather myself….this was very hard for a person that does not have any grip with hands….oh heck, let's be honest here. I don't have much grip on anything!

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