How to Make a Burlap Rose–Part 3

My Journey of trying to cut Burlap with a Pazzles Inspiration Electronic Die Cut Machine – PART 3

Part 1 - How to prepare your Burlap
Part 2 – How to Assemble the Rose.

Well, mud on my face, I was unsuccessful!  I was just told that sometimes a steel die just works….and I truly could have made 100 Roses by now, by not fiddling with this.

But just incase you want to give this a go, I will tell you what I did, and if you figure this out, please let me know!

I took prepared burlap (prepared burlap from now on will mean, I have dipped it in the 50% mod podge and water to stiffen it) and used painter’s tape to tape down to my mat.  I used the balsa wood setting with the blade at 6.  The burlap moved, Had to stop my machine.

I put the raw burlap on my mat and covered it with clear contact paper.  This cuts but you really can’t see the shape well. 

I put the prepared burlap on my mat and covered it with clear contact paper. This cut’s but slips

I tried it again, but sandwiched the prepared burlap between the contact paper. 

I sandwiched the prepared burlap between two sheets of freezer paper and fused it by ironing it.  This performs like the contact paper, except the paper get’s cut perfectly, so when you do a second pass it lifts up.  Contact paper is better.

Oh dear God, where was my mind?  I sandwiched the burlap between two sheets of red tape.  Worked!  but…..OF COURSE it leaves the burlap sticky on both sides….another No-GO and this brainy idea of mine, could have been a blooper!

It just dawned on me, while typing this, to fuse the freezer paper to the burlap and cover it with the red tape…Just measured the thickness it’s 1.69MM which is under the 2.0MM limit of the machine.

I am going to post this, as I need to have a rest from this project.  Have you ever worked on a problem so long that you just don’t want to do it any more?

Sorry folks….at this time, I would highly recommend using the BIGZ die.

 

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.

Crafting vs Football

HA, that's a no brainier for me!

I made sure lots of snacks were at arms reach, including my hubbies favorites, Deviled eggs and 7 layer dip and off I went to the craft room!

I finally finished all three gifts! Whooohooo! This has been a on-going for the last few posts, so if you want to know what's in the box, you will have to read the past two or three blogs.

This was my first bag topper, I really like how it turned out. I was a bit creative with the bow on the top. You can't see it, but the flower is an alternating mixture of the beige and blue ribbon. Well heck, I will run back and try and get a better photo of it. I took all my ribbon scraps I had left over from the three projects and threaded them on a needle, then hit it with my hot air gun. I glued a "diamond" down in the center of the Flower.

 

It looks like the football game is over, perfect timing! I am being told the Raven's and the 49er's are going to play in the 2013 Superbowl. Love it when football is on....I get uninterrupted craft time!

Oh, one more thing, that dear sweet husband of mine, made me another shelf!

I am loving this! No rod to take the ribbon off off. The following photo is the other shelf he made me for my wrapping paper. I had the bright idea to have him make it longer than the rolls so I could also use it for ribbon. Not one of my better ideas...

 

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Clothes Pin Fiasco!

In my WOYWW - 189 Post, I said I would get with it and blog about the clothes pins.  Well here goes!

My first attempt at Clothes pins was a fiasco! I belong to the Amazing Paper Grace Club and receive a kit each month. This month had this project in it, however they forgot to include the clothes pins. I just used what I had. The magnet shipped to use did not work with my clothes pins. I can't tell you how long I played with this. Such as cute idea and oh so frustrating. I finally took the magnets off and gave the gift without the magnet. I called APG and they did mail me some clothespins...now I really did not care about the clothespins, but I did want to see how they were different than mine. They were really no different, a wee bit smaller and a wee bit wider. I guess I will never know why the magnet sheet would not work with my pins...I used E6000, zip dry, my ATG let dry over night, and 5 minutes after hanging them up the magnet would separate from the wood....

See the cute little box they will be present in. 

Bound and determined to figure this mystery out...I looked at Etsy. Sure enough, folks were selling them with a magnet.

I used modge podge glossy, on the next set. this made the pins sticky, so I switched to modge podge Matt and that did the trick!

Then I had this brain storm to put names on the pins....so I used the technique used commonly with candles of taping tissue paper to cardstock and send through the printer.

To easy!

All I had to do was modge modge it on! I thought I was so smart, but it soon dawned on me it was double work. As soon as I sanded, inked the edges of all those pins, I decided to make a set for my son. This time, I took a Sheet of 6x6 cardstock from a pad, taped it to a sheet of printer paper and sent that through the printer. I taped it to regular printer paper, because I was using cardstock. The example above I taped tissue paper to cardstock. I already knew my printer would not take the thickness of two pieces of cardstock without throwing fits and jamming. Can you see below where I used scotch tape all the way around the cardstock. For my printer, I had to put the paper in the tray upside down, yours might be diffrent.

This was so much faster!

The Joe clothespin was printed directly on paper. the others on tissue paper...you really can't tell the diffrence of either technique..All you have to do, is:

• Trim the paper to fit your clothespin
• Modge podge or glue the paper on the clothes pin
• Sand around the edges
• Distress Ink around the edges, if you want that look
• Modge podge to seal. (I prefer the mat finish, as it did not dry sticky)

I have made little boxes with my score-pal and now need to decorated to complete the gift. These can be used so many ways, here is just a few I can come up with

• Hold a photo
• Hold a recipe card
• Stick to the fridge
• Use on your desk to clip papers together
• Close chip bags

Do you notice the little magnets on the back side of the pin? These are earth magnets, very strong..I bought 100 of these magnets on eBay for .99 they were shipped from China for 8.00. So for 9.00, I received 200 each of 3mm x 2mm rare earth magnets. Ha, about a year ago...I live in the US and I have no idea what a mm is. So when they came in, they were so tiny, I had no idea how I was ever going to use them. SCORE!

Looking at the photos, you might not be able to tell how tiny the magnets are. HA, unless YOU know what a mm is. They really are not noticeable at all on the pins. I used E6000 to glue them down. First I put a small drop of glue on the pin, then dropped the magnet in it and pushed the magnet down, so it seated well against the pin. I have tested these with 5 sheets of 8 1/5 x 11 pieces of paper in them...they may hold more, I just quit testing.

I think I am safe. I do not think any of my birthday folks read my blog....

Oh sheesh, I just searched pinterest for clothespins! lots of fun stuff do to with clothespins.

 

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WOYWW - 188

Doesn’t look like much………..but I am so tired, just covered 25 of these puppies!  I am trying out something new…will know tomorrow if it works or not! 

I am SO COVERED in it right now!  Darn, as I look at this photo, I see a brush I did not clean hiding over in the corner….uggggg

Ha, I just noticed my Tim Holtz stamp thingie up in the left hand corner, the dern pad fell of tonight, so, I read somewhere that you could simply glue it back on…so since I had the E6000 out, I glued it.  Will find out tomorrow if it works or not. 

Off to bed I go, oh, if you are wondering what the heck I am posting a photo of my craft desktop for, check out Julia’s blog over at the Stamping Ground!  Each Wednesday, we share … you got it, what’s on our desk at the time…

When I finish this project, I will blog about it!  That’s all folks!  Have just the best week!

I finished the blog.  Click here to see it.

Hugs, Robin