Photo transfer magic

One of my favorite DIY techniques is the photo transfer. It's relatively easy and it gives great results. 

Photo transfer allows you to make something fun, creative or sentimental from your favorite photos or images. These make great gifts as well J

All you need is:

• photo-editing program (nothing fancy, most of the simple programs will do fine)
• a digital photo (if you want to use an old photo, made before the digital era, you can scan it)
• a laser printout of that photo / image (has to be LASER printout)
• photo transfer medium (I use this one)
• brush, scissors
• surface you wish to transfer your photo onto (like canvas, wooden board, even textile)
• Mod Podge

Step 1: Edit your photo. Do whatever you need to make it look as you want – crop it, enhance the color, contrast, brightness... Maybe you want to work with a black and white photo - these look nice because transfer is rarely perfect, so... B&W photo + little damages = pretty vintage masterpiece; if you know what I mean J

Additionally, you can reverse the photo. Because when you transfer your  photo, you will get the reversed image (keep that in mind). So, if you want to get the image of the original photo (facing the right way), you need to reverse it.

Don't forget to size the photo to fit on the surface you are transferring it onto.

Step 2: Print out your photo.  It has to be a laser print. So if you don't have a laser printer at home, you'll need to take it to a photo studio.  If you are working with a B&W photo, ask for a color print anyway – this will enhance the quality of your photo and the result will be better. Print the photo on a fairly thin paper, trust me, it will be easier later.

Step 3: Cut out the printout of the photo.

Step 4: Cover the surface with the photo transfer medium. Cover the top of the photo as well. Work fast because the medium dries fast.

Step 5: Lay your photo face-down on top of your chosen surface. Use something (e.g. a ruler, credit card, roller brush...) to smooth out and flatten any air bubbles underneath the photo.

Step 6: Let it dry.

Step 7: Now it gets messy. Get your fingers wet (or you can use a sponge / wet cloth, etc.). Rub the back of the photo with your wet fingers. Keep doing  this until you reveal the photo. Be careful and gentle – you need to get rid of the white paper fibers, but you don't want to destroy the photo.

Step 8: Let it dry.

Step 9: If you see any paper fibers that still need to be rubbed off,  repeat the step 6.

Step 10: Let it dry completely and seal your work with Mod Podge.

Here are some additional ideas:

Another canvas transfer

Photo transfer on a wooden board

Really proud of this one. It's a photo transfer on a textile bag. The procedure is the same, I just used the Mod Podge for textile to seal my work and I ironed the image over the baking paper (in order to make it resistant to washing).

Before the clock strikes midnight

Hello DIY lovers!

Today I would like to share one of my favorite projects. I really enjoyed working on it...plus it turned out to be really simple.

I found the inspiration for it in „Makery“, the DIY book I'dgotten for my birthday last year. It was the one thing that really caught my eye, and as soon as I've seen it, I thought of one of my friends and how good something like this would look in her apartment.

So here it is, my own version of a felt cuckoo clock.

Supplies:

- thick felt (brown and some lighter color)

- wooden board

- clock mechanism

- wool

- cotton balls

- hook for hanging pictures

- scissors

- hot glue gun

Step 1: Shape a house out of a brown felt. I had to use two pieces because one wasn't big enough for a house that would cover the whole wooden board. I just cut off a part of the first piece turning it into the shape of a square. Then I placed the second piece horizontally and used the board as a guide for cutting out a roof. Finally, I cut out the hole where the clock mechanism will go.

Step 2: Make the leaves and a cuckoo bird out of a contrasting piece of felt. First, I drew the leaves and a bird on a piece of paper and cut the shapes out. Then I placed them on the yellow felt, traced the shapes with a pen and cut them out.

Step 3: Prepare the rest of the little pieces you may need. I made a pendulum out of wool and two cotton balls that I covered with the wool. I used the wool for some other details on the clock as well.

Step 4: Now that you prepared all the pieces you just need to put everything together. I just simply glued two pieces of the house on the wooden board and then glued all the little pieces on the house. (Note: I bought a board that already had a hole where the clock mechanism had to come. If your board doesn't have a hole, you'll need to drill one.)

Step 5: Assemble the clock mechanism by following the instructions on the package. Some mechanisms have the hook which can be used to hang the clock on the wall. This one doesn't so I glued the separate hook on the back of the clock...and that's it!

The clock is happily hanging on my friend's wall. :)

Ready for 2015!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/357121445425242693/

New year, new beginning...

Each year we hope for a great year, the best so far, a year filled with happiness, success and fun moments that will become our greatest memories... No matter what the previous year was like – whether it was good or bad, we get the chance to start all over again, to make a change, to start something new. That's the magic of new beginnings!

I start every new year with a brand new planner that will help me organize all my upcoming responsibilities, events and ideas. And this year I decided to go with a DIY planner. To be honest, it was a lengthy project and it took more effort than I thought it will. But in the end, it turned out into one of my most special planners till date and I will proudly carry it around throughout the year.

For this project I decided to try something new – journal binding.

I started with preparing the pages. I didn't make my own planner templates because I found these free printables on http://www.thehandmadehome.net/2014/06/free-planner-and-calendar-more-2015/.

These are awesome, colorful and fun, and made my project a lot easier. The only „problem“ for me was their format – the smallest is A5, and I prefer my planner at least 2 times smaller. So I decided to print them out in a smaller format - which didn't really work. The major problem was that I couldn't get the smaller pages to overlap nicely when I printed them out two-sided. Then I tried to arrange them by using Microsoft Word, and this time it worked! Here is what I did:

1. I copied all pdf files to clipboard and pasted them as pictures in Word.

2. I resized all the files to the same size and arranged them on a page – I ended up having 4 smaller pages on one page. The sheets looked kinda like this:

Sheet for monthly / weekly pages

Sheet for monthly / weekly pages

Sheet for "weekly" pages

Sheet for "ideas" pages

The arrangement was made according to what I wanted to get when I print them out and cut the sheets in half. For an example, I needed "February" page to be printed on the back of the "January" page and "April" page on the back of the "March" page. In the same way, "Thursday to Sunday" page needed to come out on the back of "Monday to Wednesday" page. Also, I made a few pages with inspirational quotes from my collection of words on pinterest.

3. When I was satisfied with my new adapted templates, I printed them out, two-sided.

4. I cut the sheets in half. Since my bottom margin was bigger than the top one, I had to cut the excess of the paper on the bottom as well. So there was a lot of cutting. :/

5. Then I created 4 groups of pages - one is a mix of "monthly" and "weekly" pages, two contain only "weekly" pages and the last one contains "ideas" pages. I folded the pages in half, thus giving me my signatures and I was finally ready for the binding.

I won't describe the binding process, but here are the tutorials I used:

http://are-you-flowin.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-your-own-long-stitch-bound-journal.html

http://melissaesplin.com/2013/12/tutorial-leather-handbound-book/

And here are the photos of the finished planner: 

Hmmm... Something is missing. Some polka dots, maybe :)

Yep, now it's much better!

And the inside...

2015, we are ready for you! :)

Simple refashion tutorial: Add some personality to your dull clothes with some fabric liner

Today I would like to share this simple refashion project that requires only a relatively steady hand and maybe some drawing skills (not necessarily).

Ready? Here we go!

You will need:

• A plain shirt or some other piece of clothes
• Fabric liner in desired color
• Stencil (optional)
• Old newspaper

I refashioned this shirt for my friend after she saw what I did with my old black dress (you can see the photo at the end of this post). She chose the design – I guess mustaches are "in" these days, right?

What you need to have in mind when drawing on clothes, is that you won't be able to fix any big mistakes – fabric paint does not go off! So be careful, work slowly and patiently, and use a stencil if necessary. I used a stencil that I made myself – I drew a design on a piece of paper, folded it along the vertical line and cut it out; this way, after I unfolded it, I had a symmetric face – yeah, I'm not able to draw symmetric characters, one side always looks better. :)

Step 1: Put some newspaper inside the shirt to prevent the paint from leaking through to the other side of the shirt.

Step 2: Place stencil on the desired spot and pin it to the fabric.

Step 3: Draw the outline with the fabric liner.

Step 4: Let the paint dry and then carefully remove the stencil.

Step 5: Fill in the character with fabric paint.

Step 6: Let it dry and iron over a piece of cloth or baking paper.

Step 7: Wear it proudly ;)

I am really satisfied how it turned out and my friend was thrilled. So, woohoo! :)

(not really a good photo, sorry)

And here is the dress that inspired the mustache shirt – well, in a way ;)

The story behind it is really simple – I had a plain black cotton dress that I got in H&M, wore it for about a year and then concluded that it is too black. After considering several designs, I decided to write down one of my favorite songs on the skirt (yes, it's the actual song, not just random notes). 

I also added the ribbon with the bow around the neckline.

And if you think this is too complicated, you can always go with something much more simple – for an example, you can write down a favorite quote.

I hope you'll try this. It is a relatively simple way to add some personality to your clothes and make a statement.

These shoes were made for...

Do you have a pair (or two) of shoes that you can't throw away, even though they already look completely worn out? Well, I know how you feel. Meet one of my favorite pairs of shoes. They are comfortable, they have red laces and we've been walking around together for about two years. :)

Naturally, all that walking left a trace on the soles and heels, so I've decided to do something about it.

I had this project on my mind for some time now. I've seen similar projects on Pinterest and other DIY blogs and here is my version.

For this project I used:

Rice paper with text pattern

Art Potch Decoupage Glue and Lacquer (matt and glossy)

Paintbrush

... and, of course, old shoes

Step 1: Prepare your shoes – clean the area you want to decoupage. I also sanded the most damaged parts of the heels a little bit.

Step 2: Prepare the rice paper. Measure how much paper you need and rip it into smaller pieces.

Step 3: Use a paintbrush to cover heels with decoupage glue (I used Art Potch matt), and stick the pieces of the rice paper onto it. Cover them with another layer of Art Potch and let dry completely.

Step 4: Carefully cut off any excess of the paper (I used the exacto knife and nail scissors to do that.)

Step 5: Seal your work with another layer of Art Potch. I used Art Potch glossy for this step to make my heels more resistant to water and dirt (I mean, we don't want to see them ruined by rain, don't we).

Let it dry...

... and you've got yourself a „new“ pair of shoes! :)

Pearls are a girl's best friend (part 2)

If you agree with this statement, then you're in the right place and please continue reading.  :)

I already mentioned why I love the pearls in my previous post where I showed you how I made my new chunky pearl necklace. You can check the tutorial here.

Today I'm gonna show you how to make pearl waterfall earrings.

You'll need:

Pearl beads of different size (and colors)

Head pins and/or wire

Chain

Earring hooks

Jump rings

Pliers

Step 1: Cut the chain to the desired length of the earring.

Step 2: Pull the head pins through the pearls. The holes in my pink pearls were too small for pins so I used wire instead. I made a little loop at the end of the wire and then pull it through the bead.

Step 3: Cut the excess of the head pin or wire. Make sure you leave enough of it to make a loop.

Step 4: Attach pearl beads to the chain.

Step 5: Attach the chain to the earring hook using a jump ring.

Step 6: Repeat the whole process one more time.

And voila!

I really love them. My new favorite! :)