Drawstring Bag and Printing on Fabric Tutorial

Once again, I had to take advantage of Lynne's talent, over at A Simpler Time.  She posted a tutorial for a floral hanging sack.  I put a different little spin on it.  I printed right onto the fabric and sewed it up the same way I make my ditty bags.  Here is the finished product.  Then I'll do my best to walk you through it step by step.

Your going to need light weight fabric, I used muslin, freezer paper and an image to print out.  Freezer paper is shiny on one side.  Wax paper will not work with this.  I downloaded the image off of Lynne's blog(with her permission, of course) and saved it to my computer.    Then I cut a piece of muslin and a piece of freezer paper, the same size as a sheet of printer paper. 8.5"x11".  That's the largest size my printer will allow. *If you want to age your fabric, I would do it before this next step.  I think the ink will run once it gets wet*  Next, your going to lay the freezer paper down, shiny side up, and place your fabric, right side up, on top of it.  Flip it over and run your iron over the paper side of the freezer paper.  Basically, your heating it up so that the shiny side will stick to your fabric.  Make sure you get the edges well.  Here is what it will look like.

Here is a close up where you can see the two layers.

 Now, it's on to the computer.  Place the fabric/freezer paper into the printer and print your image out.  Make sure you have your fabric turned the right way to ensure the image will be printed on the fabric side and not the paper side.  I did a test print on normal paper first, just to be sure my image was the right size.

I love how that image looks on the muslin!

 Once the image is printed, you have to remove the freezer paper.  Just find a corner and pull it off.   It comes off very easily.

Now it's time to sew. ~WARNING~ I have had no formal teachings in sewing, so this is not going to be politically correct.  So for all the real sewers, I apologize ahead of time. LOL  I cut out another piece of muslin, the same size and place wrong sides together.  Then I stitched up one side.

Time for the drawstring.  I know this isn't the right way to do this, but it's the easiest way I have came up with.  Open up the two pieces (which is now one) and lay a piece of twine across the the length of the top.  Fold the fabric over the twine and pin it down.

Then stitch straight across.  Fold it back up, and stitch around the remaining two sides.  When I got to the top, I didn't sew across the twine.  I turned the fabric and finished just below the twine.  Ya, I know, hard to understand.  Here's an illustration.

I clipped the corners so it will lay flat when you turn it right side out.

Turn it right side out and I stuffed mine with fiber fill.  The draw strings should pull easily.  I hope that wasn't too painful to read through. If it was, I'm sorry.  LOL

Prim Jar Labels

I like to think I am pretty handy when it comes to Photoshop.  It's a computer program that I use to edit my wedding photos.  You can get pretty creative with graphics as well.  I have wanted to make labels for my old Ball canning jars.  I had the designs down, but for the life of me, could not get the sizes right.  I have searched, in all the wrong places, for free labels, until the other day, when I found a wonderful blog!!!  The site is called A Simpler Time (you can click on the name to visit the site) and the author's name is Lynne.  She is very talented and graciously has fantastic tutorials to share, including one on how to dry a pineapple.  Head over to her site and take a look around.  If you like what you see, become a follower.  Here are the jars I did up.  These shelves are on either side of my kitchen sink. 

Here's a close up.  I coated the inside of this jar with glue and dusted it with cinnamon and cloves.

I had to show you these.

My brother in-law, Chad, is a very talented man.  He is a skilled craftsman when it comes to woodworking.  He has made many pieces of furniture, and as of lately, I've asked him to make a few prim pieces as well.  Now he has ventured into making rings out of exotic wood from all over the world.  Here are a few of the rings he has made.  They are so beautiful! I took a sneak peek at some of the woods he just ordered and I can't wait to see how they turn out.  The first one is the one he made for me.  If anyone is interested in buying one, you can email me and I can get you in touch with him.

I need a small reminder

Right now, our temps are frigid.  If I had a dollar for every time I said, "I hate this cold" this week, I'd be able to go buy myself a nice antique cupboard.  I wanted to make a little something to remind me that spring is just around the corner, and before I know it, I'll be complaining about the heat of summer.  I put together this simple and bright potpourri/bowl filler.

I slice and dried a few red apples.  I dry them in the oven, on the lowest temp, and turn them every hour.  I've found they take a lot longer to dry than oranges.  I like to buy my cinnamon sticks whole and if I need them smaller, I just break them up.  I find the scent gets refreshed, for lack of a better term, when I break them.  The light green of the bay leaves are a nice contrast.  Toss that all in a bowl and voila, a small reminder of spring.

 I put the bowl one of my high traffic areas, so that I can gaze upon it when I walk by it and I let my mind wander off and dream of warmer temps, fresh air blowing through the open windows, laughing children playing in the freshly cut grass, and birds chirping in the blossoming trees.  Then I turn the corner and am brought back to reality by the slippers on my feet, and piles of the kids snow suits, mittens, and hats.

Sugar Cone Revisited

Two posts down, I made a sugar cone.  While the results were okay, it really wasn't quite what I had envisioned.  So I went through the many links I have bookmarked, and found another method.  Here's a link to that. Oodlekadoodle Primitives ~ Sugar Cones Tutorial  I won't lie, I had my doubts that it would work.  I didn't think it would stay together with such a little amount of water,  but it did and it's harden up nicely.  Now, I just need to find the right mold and I'll be 100% satisfied.  I'd like something a little smaller on top. The lighting in the photos are courtesy of the setting sun tonight.  So bright and warm.  Nothing like the temps out there.

Here's a close up.  I wanted to be able to see the granules of the sugar.  That didn't happen with the other one.

My new Prairie Curtains!

I MADE THESE!  Sorry, I don't mean to shout, but I am so excited that I made these myself!  I love them!  I just made them out of muslin, because thats the fabric I had most of today.  When I decide I want to do something, I don't usually want to wait, and a trip to the fabric store would have taken to long. LOL  They only took me two hours to make, with no mistakes.  I hope you like them as much as I do.  I was so excited to show you, I didn't even take time to straighten the towel on the rack.  Here is a link to the tutorial I used to make them. Powellton Hollow Primitives

Ditty Bag

Definition:
ditty bag

n.

A bag used to carry small items such as sewing implements.

I started getting the creative itch again.  I made a ditty bag with a drawstring and absolutely LOVE the way it turned out!  I'm going to go through my fabric and make up some more.  

Next up is a sugar cone.  I used brown sugar with some cinnamon and cloves mixed in.  Then I added just enough water to it so that it dripped off the spoon.  I cooked it on the stove for 5 min. or so then poured it into a mold and let it cool down and harden up.  I just used a plastic drinking glass for the mold but want to find something a little taller.  It was not the easiest thing to get out either.  I had to set the glass in boiling water so it would loosen up.  Next time I might try spraying it with nonstick spray first.

Turning Over a New Leaf

Up until now, the only holiday I have decorated for is Christmas.  I do some seasonal decorating, mainly fall, but I've never decorated for Easter.  Now that I'm getting friendly with my sewing machine,  I've made up a few ornies and bowl fillers for Easter.

A 'chocolate' Easter bunny.  This one doesn't call my name like the real chocolate ones do.  I'm pretty proud of this guy because I drew the template myself, by hand! I plan on making more carrots, so I have a bunch of them that I can tie together.  I just wanted to make one to see how it turned out.  After I painted it orange and stained it, I sprinkled it with ground cloves to give it that "fresh from the garden" dirty look.

I also made up some fabric eggs (pattern hand draw by me!).  Some of them were made with vintage scraps and I made two with blue ticking I picked up on our road trip.  I stained these as well, to give them a little age.

My favorite purchases and an apology.

First, I have to give an apology.  For all these months, I didn't think anyone was commenting on my posts.  I must admit, I was a little disappointed, but it really wasn't a biggie.  However, as I was going to create this new post, I stumbled on the fact that I had 42 comments waiting for 'moderation'.  I didn't even realize I had that setting set up.  Now I get to go back and read through them all!!!  It's like Christmas all over again.  And I have the blog set up so that the comments show up automatically now.

I don't have any new crafts on the go, because I have to finish the refinishing of the pieces I am doing for my mom.  Just priming them up a bit, but it seems to be taking me a lot longer than it really should.  Hopefully by next week mom! (I know she's reading. LOL)  So I thought I'd share a few pictures of some goodies I've purchased in the last few months.

I bought this rake at an antique store, for much less than I was really willing to pay.  I'm torn on whether to hang anything(s) from the pegs.  Would you?  I'm open to suggestions.

This is an orchard ladder that I bought at an antique barn is Shipshewana, IN. on our road trip in November.  During the holidays, I used it to display my Christmas Cards.  It worked perfectly.

Now that the Christmas decorations are put away, although I'm still running across things I've forgotten to pack up, I'm redecorating the mantel.  When we moved into this house, the previous owners left behind a dozen or so, old ball canning jars!  The gourd is from my Mother In-laws farm.  I've got 12 more drying in the garage! I've got this set up on one end of the mantel.  The rest is empty. It's a work in progress.

I bought a big bunch of Sweet Annie on our road trip as well.  It smells so good!  I'm looking into growing some this year.

And last, but not least, the bin I had posted here.  I cleaned it up and left it as is.  I do believe it is a feed bin.  I am not using it as a blanket box.  I was unsuccessful at getting all the newspaper removed from inside and I got tired of trying.  The lantern on top was a gift from my mother for Christmas and the pantry cake I made myself.

A show I look forward to watching every week.

I just wanted to pass along this tidbit of info.  If you happen to get the History Channel, there is a show called American Pickers (you can click on the name to see their website).  Two guys travel around the US, searching through peoples barns and sheds(with their permission of course) to find a lot of antiques and collectibles.  What a dream job!  Some things they find, and pass up, are gems!  I often look in the background and see things I would scoop up in a second.  In the US, the show is on Monday nights, and here in Canada, it's on Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. eastern.

A new blogger

I had a fun morning.  I spent it with my cousin, Heather, in her very prim home, setting up her blog.  She's just learning the ropes and I am more than happy to help her.  I know she will get hooked on this and she has a lot to share.  Here is the link to her blog.  BitterSweetAndPrim

I will be back to posting soon.  With everything going on through the holidays, I seem to have misplaced my 'get up and go'.

Baby it's cold outside

There is nothing more I would rather be doing than crafting and showing you all my creations, however, life has a different idea for me.  I have been so busy with everything else.  I still haven't finished decorating for Christmas. *GASP*  I KNOW!!!!  I need more hours in a day and another me, or two!  I'd like to share a photo from my last session of the year, just to give you an idea of what else I've been busy with, a lot of photo editing.  I'm almost done though, I think.  Isn't this little guy the sweetest???