Free Halloween Craft Project: I Love to Create Jackolantern Tote Bag

I Love to Create Teen Crafts
Jack-o-lantern Purse
Copyright Margot Potter

I know I’ve got a winner when my daughter begs me to let her wear the project to school. She didn’t even want to wait for the tote to dry! I made a series of sketches with half images of iconic Halloween items: a skull, a bat and a jack-o-lantern. I decided on the jack-o-lantern, but I may revisit the other images. These half images have been showing up all over the place lately, so I thought it might give a ‘cute’ project just a little edge.

My daughter is finished with trick-or-treating but she’s got a party to attend and she loves wearing Halloween themed t-shirts. I thought this would be a fun way to look stylish and seasonally apropos. I may sport this bag myself, you never know!

Materials
Black blank canvas purse
White marking pencil
Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Pack
Tulip Fashion Glitter Rock and Roll (clear crystal)
Tulip Glitter Dimensional Fabric Paint (crystal sparkles)

Tools
Fine tip paint brush
Square tip paint brush


1. Hand draw half of a jack-o-lantern on the right side of your purse using a white marking pencil or gel pen. You can opt to use a template if you prefer, you may need to size the image on your computer to fit the dimensions of your purse.
2. Mix equal parts red and yellow Crafty Chica paints to make a deep orange. Paint a layer of orange and allow to dry. Use a fine tip brush for details and the flat tip brush for larger areas.
3. Paint the stem green. Allow to dry.
4. Paint a second layer of orange. Allow to dry.
5. Use black paint to cover any white lines left from your pencil.
6. Paint a layer of dimensional glitter on purse and sprinkle clear crystal glitter on it.
7. Shake off excess glitter and allow to dry.

I Love to Create Girly Boyfriend Jeans

Girly Boyfriend Jeans by Margot Potter for I Love to Create

(Click on image to view close up!)

Girly Boyfriend Jeans
Margot Potter for I Love to Create Teens
Copyright 2009

Boyfriend jeans are back and I’m a happy camper. Luckily my hubby had this pair of perfectly worn in jeans he was going to take to Goodwill. Okay so technically they’re husband jeans, but stick with me because I’m going somewhere with this! The ‘boyfriend jeans’ in the stores are all artfully distressed and shredded and absurdly expensive, but you can find worn in jeans just like them at thrift stores for a song. Since these were kinda raggy looking, I thought I’d gussy them up a bit.

Enter Tulip Dimensional Paint, Tulip Fabric Spray, Tulip Glam It Up crystals, Fabric Fusion and my Sizzix Big Shot machine. Add some fun fabric I scored in Tokyo (don’t fret my pet you can find plenty of fab fabric on the interwebs and in retail stores.) Mix it all up and this becomes a project a teen will love to make their own.

Materials
One pair thrift store ‘boyfriend jeans’
Durable fabrics in coordinating colors with paints
Tulip 3-D Slick Fashion Paint (purple, coral, yellow, blazin’ blue, ‘lectric lime)
Aleene's Fabric Fusion
Tulip Glam it Up™ Crystals (clear in two sizes)
Tulip Fabric Spray (neon pink and yellow)
Sizzix Hello Kitty Bigz Die Daisies

Tools
Tulip Cordless Heat Setting Tool
Sizzix Big Shot

More Madge, More!
Add more crystals in a variety of colors. Decorate both sides of the jeans. Use fabric sprays and stencils to add layers. Paint more planned patterns and dots instead of splatters. Use masks to leave unpainted areas you can embellish in different ways. Add some blanket stitch with colorful floss around the flowers and the pockets. If you want more rips, use a razor blade (carefully) to slash holes across the fabric and then pop the jeans in the washer, instant fray!

Less...please.
These jeans looked cute just with paint splatters. You can opt for a single color or to use black and white. Skip the crystals and just leave the flowers simple and folksy. Just paint the cuffs and the back pockets.

1. Get a pair of ‘boyfriend jeans’ from the thrift store. If you want to distress them more use the razor blade tip above.

2. Begin with a layer of splattered paint. Cover the area under the jeans with plastic and gently squeeze and flick the paint on the front of the jeans until you’re happy with the results. Allow to dry.
3. Use Fabric spray in neon colors to add further color layers to the jeans.
4. Use the Sizzix Big Shot and the Hello Kitty Bigz daisies die to cut out fabric flowers.
5. Spread an even layer of Fabric Fusion on back of flowers and adhere to jeans. Allow to dry. (You can opt to tack these down further with some colorful embroidery floss.)
6. Place three crystals randomly in center of each flower. I used three large crystals on each large flower and three small on each small. Attach the crystals to the flowers by holding the hot end of the heat setting tool on the top of the crystals for 12 seconds.

* Next week my I Love to Create post will be on Friday because I’ll be joining in the fun of Terroriffic Tuesdays. So be on the look out for four free Halloween Themed teen craft projects on Fridays starting on October 2nd and a post with links to fab projects all over the internet every Tuesday! BOO!

I Love to Create Recycled Magazine Mixed Media Decoupage Bangle Bracelets

Designing Diva Pattie Wack had a super fun make it/take it for I Love to Create at CHA Summer and on the last day of the show I sat down with her and created a one of a kind decoupaged mixed media bangle. I ran out of time and had to leave it unfinished...and fast forward to yesterday morning when I decided to make a similar project and finish the first one.

I adore these wooden blanks from DIY Bangles and I’ve been playing with images from magazines since my second book The Impatient Crafter Gets Inspired. I’m particularly fond of using a section of a fashion image and adding layers on it to see how far I can take it while still being able to tell what the original image was. If your teen has a pile of fashion or teen mags sitting around gathering dust, this is a great project for them to do and to personalize with images and embellishments they love. The base layer is made from thin tissue or handmade fibrous paper.

This same idea would be fab for frames or other room décor items...so don’t be afraid to take it to a bigger scale. Think how cool a dresser would be layered up like this!

So...without further ado...let’s get started!

Recycled Magazine Bangles
Margot Potter for I Love to Create Teen
Copyright 2009

Materials
Wooden bangle
Recycled magazines
Fuzzy yarn
Patterened and solid tissue paper in coordinated colors
Tulip Iron-On Crystals in 2 sizes
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage™ in glossy
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage™ in sparkles
Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue™
Jet Black Archival Ink
Flourish rubber stamp

Tools
Foam brush
Tulip Cordless Heat Setting Tool
Scissors

1. Tear small pieces of your tissue paper and adhere to the wooden bangle. Spread a thin layer of Collage Pauge glossy on the back of the paper with a foam brush and use your fingers and the brush to apply to the bangle. It’s okay if there are some wrinkles. Spread a thin layer of medium on top of the paper as you work.

2. Cover the entire bangle inside and out with collaged tissue. Allow to dry.


3. Cut out images to fit the flat oval surfaces on your bangle. I pressed the image on the surface and used my pointer finger to press it along the edge, then removed the paper and cut along the indentation I made so the image fit the surface.


4. Adhere images with a thin layer of Collage Pauge glossy and allow to dry.


5. Put a thin smearing of Extreme Paint in Paradise Pink on the front of each image. Allow to dry.


6. Paint the entire bangle inside and out with Collage Pauge sparkle. Allow to dry.

7. Stamp images using archival ink and a sparsely detailed flourish stamp.


8. Run a thin bead of glue along a length of yarn and work your way around the bangle wrapping and adhering the yarn to the spaces in between the images. Allow to dry.


9. Use heat setting tool to adhere crystals to images. I used two sizes and two on each image, alternating their placement.

I Love to Create Recycled Denim Book Covers

Recycled Denim Book Cover Margot Potter for I Love to Create Copyright 2009

When I asked my daughter if she needed to make book covers for her school books she looked at me what that, “Are you daft?” expression on her face. Yes, it’s official, I’m daft and I’m old. Undaunted by these facts, I was certain that book covers hadn't gone the way of record albums and After School Specials and then we saw some ready made stretchy covers at our local Big Box store.

A ha! Maybe I'm not so daft after all!

I thought we'd try and make some recycled covers instead of buying ready made. Back in my day, we whipped up covers to protect our school books using brown paper shopping bags. Those brown bags aren’t as easy to score these days. No worries! I have a huge stash of recycled jeans from a class I taught last year and that’s where this project was born. I got these jeans for pennies at my local Goodwill. You can do this for school books or for any books that get a fair amount of use to protect them. I love the little pocket for your pencils and pens or anything else you want to take along with you. Teens can personalize these any way they like and make a different one for every book.

Recycled Denim School Book Covers
Margot Potter for I Love to Create Teen Crafts
Copyright 2009

Materials
Pair of recycled stretchy jeans (You’ll be using a pant leg and a pocket)
Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Aleene’s Patch and Applique Glue
Tulip Fabric Spray Paint Emerald and Fuchsia
Tulip Soft Matte Fabric Paints in Azalea, Ebony and Glacier White
Tulip Pearl Dimensional Fabric Paint Clover Green
Tim Holtz idea-ology Mini Masks Regal
Star Stencil
Hero Arts Writing Stamp

Tools

Ruler
Stencil Brush
Fabric Scissors
Foam Brush

1. Cut a leg from a pair of old stretch jeans. Cut a pocket off of the back of the jeans, leaving the backing so it’s still a pocket.

2. Place your book on the jeans and determine width and length of your material. You want the material to be able fold over on both sides about 2.5” and to be able to overlap the edge of your book cover about 2.5”. The fabric when folded top and bottom should hit at exactly the width of your book. Measure twice and then cut to size.

3. Run a bead of glue along the top and bottom edge of your folded fabric, stop gluing approximately 2.5” from each edge. Allow to dry.

4. Slide the front of the book cover into each side of your folded and glued fabric, creating protective sleeve.

5. Adjust the fabric tension and glue the edge down on each side. Repeat for the back cover. Allow glue to dry.
6. Glue pocket on front of cover with Patch and Applique glue. Allow to dry.7. Decorate the pocket using a variety of fabric paints, stencils, rubber stamps and splatters. I used the Tim Holtz flourish mask with pink and green fabric spray paint, the Tim Holtz flourish stencil with the azalea paint, smeared and flicked on the green paint on the pocket with my pointer finger and stenciled the stars on with the stencil brush and black paint. 8. Use a foam brush to apply fabric paint to a rubber stamp with text and stamp on the center of the pocket. Allow to dry.

Inspired at Home Radio

What are you doing this Sunday night from 7-8pm ET? How about joining me on Inspired at Home radio? I’ll be on air along with a Dean Saether from I Love to Create/Duncan Ceramic arts with host Tiffany Windsor. Why not join us for some crafty good fun during this holiday weekend?

I hope to see you there! If you can’t make it, don’t fret. They have the archives available on their website.

Oh and here’s a pic of Miss Avalon sporting her I Love to Create altered t-shirt. She loves it! Yay!


I have a design to make with a bottle from my backyard antique bottle collection...it began talking to me this morning and it seems determined to be heard. Does that make me the Craft Whisperer? My sources say...maybe!

xoxo
Madge

Free Teen Craft Project Pretty in Pink T-shirt Margot Potter for I Love to Create

Pretty in Pink Altered T-Shirt
Click on image to view close up!

This swanky top began life as a Fruit of the Loom boy’s value pack t-shirt. My daughter was mortified when I stood in the middle of the boy’s aisle at the store store and suggested OUT LOUD that we buy them and decorate them for her to wear. Can you imagine?

What is the fun of being a parent if you can’t humiliate your kid in public?

All joking aside...I wanted something with a more generous cut so I had more fabric with which to work. I always have a plan, even if it appears evil to my tortured teen.

Mwahahahahaha...

That was my evil parent laugh.

Okay then...here’s the project!

Pretty in Pink Altered T-shirt
Teen Craft Project
Margot Potter for I Love to Create

Materials
Fruit of the Loom bulk pack white boy’s t-shirt
Black grosgrain ribbon ½” thick
3 safety pins
Tulip Fabric Spray Paint Hot Pink, Soft Pink, Violet Pink
Tulip Metallics Dimensional Fabric Paint Black
Crafty Chica Glitter Be Bop Black
Aleene’s Stop Fraying
Complements Border Stencil Graceful

Tools
Stencil brush
Bubble wrap
Fabric scissors
T-shirt form or cardboard insert to slide between tshirt layers while decorating
Heat tool

1. Pre-wash t-shirt. Slide your t over an insert or a form. This prevents the paints from seeping on to the back of your shirt.

2. Use your fingers to scrinkle the shirt on the left side. Spray a thin wash of each color, don’t overspray! Work paint from left to right, making coverage less dense on the right side.



3. Rescrinkle (it’s suggested that you wear gloves for this step.) Paint another thin wash of your colors. Allow to dry.

4. Pour black fabric paint on bubble wrap...spread with brush.
5. Dab on t, filling in the center of the spray painted areas. Allow to dry.

6. Place stencil on an angle across painted part of t.

7. Use stencil brush to apply black paint through stencil, dabbing the brush as you work to prevent paint from slipping under stencil.

8. While paint is still wet and stencil is still on your shirt. Pinch glitter on wet paint and gently rub in with your finger. Use a heat tool to adhere glitter, don't overheat or you'll melt your stencil! Remove stencil after paint has dried.

9. Cut neckline from shirt, leaving a 1” border on each shoulder. Cut along the top seam on the right border.

10. Use safety pins to secure this closed.

11. Cut along the top of each sleeve working up to the seam.

12. Cut a small slit on each side of the opening on the bottom of each sleeve.

13. Thread with a ribbon, tie ribbon and cut ends on the diagonal.

14. Cut a small slit on each side of the seam at the shoulder on the left side. Thread and tie another ribbon..

15. Use Aleene’s Stop Fraying on ribbon ends and allow to dry. Remove ribbons and safety pins when washing shirt.