ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts Falling Leaves T-Shirt

Avalon has a fab new project this week for ILoveToCreate! She did such a great job with this from concept to execution and her dad helped her since Mom's been a little busy with the new job. I'm endlessly proud of her. Just a quick FYI...I'll be debuting on Jewelry Television's Jewel School tomorrow sharing three fun, fast and fashionable projects from 9am until noon EST. If you don't get Jewelry Television, you can watch the show streaming live on their website.

Falling Leaves T-shirt ILovetoCreate Project Copyright Avalon Potter 2010

Once again I bring you another fun, easy and stylish project using ILovetoCreate products. This past week I’ve seen the leaves falling outside and the beautiful colors surrounding me, and when I saw the Tulip fabric sprays and foam leaves in the local craft store I knew exactly what my project would be. I would make a shirt inspired by the leaves scattered all over the ground using fall themed Tulip fabric sprays and glitter. I had a great time making this project with my dad, we really had some quality time together making this and I hope you will have just as much fun.

Materials:
Cotton tee (white and prewashed to remove sizing)
Foam shapes( doesn’t have to be leaves)
Three or more tulip fabric sprays
Tulip glitter dimensional fabric paint in silver
Tulip craft sponge
Double sided tape
Tulip fashion form

Instructions:
1. First gather all your materials, then take you shirt and put it on your tulip fashion form.


2. Next lay out were you want your foam shapes to go, you the size, shape or amount you use depends on what you want to do.

3. Attach your shapes with double sided tape and make sure all of your corners are down because you don’t want excess fabric spray leaking under your shapes and deforming the way they will turn out.


4. Make sure you cover the area underneath the shirt to prevent getting any spray on the floor! Then one by one spray around and on your foam shapes you can leave white in areas but I filled mine in with glitter.


5. Let the paint dry then the next day take of the foam shapes and apply the glitter paint with a sponge on the white spots where the foam shapes were.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: May Flowers Embellished Tank Top

IloveToCreate Teen Crafts
May Flowers Embellished Tank Top
Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Summer is almost here and it’s time for tank tops, flip flops and shorts. Yippee! Here’s a fun project teens can do in the back yard with their friends. Just buy a bunch of inexpensive tanks or t’s and give them a pile of Tulip 3D Fabric paints andTulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat markers and let them make their own wearable works of art. This isn't a 'make it perfect' kind of project, it's meant to be playful, so don't worry about coloring inside of the lines.

My color palette and design were inspired by the charming new graphic buttons from La Mode. Tulip fashion paint comes in virtually every color so it’s easy to match the button colors. I had so much fun with this; I think I’m going to have to make one for myself!

Materials
Cotton tank top (pre-wash to remove sizing)
3 Blumenthal Lansing La Mode buttons
Tulip 3D Fashion Paint poppin' purple, deep turquoise, yellow and clover green
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat fabric marker black
Aleene’s Fabric Fusion glue
Coordinating DMC Color Infusions embroidery threads

Tools
Embroidery needle
Paint brushes
T-shirt form

1. Slide a t-shirt form under your tank top. (Secure the back with safety pins to tighten if the shirt is too loose.)

2. Using the button pattern as inspiration, paint three flowers with graduated circles of color in pink, teal and yellow. Change the brushes out between colors. Allow paints to dry.

3. Use the marker to draw graphic circles to define the flowers. Draw stems and add leaves. Use green paint to color inside of leaves. Allow to dry.


4. Glue buttons to center of flowers. Allow glue to dry.

5. Add embroidery thread accents to each button, one yellow, one teal and one pink.

ILoveToCreate: Neon Impressionist Flower Pot

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Neon Impressionist Flower Pot
Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."

It's been a picture perfect spring in Amish country.  We even managed to get our garden started early this year!  That's a first!  Avalon is planting her own little flower garden and we've started the seeds indoors.  I was thinking it might be fun for her to plant a few flowers for the kitchen windowsill too.  I didn't want to put them in a plain terra cotta pot, not in our vibrant kitchen, so this project was born.  These pots are really fun to make with teens.  Just start with a base coat of Crafty Chica paint mixed into a pretty pastel color and add Tulip Fabric Sprays in neon colors to jazz things up.  Glue on some ribbon and faux flowers and you end up with a cheery little addition to the windowsill.

Materials
4.5"x5.5" Terra Cotta Pot with Matching Saucer
1.5" Thick Grosgrain Craft Ribbon Bright Green with White Stitching
2.5" Diameter Decorative Fabric Flowers (Orange and Pink)
Tulip Fabric Spray Paints in Neon Colors (Pink, Green, Yellow and Orange)
Crafty Chica Little Paint Pack (White and Yellow)
Aleene's Platinum Bond Super Fabric Textile Adhesive
Aleene's Liquid Fusion Glue

Tools
Foam Brush
Paint Brush
Scissors
Non-Stick Craft Sheet

1.  Mix the Crafty Chica yellow and white paint to get a pastel yellow.  Paint this on the pot with the foam brush.  Paint the edges and the saucer.  Allow to dry and paint a second coat.

2.  Use the Tulip Fabric Spray to create layers of color on pot and saucer.  You have to turn the saucer over to get the edges, so this is a two step process with a drying time for the top and the sides in between. Allow paints to dry.

3.  Smear Liquid Fusion across rim of pot and attach ribbon.  Allow to dry.

4.  Cut off stems and remove backs of flowers, keep a small amount of the plastic tab so you don't separate the layers, if you do just use the glue to reattach them.  Glue the flowers to the center of the ribbon on the pot rim, allow to dry with pot resting on the side so the flowers don't slide off.

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.