Bag It

Bag It

Hallo everyone!

I have decided that one cannot

have too many of these bags.

They seem to make even the

most mundane items look as

though a special purchase

has been made

Here's Hazel Harler with her

gorgeous bag 

"This is my decorated bag using the So Soft fabric paints

I started by putting a piece of corrugated card 

inside the bag, this was to give me a firm surface 

to work on and stop the paint from going through

 to the other side of the bag. 

Sorry about the photo, I didn't realise that the 

shutters on my camera hadn't opened properly.

I used a sponge the add the paint.

 I mounted some small Gelli plates onto 

acrylic blocks and used them like stamps 

to add the colour,

 I must admit that I like this and wonder 

if I should have stopped there.

Then used a sponge to stencil the paint onto the bag.

I stencilled some flowers.

I used some indian ink markers to give 

the flowers a bit more definition

I also added some white dots here and there"

Supplies.

Fabric bag.
So Soft fabric paint.
Stencills.
Gelli plate.
Indian ink marker pens.
White marker pen.

Thank you Hazel, that

really is a versatile design

I'm thinking that you could stop

at any of the stages and still

have a stunning bag.  I would

go so far as to say that you could

make a series of bags and stop

the decoration of each one at

the end of the different stages

That'll be the birthdays sorted for this year then....

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Bag It

Bag It

Hallo everyone!

Today's project would make

a really special gift bag and

here is Louise Thomson to

tell you how she made it

"Start by applying a couple of coats of the 

base colour – Green Apple So Soft fabric paint, 

to a canvas wine bottle bag. 

I wanted a fairly natural look with rough edges 

and plenty of the canvas still showing

Mix the green apple paint with a tiny bit of 

‘So Soft’ tangerine to get a terracotta colour 

and apply through a stencil. 

I used two different designs of the same 

Kaisercraft mini mix stencil

Once completely dry, stamp the Honey Doo 

Floral Chaos design repeatedly on to the canvas. 

My ink pad was running low and I ended up 

re – stamping the image several times.

 I thought it was going to be a disaster and 

need ditching but I should have had faith – 

there is no project that can’t be rescued!

Using tangerine and dark burgundy So Soft paints, 

paint in the flower heads, mixing them to create a variety of tones

Once you are happy with the paint and 

have allowed it to dry, go over the stems in a 

sakura gelly roll pen. 

Add in dots of bisque liquid pearls around the 

stems and also to add centres to the flowers

Finally, bag a bottle!

 I tied the bag with the hessian style chord provided

 and added three coordinating paper flowers 

which rather handily were in a Craft Barn 

goody box I purchased recently!"

Materials used-

Canvas bottle bag

So soft paints in green apple, tangerine and dark burgundy

Kaisercraft 12x12 mini mix stencil

Paint brush

Honey doo floral chaos stamp

Staz on ink – Jet Black

Sakura gelly roll pen – metallic emerald

Liquid pearl - Bisque

Paper flowers (from stash)

Thank you Louise - a super project.

Didn't I tell you it would be special?

I'm sure you agree this is a beautiful

way of presenting a bottle be it a

full bodied red or a bottle of blackcurrant juice!

The So Soft paints, by DecoArt, are really nice to 

use too and come in a good range of colours

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Bag It

Bag It

Hallo Everyone!

How're you today?  Well

I hope and having a great

week.  

Not sure I'm full of the 

joys of spring but today's

project brought to us by

Craftyfield might have

a lot to do with it!

"Since last year's introduction of the plastic 

bag charge in the UK I make sure I always have

 a bag with me, preferably one that is light 

and that I can fold and shove in my handbag. 

A crafting opportunity... 

As this is my first time using So Soft paint, 

I decided to put it through its paces and 

test several ways of using it: 

as a wash (like watercolour), to stencil with, and to stamp with.

This is the bag before transformation. 

To prepare it for colour, I have ironed it and

 inserted a rigid piece of cardboard with some paper

 on top to absorb any excess water or paint seeping 

on the wrong side.

 I also masked out the area of my painting.

The So Soft paints are quite pigmented so for my sky 

I have prepared a mix of Mediterranean Blue paint and water 

in a small container and brushed some water on 

what will be my sky.

 As I go down the fabric I add more water

 to the mix fading the blue to (almost) nothing.

 I have repeated the process with green for the grass 

and lastly in the middle with the Buttermilk.

 Next I used a small sponge to stencil circles

 with So Soft paint using a DIY stencil. 

These will be my flower heads.

To stamp my flowers I used Brilliance ink in Graphite Black. 

I tested on a separate piece of fabric and found

 that Versafine and Archival stamped equally well,

 but not better than Brilliance, and I find 

easier to wash Brilliance off from the stamps... 

To make sure the ink was wet enough 

I topped it up with the re-inker before starting.

 Here I'm using 2 of the smaller flowers from the 

stamp set as a filler.

 A small piece of plastic packaging serves as a 

palette(bottom right) and I have spread paint thinly on it.

Now for the stencilling.... Again I'm using my DIY stencil, 

the distressed diamonds have been die-cut with 

the Mixed Media Thinlits set.

 I mixed Buttermilk and Dark Burgundy paints 

to get the pink I was after.

And finally a close up taken in natural light. 

I still have the reverse unpainted so I can have more crafty fun!

I liked the So Soft paint very much, as it is easy to use

compared to traditional fabric paints and they are

 indeed soft, which might not seem like a big thing 

for a bag but, as I said, this one will spend its life folded

 in my handbag so cracked paint is out of the question!"

Supplies: 

Cotton bag natural:
So Soft paints:
Paper Artsy EKC02:
Brilliance Dew Drop inkpad in Graphite black:
Brilliance ink reinker in Graphite black: 

Thank you Craftyfield for your beautiful bag

Love the depth of shading you have achieved

These paints really do work well, although I never

thought of adding water to them and using as a wash.  

That was a masterstroke.

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Anything Goes - Neil Walker

Hi everyone, 

As I said before, I have given the DT

a bit of a break so that they can recharge their

batteries!

I thought this was an amazing project

and one that could easily be changed

to make a lovely reusable

Christmas prezzie.

A bottle bag, beautifully decorated with So Soft paints

This is the front

A closeup of the front detail

Here is the back

This is what Neil said.....

"Begin by ironing any kinks out of the bag

Start to add your images to the bag using Archival
 ink pressing down a bit longer than you would
 if stamping on card

 to allow the ink to penetrate the fibres

Build up your design, masking where required till
 you are happy. 

(Repeat on the back of the bag too)

Now, remember the saying, mix too many colours

 together and you'll end up with mud? 

Well, this is where you find out it's true.

 Mix DecoArt So Soft Fabric paint, Christmas

 Primary Red, Ocean Blue, Cadmium Orange,

 Cadmium Yellow into a pot and you will

 end up with a funny brown/grey colour

(of course, I could have used brown but

 where's the fun in that?)

Keeping a pot of water handy, begin to

 apply the paint to the bag, avoiding the main

 stamped areas and using plenty of

 water to lighten and spread the colour.

 Every now and again

 you can work in a bit of blue,to add 

interest and depth. Use a large brush for the

 main areas and switch to a smaller

 brush around the images.

Once you have done both sides of the bag; either

 leave to dry or iron just to dry it out a bit 

(Using a craft iron rather than

 the iron you use to iron your Sunday best!)

 Now it's time to add some colour to your

 main images. Using the same colours as before,

 and water, add colour to your

 images. (I also used Yellow Green) I used 

tiny amounts of the "mud" colour to kind

 of dull down the colours where needed.

 It's also a good idea to iron the section you

 have done prior

 to adding a different colour adjacent to 

prevent bleeding.

When you have done both sides and are happy, 

leave to dry. Then turn the bag inside out 

and paint the top section with 

the remainder of your "mud" colour

 mix (assuming of course 

that like me, you ended up with far too much.)

Allow to dry, turn right side out again, and

 give it a last press with a hot iron.

The bag comes with a loose string tie cord which

 I attached to the side of the bag by 

sewing it on with string.

Once I had knotted the string around the cord I 

added a tag to the string and knotted it on.

 The tag had been stamped with

 a tag image from the stamps and I coloured

 it with some of the

 left over paint so the colours matched.

Now all that was left was to find a bottle worthy to be

 carried in such a stylish bag..."

So, what do you think...

What a brilliant project and really nice and unusual gift.

Do you want to have a go?

This is what you will need -

Canvas Bottle Bag

Viva Decor Stamp - Adventure

Viva Decor Stamp - Paris - Rome - Berlin

Viva Decor Stamp - Tags - Love

DecoArt So Soft Paints -

I used Christmas Primary Red, Cadmium Yellow,
 Cadmium Orange, 

Ocean Blue and Yellow Green

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Are you going to try this....let us know
if you do....with pictures!!

See you tomorrow,

Jane x

......