Friday, September 17, 2010

Halloween Art

It has been a while since I've posted. Sorry about that. Our minds are always racing with ideas to post here, but Joel has been preoccupied with designing a new spring collection, and I have been preoccupied with offering my two bits to the design process.

I did take a couple of hours the other day though to start decorating for Halloween. Ever since Joel came out with his first collection, I've have wanted to use his black and linen prints from the Manzanita Collection for a Halloween project. It has only taken me four years to figure out what that project would be. I didn't end up using as much fabric as I originally intended, but I LOVE how these three frames turned out.

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If you would like to create these yourself, here are the supplies you need (for one frame):

• 5" x 7" piece of Mat board
• Utility knife
• Cutting mat
• Spray adhesive
• 6" x 8" piece of fabric
• 8 1/2" x 11" piece of muslin
• 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock
• Masking tape
• Double-sided tape
• Rhinestones
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Black painted and distressed 5" x 7" frame
• "Wicked Awesome" Font, by Rhonna Farrer (download here)

Step 1: Choose the image you want from the collection of fonts and size it to fit a 3 1/2" x 5" opening.

Step 2: Tape the four sides of the piece of muslin to the cardstock.


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Step 3: Feed your muslin paper face down into an inkjet printer and print out your image. You may have to nudge the paper a bit for it to feed through properly. Cut your piece of muslin down to 5" x 7".

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Step 4: Measure a 3 1/2" x 5" box in the middle of your fabric piece 3/4" from each side and cut out.

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Step 5: Use a utility knife to cut a 3 1/2" x 5" box in the center of your piece of mat board. Spray one side of the board with adhesive and place that side onto your piece of fabric. You should have about 1/4" of fabric remaining in the center.

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Step 6: Spray the back side of your mat board with adhesive and fold the fabric over the sides of the board. You will need to cut a small diagonal slit at each of the inside corners to get the fabric to lay flat. You can also taper the outer corners to reduce the bulkiness there.

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Step 7: Place a strip of double-sided tape along each side on the back of the mat board. Center the matting over your printed muslin image, then flip over to press the fabric into the tape.

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Step 8: Hot glue rhinestones where you would like on your image then you're ready to frame it! That's it. Pretty easy. You could easily turn this project into a decorative pillow or quilt square instead.

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My favorite print of this collection was the black and linen Damask. Apparently that was a favorite for many people, as we still receive requests for this print almost weekly. Unfortunately, it's been out of print for a while now.

However, we are thrilled to announced that a small collection of Joel's favorite prints, "Aviary II" will be available within the next couple of months and will include the black and linen Damask! You'll have to wait and see what other favorite prints are included in the collection and the new colorways, but the name of the collection should give you a hint as to another favorite that will be included.


Until then, we hope you're gearing up for all the holidays like we are. Isn't it so exciting? I love this time of year!


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