Hi guys! My name is Julie and I blog over at Julie Ann Art. I’m so happy to be guest posting today! I’m going to show you how I transferred a design onto a pillow using a freezer paper stencil!

Since we moved we haven’t had any pillows for our couch. The main reason we don’t have pillows? My dog’s favorite thing is pillow stuffing. She will have the stuffing out of that pillow in a matter of minutes (seconds?). So no way am I buying a fancy schmancy $$$ pillow set. I bought one pillow from Ikea, sort of as a test. Maybe she grew out of her pillow chewing habits (yeah right). But this one white, boring pillow needed some help. I was throwing around different embellishment  ideas when I remembered I had been wanting to try to make a stencil out of freezer paper. So here we go!

What you’ll need:Freezer Paper Fabric (pillow case, t-shirt, placemats, etc.) Fabric Paint Iron Exacto Knife Pencil or Pen Paintbrush Cardboard

The first thing you need to do is transfer your design to the matte (not shiny!) side of your freezer paper. This can be done in multiple ways. I drew my design directly onto the paper. If you don’t feeling comfortable doing this, you can either a.) print the design on normal paper and then trace it on the freezer paper, or b.) print the design directly onto the freezer paper. Just make sure you only use an ink-jet printer if you’re going to print on it. Your call!

Next up, using your exacto knife, cut your design out of the freezer paper. Make sure to put some cardboard underneath the paper to make this process easier. This was surprisingly easy, the freezer paper didn’t give me any problems with tearing.

Once your stencil is ready, place it shiny side down where you want it on your fabric. Heat up your iron (I put mine on medium heat) and carefully start ironing, working your way from the middle of the design to the outside of the design. I went over my design multiple times. Make sure to pay attention to any intricate areas.

When the freezer paper is secured to the fabric it’s time to paint! Once again, make sure to cover all the intricate areas and edges completely. I got nervous at this part because I wasn’t sure if I had ironed it on well enough.

I let the paint dry for about an hour (although the paint bottle said it takes four hours to dry) and started pulling off my stencil. Whether you decide to wait the full four hours or not is up to your discretion. The stencil pulled off easily and now I have a cute little pillow.

The possibilities for use of a freezer paper stencil are endless! I definitely want to try it on a shirt next. The looks it gives is very similar to that of screen printing. And don’t forget you can use freezer paper for what it was originally intended for…to store meat in the freezer. Have fun!

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Thank you so much Julie! Who knew freezer paper had another use? I definitely want to try this one out soon! Only one more guest post, I hope you have been enjoying them! -Ciera

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I’m so excited to be guest posting on Ciera’s blog today! I am a huge fan of everything that she posts here and hope you enjoy my jewelry tutorial! Before we begin, you must know that I’ve never made jewelry before I created the necklace I document below. I literally went to Hobby Lobby and thought, “What supplies make sense?” I had already ordered some amazing vintage Japanese beads on Etsy beforehand so I just needed to make sure I could thread them. Here are the supplies that I used:

I picked up a basic jewelry tool kit and a few options when it came to chains. I ended up using a really thin (and cheap) gold chain so I’m excited to experiment with more quality supplies later. Here is a visual and brief tutorial below. I’ll go into more details on each step below the image!

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Okay here’s more of an explanation for each step:

1. I am using a 2″ eye pin here. If I were to re-create this necklace again (which I probably will), I might consider adding a drop of super glue to keep the two beads together. If you aren’t extremely precise, it’s hard to keep them close together while closing the eye pin in the next step.

2. I used the round nose pliers to hold the eye pin steady while I literally bent the other end perpendicular.

3. I didn’t get a photo but I did clip the end of the eye pin so that it was shorter. I didn’t want to bend it into a loop and then have extra wire. Here is a great tutorial on creating loops with your eye pins.

4. As you can see, I have created the loop and now the beads are secured. My loop is definitely not perfect but it works!

5. I wanted to make sure I knew how to create a loop before I strung the chain through (so this is technically a little backwards) but by the time you get the hang of it, it doesn’t take a lot to pull the loop apart and add the chain.

6. Now you have a completed and seamless necklace! After this, I snipped the chain (where it would fall on your neck) and added the clasp! Ta da! Necklace completed.

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So there’s my beginners guide to jewelry making. I learned a lot and didn’t even really study any techniques. It was almost more fun going into it neutral and not having an preconceived ideas of what my necklace should look like. Let me know if you have any advice or tips – I’m all ears. >> written by Allison at Show & Tell

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I think this came out so great considering it was her first jewelry making experience! A big thanks to Allison for sharing this with us while I’m away on vacation! – Ciera

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