ATC Card Swap

It's a beautiful day in Los Angeles, lately there's been rain, wind, and cold temperatures. We rarely get this kind of weather and when we do, we really enjoy it.  Here are some pictures of the rain from inside the train:

 

I had a fun and busy weekend.  Saturday I spent the day with my BFF's in Downtown San Diego.  We shopped, had lunch at a 1800's style Haunted Saloon (our waiter was a Johnny Depp look alike, ahm) and we laughed like silly women all day long.  Don't you just love spending time with your girl friends?  I guess it's because I have two growing boys and an incredibly handsome and very macho husband (my macho man) that spending time with girls is always something I look forward to.

Sunday I spent the day with my crafty friends and it was my turn to demonstrate a technique, I decided on my favorite medium,  Acrylic paints.  Afterwords, we all swapped Artist Trading Cards (ATC). The pictures below show all ATC swapped.

Theme: "Masculine"
From left to right: Tina Rivas, Rose Rodriguez, Misty Grosse
Carmen, Kim Lamos, Ally Sanchez and the last one in the corner is mine "Admit One".

 Cheryl Shoats, Pat (argyle sweater) and Esther (football card).  Esther included a miniature chalk board to write messages on, very fun idea.

Hope you liked these ATC cards, I'll be posting more next month.  I'll do my best to visit all my bloggie friends this week, see you soon.
   

Stencil On Fabric: Freedom

God Bless America!  God Bless America!  God Bless America!
 My Home Sweet Home. We love our freedom, we love our Country! To the men and women in the Military (specially my nephew Erik) THANK YOU!


I wish I would have had more time to prepare today's craft to memorialize recent events but, for now, this will do. A stencil of a bird that represents our freedom.   


Here's what you'll need:
fabric paint, a plastic spoon, shaving cream

also a t-shirt

you will also need stencils, they are available in all shapes at craft stores.  I'm going to make my own stencil using a die cutting machine called Big Shot by Sizzix.

Instead of cutting paper, I'm using my cutting machine to cut shapes out of painter's tape.  To the shapes above, I placed painter's tape on top to cut the shape out.

next, place a thick cardboard inside your shirt.  I used a cut out of a cereal box.  This will protect the back of your shirt from the paint.  Next, place the tape stencil on your t-shirt

separately, add some fabric paint to shaving cream, the shaving cream must be foamy. 
The shaving cream acts as a thickener for the paint, otherwise, you will not be able to spread the pain on the fabric. It completely dissolves once the paint grabs hold of the fabric.

mix well with a spoon

add this to the top of your stencil

remove excess

and finally, heat set with an iron and you'll end up with a t-shirt with a cool new look

Guest Posting

 Hello Everyone....today I'm guest posting over at Big K little a.  This is my first time participating in a guest post and I'm very excited that it's with K at Big K little a.  She has an awesome blog full of craft ideas that will inspire your creativity.

If you are new here, please feel free to look around, let me know if you decide to follow my blog in the comments below and I'll come by and visit you.

If you would like to give guest posting a try, send me an email.