Custom Photo Fabric Bookmark GIVEAWAY!!!

My Four Monkeys is hosting a giveaway for a chance to win one of my custom fabric photo bookmarks!  

Head on over to her blog for many chances to win:

http://myfourmonkeysproductreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-of-kind-custom-photo-bookmarks-from.html

Traveling Tots Felt Art Tote GIVEAWAY!!!

I am excited to announce my very first giveaway.  Bethany over at The Ivy Twines is hosting this giveaway on her site.  I am so happy to have met her and also to be able to offer this to one of our readers.  Good luck, and enjoy!!
Tracy

    

Custom Photo Tea Towel Tutorial

Are you looking for something new and creative to make for yourself or give as a gift?  Here is a great and fairly simple answer.  A photo tea towel.

Bethany over at Ivy Twines thought it would be a good idea to create and post a simple tutorial, and this being my first tutorial, I was happy for her request.

I came up with this idea after running out of creative ways to give my parents pictures of my kids.  Any event that came up whether it be Mother's Day, Christmas, my moms birthday, I got the same request from my mom.  "Pictures of the kids would be nice."  I have done everything from decorating a photo mat with the kids painted fingerprints in the shapes of caterpillars and ladybugs, to photobooks from Apple to just a simple framed picture.

Although this towel is made to be washed, trust me when I tell you that you will not want to wash it.  The picture could fade over time and for it to look and hang nicely, you would have to iron it after washing.  This is a decorative towel.  Hang it from your oven, from your fridge, wherever...and tell the men in your life that it is off limits for drying hands...like the pretty ones in your bathroom.  Poor guys!


Materials Needed:

• Flour Sack Towel or Tea Towel  (Bed Bath and Beyond carries these or you can make your own)
• Heat N Bond Lite Fusible Interfacing (Joann's or most other fabric stores carry this)
• Ink Jet Printable Fabric (Joann's or most other fabric stores carry this)
• Printer (make sure that your ink is the printer brands ink, not refilled cartridges off of ebay)
• Sewing Machine and Thread
• Ribbon

~Let's Get Started~

Step One - Wash, dry and iron your tea towel unless it indicates that it is preshrunk.  If that is the case, just iron it.  You can still go ahead and wash it if you don't like the idea of it being brought home from the store.

Step Two - Print a 5 x 7 photo onto your Ink Jet Printable Fabric.  I use the setting of photo printing on plain paper.  The specific brand of printable fabric should list their specifics.

Step Three - Iron the photo to heat set it.  Peel off the paper backing.

Step Four - Rinse under water.  Get it completely saturated and even scrunch it just a bit.

Step Five - Blot it with a paper towel to get the bulk of the water out then iron it again until it is completely dry.  This happens fairly quickly.

Step Six - Iron interfacing (cut just slightly larger than 5x7) to the back of the photo to cover the entire image.

Step Seven - Trim the edges of the picture so that you don't have any white showing.  I usually cut a tiny bit into the photo.

Step Eight - Lay your towel flat.  Fold your towel lengthwise, halfway to the middle once, then the other side to the middle.  Then, fold in half as if you were going to hang it.

Step Nine - Set up a "mock" finished product by seeing exactly where you want the picture to be placed.  You can lay the ribbon there as well to help you find a good place for your photo.  You will be attaching ribbon to the full length of the towel, so don't cut it while you are doing your "mock up".  It will have to be much longer.

Step Ten - Peel the interfacing paper backing off of your photo and iron it to the spot you chose on the towel.

Step Eleven - Open the towel up completely.  Place the ribbon across the entire length of the towel above the photo and cut at the ends.  Repeat with ribbon for below the photo.

Step Twelve - Using a lighter, seal the ends of the ribbon to keep them from fraying.  Don't actually touch the flame to the ribbon, just hold it close enough so that it will melt it.  You can also use Fray Check instead of a lighter.  I just find it a lot easier to use the lighter so I don't have to wait for it to dry, etc.

Step Thirteen - Pin the ribbons in place to the towel.

Step Fourteen - Straight stitch around the entire ribbon.  Bottom, side, top and last short side.  Don't forget to backstitch.  Trim edges.

Step Fifteen - With a zigzag stitch, stitch around the entire picture.  Once all sides are stitched, backstitch and then trim your edges.

YOU DID IT!!

Please feel free to use this tutorial to create your own custom photo tea towel for personal use or as a gift for friends and family.  Do not use this design for sale.  If you stumbled on this tutorial and don't sew but would like one, please contact me through my Etsy shop to create your own custom towel.  http://www.taglinedesigns.etsy.com  Thanks!

Copyright © 2009 - 2010 by TAG Line Designs - All rights reserved.
This product is copyright protected and may not be copied or reprinted without written consent of TAG Line Designs.

Custom Fabric Photo Bookmarks

My kids' nap time yesterday sent me to my office eager to start a new project.  Custom photo bookmarks!  I have worked with photo fabric in different ways, and I love the fact that the possibilites are endless.  These bookmarks intertwine 3 of my favorite things...fabric, reading and photography.

Between my husband and I, we have quite a few bookmarks at home.  I made fabric ones a while back (not with a photo) and they have been all we used since.  I imagine now that my groovy guitar fabric bookmark (as cute as it may be) will be resting in a book I don't visit as often as where my new bookmarks with my kids on them will be.  :-)  Everytime I open my book, I get another few seconds of my life to just smile!

TRAVELING TOTS FELT ART TOTES

I created these felt totes a few months back, but I have decided to make an attempt at keeping my blog somewhat current. Most of my creations stem from an internal thought of "how can I keep my kids occupied, quiet and entertained?" There are a lot of times during the day when the kids just can't be as loud and as crazy as they are 75% of the time. This is for those times.

MAKING A SCENE
NEVER 'FELT' SO GOOD™

Budding Artists Unite!

Finally, a portable felt board!!

This adorable Traveling Tots Felt Art Tote is the perfect solution to entertaining toddlers, preschoolers and kids of all ages. They have so many options that it will keep them busy for a very long time. Perfect when you are out to eat and need a little quiet time before the food comes.

This comes 3 dress up dolls, 6 outfits (including shoes), shorts and tank tops, flowers, and a tree. The front piece is a pocket for you to store all of your pieces.

The tote is a perfect size to carry with you wherever you go, or even keep them entertained at home. Throw it in your diaper bag, purse, keep it in the car or give it to your child for them to hold themselves.

This would be a great Birthday present or Christmas gift for any child in your life…niece, nephew, cousin, grandson, or granddaughter. Their parents will be sure to thank you!

TRAVELING TOTS ART TOTE - Instead Of Talkin' They'll Be Chalkin'

BUDDING ARTISTS UNITE!

These are my newest creation for my Etsy Shop and they have become quite the hit!  I am so excited about these really.  I had seen crayon rolls everywhere and while I still love a good crayon roll, these are just filled with so much more.  You can have your crayons, paper, chalk and chalk mat all in one tote.  

With my kids, I put in a non-toxic glue stick and put paper cutouts from my Cricut machine and some stickers behind the pad of paper.  The main reason I love these (besides their cuteness factor) is that they work.  My kids get bored after a while with one particular toy.  This offers constant "new" entertainment.  I just switch up what I carry in it.  These have been tested by my kids and friends kids and they get the stamp of approval!

Halloween Drawstring Backpacks

After my aunt requested that I make her a drawstring backpack in Route 66 Fabric for all her car show trinkets, I decided that it would be a cute idea to have a backpack for Trick-or-Treating Toddlers on Halloween.  My kids will hold onto a regular bag for only so long before it gets handed off to me.  This is exactly what my kids will be sporting this Halloween...  

They can hold onto it like a traditional trick-or-treat bag to grab all their loot, but swing it over their shoulders for when they are walking.  

I also decided to make my daughter a drawstring backpack with a matching toddler pillow in Disney Princess satin fabric that she picked out herself.  My husband ran a honey-do errand to the fabric store and took Charlotte with him.  She never returns home empty handed from an outing with daddy.  He asked her if she wanted Princess or Little Mermaid fabric, and she wanted the princesses.  She LOVES her silky bag and pillow...  

Next project, a backpack and pillow for her brother who was very jealous this morning.