Be A Star, or For That Matter.......Make One

Star Shine

I have to thank Cari-Jane from HyrbridHandmade for pinning an awesome paper star tutorial on pinterest. I love it and it looked so do-able, I tried it right away.  Here's my own take on the tutorial that Cari-Jane pinned. 

You'll need:

two pieces of square paper- you could use origami paper

(I used a 32 lb. printer paper)

scissors

glue

ruler

string, ribbon or twine

I printed off one of my illustration designs to use for my paper.

Then I trimmed it to 6 x 6 like the original tutorial, but you could use any square size.

Fold your paper in half.

Then fold in half the other way, so you now have folds on your paper like this.

Next step is to fold corner to corner.

Again, now fold from other corner to corner so you fold lines now look like this.

On lines coming from sides (not corners), make a just shy of halfway. On my 6 x 6 square, I marked at 1.25. 

Continue until each side is marked, like this.

Cut along line to each mark.

Once lines are cut, fold over to line coming from corner. 



Do this all the way around until your paper looks like this.

Now glue one flap at each 'star' point, and pull other flap over and hold until glue is set.

Choose one point to insert twine in before completing all sides.

Complete rest of points.

You now should have a 3 dimesional star that looks like this on one side.........

........and this on the other.

Repeat this process, except for the twine, to make another star. Once you have two stars you are going to glue together. Place glue like this.

Gently press two stars together and hold in place until glue sets.

Wait 10 minutes before hanging to be sure glue is set enough.

Decorate with your new star as you see fit. 

Hang a lone star or...................

.......hang in a grouping. 

I think this is the perfect craft with the holidays coming up. I've adjusted my Chinese Lantern pattern an 8x8 size so most people can easily print it out on 8.5 x 11 paper to use for this project.  I would have tried the 8x8, but was trying to follow original tutorial.  I did use a little bit heaver 32 lb. paper, but you could certainly try it with regular copy pape. I think by the time the stars are folded and glued, it would have enough stability. 

Click below and right click to save to your computer or copy and paste into a document.

I would have tried the 8x8 paper design, but was doing my best to follow original tutorial to a T.  FYI- I did use a little bit heavier 32 lb. printer paper, but you could certainly try it with regular printer paper. I think by the time the stars are folded and glued, it would have enough stability.

What are you waiting for? Give it a try!

This week you get two back-to-back tutorials because tomorrow finds Stacey  from A Sort Of Fairytale and Maggie Jane's Vintage taking on the Muse's Be Our Guest post and wait until you see the card-tags she's going to show us how to make.  They're a ton of fun! 

Here's wishing you a wonderful Monday. Start your week off with a bang.

Be Our Guest: Transfer to Vintage Tray

Be Our Guest

Hi everyone. I'm really excited because this is the second of our Be Our Guest tutorial posts. I'd like to thank Daena from Bad Rabbit Vintage for putting together this week's tutorial, which I know you're going to love. This technique is too cool! I'm so excited to learn it, now I just have to find the right 'project' to try it on.

First, a little about Daena.  Daena is a fellow etsy shop owner living in Southern Oregon. She is also a graphic designer and artist who has fallen in love with painting furniture. The great thing about Daena's passion for painting furniture is that she has used it as therapy and it has helped her fight a rare and aggressive cancer, and she hopes that she can inspire others as she continues on her journey.

Daena lives a happy, creative life on a small farm with her awesome hubby, a dog, a cat, 3 mini horses and a burro (a burro........can you stand it? too cute! as if the mini horses hadn't already upped the cute factor), plus whatever deer, turkeys, bears or coyotes that wander by.

  

Daena also blogs about all of this furniture painting-as-art-therapy, living with cancer, and shopping. Nix that. And 'junking'.

And now, Daena and her transfer/vintage tray tutorial. This is a must try!

I am so excited to be invited to Mercantile Muse to share a tutorial. This is my first tutorial feature, as well as the first tutorial I've ever done, so bare with me if the photos are a little "beginnerish". 

When I first read about ink jet transfers I was way too excited. I wanted to put a transfer on everything. It's an easy way to get a vintage look on wood, fabric and (so they say) glass. The ink jet-to-glass thing hasn't been a success for me, but I keep trying. For now, let's stick to wood.

PART ONE.  What you'll need: REVERSED print-out from an ink jet printer on transfer film, (laser prints won't work), gel medium, brush (I use sponge brushes), burnishing tool, paint and a surface to transfer onto. I chose a small wooden tray and an old advertising graphic. 

First, I painted the tray to compliment the graphic and let it dry thoroughly.

Don't forget to print your image reversed! For this first example I used transfer film.

Trim your print-out for easier handling.

Spread the medium onto your surface with a light, even touch, as you would spread mayonnaise on bread. Make sure to cover evenly. (Below I'll show you what happens when you have uneven coverage.)

Carefully place your print onto your surface, then burnish firmly with a steady hand, not allowing the image to slide. If you don't have a burnishing tool, the back of a large spoon works, too.

When your image has been burnished onto your surface, carefully peel back a corner of film. If the image is not transferring lay the corner back down and burnish some more. As you can see, not all of my image transferred over. In those spots the medium was either too thick or too thin (this highlights the importance of even application). This is not exact science, this is art. The nature of an ink jet transfer is to look rustic and worn. That is part of the appeal and little hiccups on the transfer are to be expected.

I had a large and very distracting missing area in my transfer. I felt it detracted from, rather than complimented, the design. I decided to paint the missing area back in. I left the smaller spots to add character. It is a vintage ad, after all, but I cleaned up the Louis Vuitton logo since it explains the image.

I added some crackle glaze in the corners and distressed the tray with a bit of sanding.

I used a spray sealer for added protection and the tray was finished! It looks old, weathered and torn. Just as I wanted.

PART TWO: A paper transfer

I forgot to take pictures until I had the image pressed onto my tray. Oops. But the instructions are the same as above, EXCEPT, when you burnish your (reversed) image on to your surface, you leave it to dry overnight. When it is dry you will be able to see a ghost of the image.

Carefully dampen the paper with a sponge, paper towel or your fingers. Then rub carefully in circles until you see balls of wet paper come off and your image gets more clear.

Continue to carefully rub the paper off the transferred ink. Dampen the paper as needed. As the paper dries it will turn white where you haven't removed enough paper. Don't worry about rubbing off part of the image. It's a rustic look we're after.

When you have rubbed off as much paper as you want you can further "distress" your project by adding paint to the image. I used light tan and ivory acrylic paint to create an aged poster look.

When you are satisfied with the image, let it dry overnight. When your project is completely dry I suggest applying at least 3 coats of water-based polyurethane to protect the surface.

When the finish is dry you can sit back and admire your work! Have fun!

Wow! I just think that entire process is so neat. I'm linking this cute video I found on YouTube by chance that shows the second part of Daena's tutorial. This video actually uses a picture printed on laser pictures, so I guess this is a try and see what you get kind of project! It's quick and fun and you can see Daena's tutorial put into action.

Have a super Tuesday. Take time to breathe and be grateful for all the good stuff in your life. I'm thankful for you being here today. 

Be sure to stop by tomorrow, it's the start of our next giveaway! Wahooli! Someone's gonna be a lucky winner.

Peace out