Mother's Day Seed Paper Card and Bag

For Mother's Day this year, I decided to make use of some great seed paper that I scored from Pick Your Plum.  It's basically paper that has flower seeds woven into its soft fibers.  Soak the paper in water overnight and the seeds are ready to plant!  Cool, huh?  I also had some muslin bags from a Pick Your Plum grab box I scored a few weeks ago, so I thought it would be fun to incorporate one in my project, also.

The Card:

Since I was using seed paper, I wanted to stick with a flower theme for my card.  After hours of browsing,  I settled on a really fun Lori Whitlock cut file for my Silhouette Cameo that was available in the Silhouette online store.  It's called Card Kit Flower Pot - Design ID 8696.  My plan was to use regular cardstock for the flower pot envelope and the seed paper for the flower insert portion.  A test cut on the Cameo confirmed my suspicions that the seed paper would not play nicely with a paper cutter.  (The paper ended up pulled and shredded, similar to tearing a paper towel.)  To work around that, I cut one set of the flower insert pieces out of scrap cardstock.  I used the cardstock pieces as a template, tracing the shapes onto the seed paper and then cutting by hand.  I was afraid the process would be tedious, but it wasn't too bad.  I also feared that glue might negatively affect the seed paper, so I secured the flower to the green leaf base with brads.  I finished off the card by embossing "Happy Mother's Day" on the pot.

The Bag:

For the bag, I thought it would be fun to decorate it like an old-fashioned seed pouch to once again play off the flower theme.  The nearest image I could find in the Silhouette online store was Card Spring Seed Packet - Design ID 9825.  It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but it gave me some ideas and I did end up including the price element in my design.  For the text, I scoured the internet looking for something that would seem appropriate, and after quite a bit of digging I settled on Penshurst from DaFont.com.  I assembled my text using the Silhouette Studio software, added the price element and a flower image, and then cut my design onto adhesive vinyl.  I applied the vinyl to my muslin bag and used it as a stencil, painting the various details using fabric paint.  As soon as my paint was applied, I peeled away the vinyl and allowed it to dry.

Once all of my pieces were complete, I wrote a message on my seed paper card, slid it into the bag and was ready for Mother's Day to arrive.

Painted Burlap Welcome Sign

Lately, I've been drawn to all of the painted burlap projects floating around Pinterest.  I've seen everything from burlap pillows to burlap-wrapped canvas.  I really like the look and over the weekend I decided to create something of my own.  We're currently in the process of repainting our entryway, so I thought it would be great to have a new welcome sign to hang in the soon-to-be spruced up space.

I created my sign using:

• Burlap - nothing fancy, just the inexpensive, itchy kind from Jo-Ann's
• Adhesive vinyl - cut with my Silhouette CAMEO to create a "Welcome" stencil
• Transfer paper - to apply the stencil to the burlap
• DecoArt SoSoft fabric paint in Lamp Black
• Stiff fabric paint brush - I started out using a sponge dabber, but found that the sponge mostly just absorbed the paint
• Black frame - a rectangular collage frame that I removed the matting from

After scouring dozens of fonts online, I settled on Freebooter Script from dafont.com and welded together the word "Welcome" in my Silhouette Studio software.  I already had a wall frame that I wanted to use, so I was careful to size the word so that it would fit.  Then, I cut the phrase onto vinyl with my Silhouette CAMEO. 

Once the cut was complete, I weeded out the actual word so that I was only left with the negative space.  This was then applied on top of the burlap with the help of some transfer paper to keep things in place.  I took special care to smooth down the vinyl along the edge of each letter so that none of my paint could seep under the edges.

The next step was to apply the paint. I started out using a foam sponge dabber, but quickly found that most of my paint was being absorbed into the sponge rather than transferred to the burlap. After a few moments of frustration, I switched to a stiff-bristled fabric paint brush. Much better! Rather than using sweeping brush strokes, I repeatedly tapped the burlap with the brush. This helped the paint to seep in and coat the individual fibers.

Once I painted all of the letters, I waited a few short minutes to let it dry a little before peeling the stencil away from the burlap. Considering the rough, uneven texture of the fabric, I was nervous that some of the paint and bled beneath the vinyl.  However, I found myself extremely pleased with the crisp edges that were left behind. No seepage! Per the instructions for the fabric paint, it has to sit 48 hours to dry, but I couldn't resist placing it in my frame to see what the finished product will look like. Viola! My homemade burlap welcome sign!