Decorate your smartphone cover with mod podge!

***Tutorial***

Don't throw away your boring smartphone cover! Add your own artwork and bling with mod podge, paper, paint and crystals! I will show you how I did it... I have a Samsung Galaxy 3, this cover is a cheaper one I had bought at Wally's, the brand was Body Glove. I am not sure I would do this on the more expensive Otter brands however! This case I had used awhile and it was getting a bit abused looking. I decided to try some artwork on it, now that is one sweet looking phone cover!

 

Before I get into the tutorial I want to talk about Mod Podge and some accessories I found! Firstly, is there anything at all not to love about mod podge? It is amazing stuff and can be used for so many things. I use if for many applications. It comes in gloss, matte, for paper and more.

 

Look what I found at Hobby Lobby! This is a silicone matte that you can be messy on and mod podge, hot glue etc.. will just peel off of it for easy clean up! I love it.... here I show it and the box it came in, the price was 9.99.

 

 

This is a nifty way to roll mod modge on a larger project, just put mod podge in the bottle, screw on the roller and start in!

Oh I love this one!!! These are little silicone finger protectors so that hot glue won't burn your fingers! I cannot tell you how many times I have burnt my fingers when I use hot glue. You can even use these for other applications as well, whatever you use and do not want your fingers to get into.

 

 Here is some of the mod podge types there are. I bought matte paper mod podge for this, but next time will buy the gloss as well. For the smartphone case I ended up liking the gloss over the matte.

Here is how my phone cover looked before I started the decorating process! Again, I would buy the gloss mod podge for paper instead of the matte you see here.

 

I wiped the surface down with some alcohol to give me a dirt-free surface to work with.

 

 

Next I found some pretty scrapbooking paper that went well with the color of the phone cover. I thought this blended well!

 

Turn the paper upside down on the part of the paper you liked the best.

 

 Trace around the phone case, this can be rough, no need to be picky here since we only need a general outline now. Cut out...

 

Now.... lay the paper over the case and take a ball point stylus like shown here and go around the inside edge where you want the paper to be. This will score the paper and give you an outline to cut on. This will be your template.

 

Here you can see that when I lifted the paper from the phone case the score lines are clearly visible. Cut this out on the score line with sharp scissors.

 

This picture shows the scissors I use. It looks like the fit is nice! I will go with it.

Brush on a layer of mod podge to the back-side of the paper. As you can see I am not worrying about being messy on the mod podge matte since I can peel it off later!

 

 The paper is glued onto the phone case, smooth out any air pockets etc.. with your fingers and let this dry for a couple of hours. I did not cut out the smaller holes yet, once it is dry it will be easier to take an x-acto knife and cut them out.

 

Once dry, I took my stylus and rand it around the edge, I seen that I had a bit of excess paper where I did not want it so I cut if off with a sharp knife.

I also carefully cut out the holes on my phone case with the sharp knife. It is time to decorate this. The sky's the limit here, whatever you can think to do here is fine.

Here were some of my considerations, a paper butterfly I had painted and glitzed up, some dried flowers, rhinestones. Hmmmm not sure yet.....

 Perhaps these flowers, glass beads, glitter....??? The painter in me is now wanting to paint on this paper!! If you are a stamper you could stamp this as well and decorate.

 

I am going to do a simple one-stroke flower using Donna Dewberry's method. I have two puddles of paint together one in white, the other in purple to load my brush into. Donna Dewberry has many painting books on how to make one-stroke flowers, I highly recommend them if you want to learn this. Like I said earlier, you could stamp and color if you like stamping.

I practiced a few strokes on my foam plate as you can see before actually doing it on my phone! Once I had it I made my petals. I used acrylics, they seem to work just fine on paper!

I used two colors of yellow and some white to make the flower center. Use a dry scruffy type brush like shown here to do it. Pounce the color in.

 Center is in! I also floated some purple on the edges and around the holes.

 

 

 

I took an angle brush and loaded it in green and dipped the tip in some white to stroke on the stem. I loaded a flat brush in green and white and did some one stroke leaves as well.

I painted on a happy flower face with some black. I added some pink cheeks and used a liner to make the mouth, eyebrows and nose. This is a quick and simple face, not too much fussing here. I added a small float of purple where the yellow meets the flower to add more depth.

I had a cute paper cut-out of this bee so I added some mod podge to the back and stuck it on. I now brushed on a coat of gloss mod podge, before it was dry I lightly sprinkled on some glamour dust glitter.

Let the coats of mod podge dry 15 - 20 minutes between coats, add more glitter if you want. I added three good coats mod podge until it had a nice heavy glossy finish. Add as many coats as you like, the more coats the more durable it will be.

Look! the mod podge really does peel off....:-)

I wanted some glitter on the side design so I brushed on some mod podge and before it dried sprinkled on some purple glitter.

 

I did the sprinkling over a plate so I could put the excess back in the bottle when I was finished. Once dry add another top layer of mod podge and let dry.

I am liking this, I do think I will leave a hint of the original phone color by leaving the top and bottom free of mod podge or glitter. I have some Swarovski crystals I think need to be on here! We love our smartphones so nothing it too good when it comes to making our phones a fashion statement.

You will need some crystals or rhinestones (cheaper) , a tweezer and some grrrip glue. I like grrrip glue for setting the stones because it is flexible clear glue that glues like the dickens. It says on the bottle that one of the applications is for decoupage so I feel this will work great. It is important with whatever you are doing to use the right glues for the application you are working on. Pick up a stone with your tweezer's and put a good layer of glue on the backs with a toothpick, lay them in position and let them dry well. NOTE: This craft glue is usually not found in local craft stores but you can find it online.

 

Isn't this fun!! Try to make your own custom phone case, I guarantee you will have a ball doing it. I wish you could see how sparkly my custom smartphone cover is in real life! I hope this gets the creative juices flowing, the ideas for this are endless.

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, now go and create!!



Prims Summer Issue Now Available!

Happy May!

Okay I don't usually announce when this publication comes out... so why am I so excited? because my artwork has been published in this issue! I am so excited thrilled to pieces about it! They really did a great job with it so I am really pleased how it came out. If you like Primitive artwork and love the time worn look, you will love Prims. It is so well done and the photography is great, such eye candy! Here it is

 

Click on the picture or go to http://www.stampington.com/prims/ to order. You can find out where to get this locally by putting in your zip code and city.

 

I do hope the month of May brings lots of good things your way including an abundance of May flowers!

Raggedy Annie Doll Pattern Finished

Good News! I finally finished this primitive raggedy annie! Her pattern is now available on Etsy, Patternmart and soon my website. I am adding another photo because since the last one she has a USA sign and some rusty stars in her hair!

This particular made up doll will be for sale on Pfatt Marketplace on the 10th. www.pfattmarketplace.com No early sales please.

Her new name is..... **AmericAnnie** Thanks again to my friend LeeAnn Kress, she has done it again and helped me name yet another one of my patterns!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Raggedy Annie ~ Face Painting Tutorial

 

I am just finishing up my next pattern, a sweet Americana Raggedy Ann. I painted her face today and took photos for a quick tutorial. I hope you enjoy it!

Her pattern will be available within a weeks time. I still have to come up with something patriotic for her to hold. She still does not have a proper name if anyone wants to help me come up with an idea!

I will show her finished in these first photos then we will re-wind and start her painting process!

 

Here is a full body shot, although this picture doesn't really show her cute socks and shoes! Her flag body, arms, shoes, socks and face are all hand painted. Her arms are wired so she is able to put her right hand over her heart for a flag salute!

 

Now let's start from the beginning with her blank face and see how she comes alive!

 

 

I drew the eyes I wanted onto cardstock and cut them out. I pinned them where I thought they looked good and then double checked my placement with a caliper. I used a mechanical pencil to trace around the eyes. I just free handed the nose and mouth. This will be the face you will get in this dolls pattern. As you can see this doll will have eyelids. The black will only be painted in the lower portion.

When painting on fabric a mix of textile medium and water is used to keep the paint from bleeding into the fabric. I dressed a round brush in black and textile mix and painted the eyes in black. Let this dry or speed dry with a heat gun. Be careful to stay far enough away from your fabric with the heat gun or you may burn your project!

Here is the round brush I used. I have one puddle of textile mix and one of black on a foam plate.

The next step will be to highlight the eyes to bring life into them. Now that you are painting over the black paint you will not need textile medium. Dress your brush in water and blot off the excess lightly on a paper towel leaving some water in the brush. Dip one corner of the brush in white and go back and forth on the plate until the color goes from darker to lighter ending in the middle of your brush.This is called side loading for a float of color. Float white in each lower eye.

Here you see that I have added a float of white keeping it darker toward the bottom until it ends in the middle. I also took a liner brush and thinned down black (thinned in textile medium) and lined eyes to define the eyelids.

Next I took my liner brush and added white highlight dots and some reflection lines in each eye.

 

Next I will do some shading around the eyes, this is one of the most important parts in making her features pop. I have a puddle of textile medium water mix, burnt umber and my flat brush to do the job.

This picture shows how much I dampened the area around her eyes for shading. I did the entire area so there would be no lines on the fabric once dried. While it is wet I will add my float of color.

 

Just like with the white I dip the corner of a slightly damp brush in burnt umber and go back and forth so the paint loads the brush from dark to light in the middle. As you can see here when I started it the color was dark but as I moved around on the plate it became lighter. I liked how it was coming off the brush (see strokes directly above brush) when it was nice and soft. Now I am ready to add this around the eyes. Note: I have to do this procedure for each eye and sometimes twice for each eye to make it around with my color.

 

Here are the eyes after I added shading around them. I left the lower edges clear of color. This needs to be dried a bit with the heat gun so I can move on.

 

This is the inexpensive heat gun I use for speed drying. These guns are normally used for embossing and can be found in the scrapbooking section of your local craft stores.

 

On go the eyebrows, but I have to make sure they are not lopsided so I measure the distance from the top of the eye on the first one and make sure the second one falls within the same distance.

 

I am dampening the nose with textile medium mix so the paint will flow smoothly. I also did this to the eye area before I added the black to make the paint move nicer. She is ready for a nose

The nose and mouth are filled in, from here I will add some floats of burnt umber to add a bit of an antique look to the nose and mouth.

Now that the area around the eyes are dry, I added some whispy eyelashes. Notice how the shading really makes the eyelids pop out.

 

Shading has been added above the nose.

I used this liner brush and added the mouth lines and outlined the nose. Now her face is starting to come to life.

Now that the mouth is done I added a bit of shadows below the mouth and the cheek indents. It just needs to dry so she doesn't look so funny! Hmmm how about some lower lashes?

 

I added some floats of white in the nose and mouth. Three lower lashes where put under each eye with a liner brush and black. She now needs a little color so she doesn't look so anemic....:-)

 

 

The cheeks are done with a cheek color, textile mix and Donna Dewberry's medium scruffy brush shown here. The first step will be to dampen the entire cheek area thoroughly first.

 

 

Dip a dry brush into your paint and swirl it into the brush using the foam plate. From here you will want to swirl most of the paint out of the brush onto a dry paper towel until only a light amount is coming off the brush.

 

This shows how much was coming of the brush when I started and how it looks when it is ready to go, nice and light. From here I lightly added the cheek color in a circular motion until the cheeks where the depth I liked. Let this dry and you should have this.....

 

Look at that sweet little raggedy girl! This was so much fun... I have a love for raggedy ann dolls that started when I was a child. I still have my magical raggedy ann from way back when. She got up every night and played about while I slept, she came alive! I do think this gal needs some hair to go along with that whimsical face!

 

 

I will end with the same picture I started with. I do hope you give painting on fabric a try, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities to you creatively. For me there would be no dolls without paints and brushes.

 

Thanks for stopping by

 

Snowman Pattern Available

I want to let you all know that I just finished up this sweet snowman and his pattern is available. He is now for sale on Patternmart, Etsy or my website! He would also look pretty cute done up in the traditional Christmas colors. My friend LeeAnn helped me with his new name (Candee Cornflake!) isn't that too sweet?

 

What a great feeling when I finally do finish up a pattern! I am always happy to have a fresh start on be thinking of my next one. The wheels are spinning but not sure what direction they are going just yet. I will let you know!

Primitive Snowman ~ Fall Into Winter

It occurred to me today as I was in the middle of total craft room chaos... that I am most happy while creating. Everyone has that (something) that while they are doing it, there is no where else you'd rather be right? The feeling for me as I am engrossed in creating is one of joy, a full heart, gratefulness. There is no concept of time flying by while sitting amongst piles of fabric, pins, glue, paint and glitter! I cannot even explain what simply walking into my studio and breathing in the smell of it does to me, the sights of supplies, fabrics and this n thats are instantly calming. I had to stop and thank God today for the gift of creativity, because I cannot imagine my life without it. These things we can do, the things that fill our hearts with unspeakable joy are not of our own doing, but gifts given to us.... I am so thankful! There are those of you out there that know exactly what I am talking about, there is that (thing) we know that others dont!

Now onto what I was doing today in that room that made me so happy! I will show you the picture first and then explain how he came to be..... I call this project (Fall Into Winter) Yes, this is my next pattern!! Be on the lookout for it soon. I still have to do the writing of this pattern, this is very time consuming. I am only guessing that it may be done within a week, it depends on how busy with other things my week gets.

 

 

Who says that snowmen don't enjoy Fall? This little guy certainly does!! He enjoys celebrating Fall while waiting for Winter to arrive. I am not sure what his name is yet, any suggestions?

 

Why a snowman now? I told myself that this year I would create what I was in the mood to do regardless of what season was coming up. I also had just finished a snowman for Prims 2013 Fall/Winter issue so I was already in the snoman making mood. This started out as your typical snowman, he was going to be Christmas all the way... well about halfway done I spotted this large black sock in my basket. On a whim I took it out and thought... HMMMM I wonder if this sock will stretch over this guy for a sweater! Well guess what? it worked like a charm. This completely accidental finding changed the entire project. In that moment I could see this snowman dressed up in Fall clothing. One thing led to another and he HAD to have candy corn buttons, a pumpkin and polka dot hat and striped shoes. This ended up being such a fun project. This is another example of how my things end up determining what they'd like to be even though I had something else in mind!

 

My Henrietta Hen has this roly poly body, I really love how nicely this design sits. SOOOOO I am going to do a pattern series over time that incorporates this darling sitting body and round head. This is pattern 2 in the series. Other things I may have in mind are a bunny, bumble bee, gingerbread, lady bug, pumpkin, cat and who knows what else. I will change up the legs, arms, size and whatever else needs to be added for each project! I am not saying they will be created one after another, after all you all know by now that I am not the fastest at putting these out. I will do them as I am in the mood,

probably in between other patterns that are not going to be in this series.

 

 Here is a side view that shows the roundness of his body. I used a twisty pod for the nose on this guy.

 

I do hope you are all having a nice Sunday!

Polymer Clay Candy Making Tutorial

Hello Friends!

I am excited to share with you a wonderful tutorial my friend LeeAnn of Charmed Confections just posted on her blog! She shares in detail how she makes her real looking candies. They do look good enough to eat! This is such a fun thing to do and there are endless ways you could use these candies with your hand made projects! Please stop by her blog and enjoy learning how she does this. She has included lots of photos as well. Click on the picture below to go to her blog! She would love to hear your comments!

 

What have I been doing? Well I think I must have Spring fever because I cannot concentrate at all right now on creating. I have been doing things outside and doing things with the hubby. We are also getting ready to have a Spring garage sale! No worries though, this too shall pass and I will be back to creating those patterns!

 

Thanks for stopping by....:-)