Make It Your Own: Updating a T-Shirt with Stencils

Stencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

Hello there! Today I want to share a really fun & quick project to personalise or update your t-shirts! This is really easy to do and the perfect project if you feel like a creative project but don’t have a lot of time on your hands. It only took me a couple of minutes plus the time it needs to dry. I love those little projects that you can squeeze in after work.

The lovely folks over at Stencil Revolution offered to send some stencils for me to try. What I love about their company is that it’s a small, family-owned operation that developed out of what originally was a street art forum. I love supporting upcoming creative businesses and I really had a great experience with them. They offer a large variety of designs and sizes (for decorating walls etc), I stuck to smaller sizes as they seemed a better fit for decorating shirts, fabrics and tote bags.

These stencils are not very expensive but are very long lasting. It’s a hard plastic sheet that you can wipe and wash and reuse many times. I had specific project ideas in mind when ordering the three larger stencils. But I picked the arrow stencils knowing this would be a motif I will probably use over and over again! Obviously, you can use these for walls, furniture, bags etc., too. I just love a t-shirt refashion and I buy plain white & black t-shirts every once in a while for exactly these kind of projects.

Stencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.comStencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

So, how does it work?

First of all, here’s what you need:

– stencil templates 
– fabric paint (I used black and light blue/turquoise)
– small dry sponge
– old plate or plastic container to pour the paint in
– masking tape
– a piece of cardboard (big enough to place under the area you are using colour on)
– iron & iron board

Stencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

  1. Prepare the shirt/fabric and template.
    If necessary, you might want to iron the shirt to make sure there are no creases. Clean the template if you used it before, to make sure it’s dry and there no residue colour. Use some masking tape to tape the template into place. It’s very important that it doesn’t move once you start with the colour.
    If using this on a shirt, place a piece of cardboard between both fabric layers. Otherwise, the colour might come through and leave stains on the back. A hard, smooth surface also makes it easier to get a neat result.
  2. Pour fabric paint onto your dish and dab your dry sponge in it. Dab it a couple times more onto the plate to have some of the paint come off. Using too much paint might need to colour bleeding. If you want to get crisp edges, make sure you use less paint and apply it in several layers.
  3. Dab the paint onto the fabric. Try not to use stroking motions as this might lead to blotches and colour bleeding as it gets under the template. This will also give the paint more of a sprayed “graffiti” look.
    If you want an ombre effect as I did with my project, start with the lighter colour. I used the light blue for the first layer, let it dry a bit and then dabbed over it with black again. For the colours to blend softly you really want to use as little paint on the sponge as possible. Work in layers until you get the opacity that you like.
  4. Let it dry. I usually remove the template afterwards. If you remove it while the paint is still wet it might smudge and blur.
  5. Once it’s dry remove the template and iron your fabric from the wrong side to set the colour.
    That’s it, you’re done!

Stencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.comStencil Refashion by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

I’m planning more projects with these stencils. They would also make a great project to do with kids. That Bill Murray will go on a tote bag for sure!

I’m looking for some nice gold or rose gold textile paint. Do you have any recommendations?

xx

Charlie

Please note: As always, all opinions are my own. All my product reviews are completely honest. I was gifted this product, but not asked to review it or given compensation for doing it.

Happy crafting!

facebook/bloglovin/pinterest
twitter/instagram

Stay in touch!

 

TUTORIAL: Make washable, eco-friendly chew toys for your dog!

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by! In this post I’m going to show you how to make some really cool chew toys for your dog!

There’s a very detailed step-by-step tutorial when you scroll down, explaining the basic technique I am using for making these sturdy fabric toys. But before we start, a few notes on durability and use.

First of all, recycling stuff while making eco-friendly and washable toys for your dog is amazing, right? You can throw these toys into the washing machine when they get grubby! They are soft and won’t hurt your pup’s teeth and you do not have to worry about little plastic bits breaking off which your dog could choke on. They are really sturdy if you tie the knots really tight. Our puppy is quite a heavy chewer and hasn’t managed to destroy any of these yet after using them for almost three weeks.

But there’s a note of caution, nonetheless.

As with any other chew toys, never leave your dog unattended or at least check on him every now and then when they’re playing with toys. Every toy might break at some point. No toy is indestructible. Check your dog’s toys every night and throw away any toys that are broken or hazardous in any other way. 

We also use these toys to teach. If your dog manages to destroy any toy in minutes, don’t leave him alone to get on with it. Use toys to teach him “leave it” and “take it”, “be gentle” or do some fun retrieving exercises. Your toys will last much longer! If your dog tends to be bored by this kind of toy: We never leave more than three toys out and rotate them on a regular basis, so the dog doesn’t start ignoring them. They’ll stay much more interesting this way!

Alright, here we go then!
DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

MAKE YOUR OWN!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • some leftover cotton jersey fabric (less than half a yard/metre is more than enough!)
  • scissors

Yep, that’s really all you need. If possible, use two different colours of fabric as this makes it easier not to get confused tying the knots when you try this the first time!

You do not necessarily need to use jersey fabric. Any other natural fibre would be OK for your dog, as well. But the stretch of the jersey makes the toy much more durable, as the knots are a lot tighter!

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Cutting the fabric:

There’s no rule about how wide or long the fabric strips need to be. It depends on how big a chew toy you want to make. I found the narrower the strips are, the sturdier the toy seems to be. Large strips of fabric might come loose after a while. I cut narrower strips and worked two as one while making the knots.

I cut 50-70 cm long strips about 3 cm wide for making the toys shown in this post.

How many do you need to cut? If you are using two different colours and you want them to run diagonally, you need to work with four bands (So eight in total, four of each colour, if you want to work two as one as I did). If you want the colours to run vertically, use six bands (four of one colour and two of the other – which makes 12 strips of fabric in total!).

The start:

The technique is roughly the same no matter how many bands you’re using. The beginning is exactly the same for both:

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Gather all the strips together at one end and tie a really tight knot like so:DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Tighten the knot by pulling hard on every single end. You will see the knot tighten and the fabric roll up as shown below.DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comIn this example I am making a toy using two colours and four bands, each one consisting of two strips of fabric of the same colour:DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

You can use a hook or safety pin, as well, but I find this method easier: Place the ends between our knees (sitting or kneeling) and hold it that way. Both of your hands are now free to work.

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Knotting using four bands:

Sort out the strips according to colour. You should have four bands. Place them like shown below. You should be looking at the knot you tied. (In this picture there’s already one row of knots tied, so yours will look slightly different). DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Start by placing the first band (it doesn’t matter which one you start with!) over the next one on the left. Then take the ends of that left one and, again, place them over the one next to it on the left. DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comRepeat. DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comWork your way around until you reach that first band again. Take the end of that fourth band and pull them through the loop you created when you crossed the first two. It should look like this:DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Now you pull that knot tight. You will need to pull on all four ends and repeat that pulling several times until the knot is really tight and even.

Knotting using six or more bands:

Here’s the same technique using more than four bands. You can use any amount of bands, but the more you use, the bigger the toy gets. (Note: At some point there’ll be a gap in the middle of the toy which you might fill with something while braiding around it. If not, the braid might be quite loose.)

I used six bands for the next one. Start as described above. Sort out all the different colours before starting.

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

As you can see, we’re doing the exact same thing here. We just don’t stop at the fourth but continue until we’ve finished the whole round again until we pull the last one though the loop.DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Pulling this one tight is a bit trickier. I recommend starting to pull at one end and then working your way clockwise for two or more rounds until everything is tight and neat.DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comHow to finish the toy:

And that’s almost it! Work for as many rounds as you like. A smaller toy will need around 15-20 repeats until it’s long enough. It will look like this:DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Tie another knot, just as you did at the beginning. Pull at every single end to get it really tight.DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Then cut off all excess fabric… and you’re done!DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Ps.: Don’t throw away these scraps! We’ll use them as stuffing for another toy that I’ll be sharing with you soon!DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Now off to present it to your doggie!

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Getting creative:

Once you got the hang of the basic technique (which is after finishing your first toy!), you can start playing around with it. You can divide the strips mid-toy into several smaller ones, add some knots or even weave two toys together into a cross. You can knot the ends together to create a doughnut-shape or learn to tie diamond knots at the ends to create this bone-shaped toy:

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

For the one above, I used strips about 150 cm long. I wove two really long toys together in the middle and tied the ends together, as well. I did not cut the ends but braided them together in threes. Now it looks like a fun octopus toy. Your dog will love the different shapes and textures, guaranteed!

Here’s another one I created freehand. When I reached the middle of the toy (roughly after about 9-10 knots) I divided the strips into two big ones which I tied off using a basic knot. I then used the same technique (working only single strips) for a few repeats, tied another knot and then braided all four bands (8  strips) normally until reaching the end. Our puppy loves this one!

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

If you have any questions about making a specific toy shown above, let me know in the comments! Hope you have as much fun making these as I did!

xx

Charlie


Have fun!

facebook/bloglovin/pinterest
twitter/instagram

Stay in touch!

NEW! Doggie DIYs – Let’s start with making your own dog toys!

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Hello everyone! I’m really excited about this:

There’s a new category on Thisblogisnotforyou.com: Dog DIYs!

There’ll be some really fun doggie-related projects coming up! We’ve got a new pup in our home right now and I’ve been busy making lots of cool things – toys, leashes etc.! If you’re not into dogs, don’t worry. Of course, there’ll be new fashion projects coming to the blog in no time!

Having a puppy in your home is an exciting time! There’ll be many new routines to get used to, a lot of work and worry, but also a lot of joy. And some time on your hands while you’re puppy sitting in the first days and weeks once your puppy is ready to come home with you. Time to sit on the couch, watch some Netflix and make some stuff! You’ll soon notice that toys are very useful things as they keep your puppy’s mind distracted from going after your carpet or favourite pair of shoes. And puppy goes through them in no time! Puppy teeth are very sharp but sensitive. You’ll need a lot of different toys of different textures, soft and hard ones, and of course toys that aren’t made with harmful chemicals or hard plastic which can break.

I tried a lot of different techniques to make some dog toys, leashes and treat bags for our puppy, while mainly recycling fabrics and materials I already had at home. These projects are perfect for recycling fabric scraps and your old pair of jeans.

DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

If you’re curious about learning more, watch Dog DIYs. There’s more coming up soon! And check out my first project tutorial on making some eco-friendly, washable CHEW TOYS from fabric scraps (as shown above)!
DIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Dog Toys by thisblogisnotforyou.com

Last but not least: Meet our adorable, crazy but super cute new puppy, Aslan! He’s 10 weeks now and we’re in love!

xx

Charlie


Have a great week!

facebook/bloglovin/pinterest
twitter/instagram

Stay in touch!

Our DIY Wedding

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)
DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)
DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com (Click through for more pics & info)

OUR DIY WEDDING

When we got married in May we tried to make as many things as possible ourselves. This included most decorations, flowers, music, some of the food and last but not least, my dress (and hair & make-up). This allowed us to create everything exactly as we envisioned it and also save a lot of money. It took a lot of time and nerves. Although we had the help of friends and family, I did most of the projects myself, which was exhausting at times, I’m not gonna lie. So here are some of my favourite DIY projects for our wedding.

*Sorry, this is a very picture-heavy post! I didn’t want to split it up into a couple of posts, so if you have any questions about anything, leave me a comment below!*

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

TABLE DECORATIONS

Our wedding venue was a modern barn which didn’t need much decoration, so I could focus on decorating the tables. We went for a rustic, vintage look: burlap, wood, paper, lace and a pastell colour palette.

We and our mums collected jars for a couple of months which I turned into flower vases by decorating them with lace, doilies, twine and burlap. Although I used a couple of different shapes and sizes I tried not to use too many different ones, but collected sets of the same to make it look a bit more consistent. I used the larger ones as centerpieces and smaller ones to fill in gaps and to use as candleholders.

We printed off our drinks list on white card and ordered blank place cards matching our invitations. The handlettering of the placecards took ages, but was a lot of fun. We made the placecard holders from branches, which we sawed to get cylindric pieces of wood (roughly 4x4cm). We then cut slits into the top to stick in the placecards.

The table number I designed with Photoshop and printed them onto white card. I glued pegs onto twigs and put them with the flowers in the centerpiece vases.

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

FLOWERS

Early on in the planning process I decided to do all the flowers – including my bridal bouquet – myself. (I’m a bit of a control freak I learnt during that time!) It was much more difficult than you’d think to organise the different flowers, because it’s something that has to be done JUST before the wedding. It’s nothing you can tick off weeks before. So that was stressful, because up until the very last day before our wedding I had no idea whether everything would work out the way I wanted. It was sooo much cheaper than having a professional organise everything, though.

So this is what we did: I ordered blush pink and white roses and well as baby’s breath from a local flower shop which we picked up the day before the wedding. Since we only had to pay for the loose flowers, it wasn’t too expensive. It was much more complicated with the hydrangeas. They’re pretty expensive if you get them in a flower shop and they wilt VERY quickly if you’re not careful.

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

In the end I decided to get potted hydrangeas from a garden centre and cut them the night before the wedding. I had practised all the bouquet-binding and vase-filling a couple of weeks before, but filling between 30 and 40 vases took A LOT of time. We spent the night before the wedding in our hotel room with the Mr’s best man, the whole room covered in roses, hydrangea pots, greenery and boxes full of jars and other decorations. THAT was exciting. Luckily we had some wine to calm my nerves. I think we finished 1.45 AM, which is not a good thing if you’re getting married in the morning. It was worth it anyway. Thinking back, the flowers are one of my absolute favourite things to remember from that day.

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

BRIDAL BOUQUET

I used blush pink hydrangeas (about five large heads), baby’s breath, and pink roses in two different sizes. I created the bouquet shape by first binding together the hydrangeas with florist’s tape. Then I stuck the baby’s breath in, again, fixing everything with tape. After that I did the same with the large and then the smaller roses. I bound the stems with peach satin ribbon and some pins.

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

CANDY BAR

One of the best things to organise was our Candy Bar. I left the ordering of sweets to my mum in law who’d outdone all our expectations by getting us about 18kg of mostly gummi bears and other jelly candy. It was crazy awesome. For the candy bar I made paper bunting from doiles and ordered paper bags and tiny ice-cream shovels. The candy jars are from IKEA for the most part.

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

OTHER PROJECTS

Here are some other DIY projects I did: some activities for the guests such as a lottery, alternative guestbooks, a photo booth backdrop made from napkin pompoms, a confetti basket and more. It was so much fun to get inspired, create and make up new ideas for projects in the months before the wedding. I’m almost sad I won’t be doing that anymore!

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

We asked our grandmas and mums to bake the cakes for the day. They came up with a massive amount of different cakes, cupcakes and pies, it was incredible!DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

These garden decorations are simply Regolit lampshade from IKEA (2.95€ each) to which I tied long strips of scrap fabrics.

I also made our ring pillow from some scrap wedding dress fabric and made a case for it from an antique book which I bought on the holiday during which we got engaged last summer.DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

OUR WEDDING CAKE

One of my favourite DIYs of the day wasn’t done by me. I asked my sister, who’s very talented when it comes to baking, to make our wedding cake. I wanted to have a ‘naked cake’ decorated with fruit and flowers, and what she came up with really outdid all our expectations:

DIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Wedding by Thisblogisnotforyou.com

DIY wedding dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com

It was a perfect day and we had so much fun preparing for it and now sorting through all the photos taken on that day.

Wow, that was a lot of pictures! Well done, you, if you were patient enough to stick through to the end! If you have any questions about any of these projects let me know in the comments!

xx

Charlie


Happy sewing!

facebook/bloglovin/pinterest
twitter/instagram

Stay in touch!

Wedding Accessories: DIY Floral Hair Comb

DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comOur wedding was almost 100% DIY, and so was my hair and make-up and some of the accessories. I did not want to wear a veil, but wanted some sort of bridal hair accessory matching our theme and my dress.

So today, I’m sharing a super quick and easy wedding DIY and will show you how I made a floral hair comb in just a few minutes. You can make one for yourself or your bidesmaids or one just to wear to the next summer garden party.

I did my hair myself, so I needed an accessory that was easy to put in/take out/adjust. The hair do is based on the “Double Gibson” – I found a really nice tutorial on The Freckled Fox blog. I had planned to take more time to practise the hair do properly, but as it goes with wedding preparations, there was never enough time to do anything properly, so I had to wing it on the big day.DIY wedding dress by thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comAll you really need for this is a hair comb (you get them really cheap at almost every drug store), some artificial (or real) flowers and some fine gold wire.

I bought artificial hydrangea, same as my bouquet flowers. It’s a bit tricky to find hydrangea that doesn’t look too tacky, but I noticed that it’s not that obvious once it’s in your hair. Here you can see the different colours I got, but I only used the ivory/green ones in the end.

DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comTake the wire and wrap it around the comb once or twice starting at one side to secure it in place. Separate the smaller bouquet from the plastic stems of your artificial flower. You can use the tiny holes at the bottom to pull through the wire. If you are using real flowers, leave the stems a bit longer so the wire can get a proper hold on them. I wouldn’t recommend using real hydrangea blooms because they need to stay hydrated and wilt very quickly.

I wrapped the wire around the comb once after each tooth and added a bouquet consisting of three blossoms after every second tooth.DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comHere’s a pic of the front and back. You cannot see either comb or wire once it’s in your hair. Feel free to add as many blossoms as you like and mix them up if you want to. I had to play around a bit until I got it right for my taste. Using a wire makes it easier to adjust things as you go and you won’t burn real flower as you would with a glue gun.

With artificial flowers you could obviously also use a glue gun, especially if the blossoms don’t come in small bouquet.
DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.com
DIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.comDIY Floral Bridal Hair Comb by thisblogisnotforyou.com

So quick and easy, but very effective. It would also make a nice accessory for your summer hair dos. What do you think? 

xx

Charlie


Happy sewing!

facebook/bloglovin/pinterest
twitter/instagram

Stay in touch!