freshvintage

Tutorial: Displaying Vintage Paper Labels

Here's a really simple gift idea for someone who loves vintage ephemera (old paper). The idea is so simple, in fact, that I can't even believe I made a tutorial for it. But if it gets your antique paper collection out of the boxes in your basement, then maybe it will be worth it.

One of my favorite searches on eBay includes the names of my family members' hometowns. A few months ago, I did a search for Hammonton, NJ, which is the town where my mother and sister, Megan, live. Megan is married to Guy, a third-generation farmer who grew up in Hammonton. While searching on eBay, I came across a bundle of vintage labels for several different beers that were brewed and bottled in a factory in Hammonton.

My plan was to somehow display the labels in a frame and give it to Guy for his birthday. I didn't have time or money to spend on a custom matted frame, especially for someone who is not a blood relative. But I think it turned out nice enough that Megan would allow it to be hung inside their house, instead of being relegated to the garage or the bathroom at the farm.

Here are the supplies I used:

• Vintage beer labels
  You could also use postcards, Victorian calling cards, canned vegetable & fruit labels, flashcards, playing cards, or any other ephemera. You'll be attaching glue dots to the back of the paper, so don't use anything too valuable.

• 11x14 frame from a discount store
  Mine had a cardboard mat that made it easier to attach the fabric. But you don't need a mat.

• Black fabric
  Alternatives to fabric: use wrapping paper or scrapbook paper. You don't want anything too busy or else it will distract from the labels.

• Stapler

• Glue Dots

Cut the piece of black fabric a few inches bigger than the mat.

Staple the fabric to the mat. If your frame doesn't have a mat, you can hot-glue the fabric to a piece of cardboard cut to the same size as the glass.

Line up the labels on the fabric:

I used double-sided glue dots to attach the labels to the fabric (one on each corner):

And that's it! It was hard to get a good photo because of the reflection of the glass, but I think you get the idea. From what I remember on the night of Guy's birthday party (details are a bit hazy), he said it was the best birthday present he ever got. Sorry, Meg.

These vintage soda bottle labels are my next project (for me to keep). I like the black background, but I might consider using a more colorful fabric.  I'll let you know how that one goes...

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For those of you who are having problems with my feed in Bloglines, you can unsubscribe and then create a new subscription using this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/freshvintage. I want to write about RSS feeds on freshblogtips.com, but I am so frustrated and confused right now. I don't think it would be very helpful to publish a curse-word-filled rant about blog feeds. 

 

Fabric-Covered Corkboard, Part Deux

Remember the fabric-covered corkboards that I made a few months ago? I sold the two that I made in the tutorial, so I keep buying them whenever I find them at yard sales. I decided to make one for my kitchen last weekend. It's a big one, at 2 ft x 3 ft.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I painted the frame black (to match the accents & appliances in my kitchen), and used Erin Michael's Paint By Numbers fabric from her Uptown line by Moda. I love this fabric because it has all of the paint colors that I used in my house: tangerine, aqua, brown and green. Erin has a new line out called Lush, which includes another take on the paint-by-number (with deer). You can check it out on the Tula Pink blog.  I trimmed the board with vintage orange and white woven rick-rack.

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Thanks for all of the drink name suggestions! They were all so creative. My personal favorites are Lime Skyy Light, Junkin' Juice and The Skyy's the Lime-It. Has anyone tried the drink yet? My neighbor, The Tastykake Man, read my blog and decided to buy the ingredients. He went to the Wine & Spirits store, and learned that the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board does not sell Skyy Berry Vodka in the state of Pennsylvania. I swear, this place is like a friggin' communist state when it comes to liquor. Just one more reason why I drive ten minutes to Delaware for all of my boozing needs.

Fabric-Covered Corkboard Tutorial

I buy corkboards whenever I see them at thrift stores or yard sales if they are two dollars or less. They've been piling up in my garage, so I thought it was about time that I actually do something with them! There's been a lot of blog buzz about inspiration boards lately, so I decided to give you a quick and easy tutorial on creating a fabric-covered cork board.

I started off with a plain bulletin board:

1. I painted the frame with an antique white water-based enamel craft paint. This frame needed three coats.

2. Cut the fabric to fit the board. I used a fat quarter from my stash of Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabrics. If you do ANY sewing or crafting with fabrics, you MUST invest in a rotary cutter, cutting mat and clear ruler. I've been sewing for many years, and I only got these tools a year ago. Now I realize how much time I wasted cutting fabric with scissors (not to mention all of the fabric that I've thrown away because I suck at cutting with scissors).

3. Tape off the frame and use spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the board. I used Craft Bond. Spray the adhesive onto the cork, and then lay the fabric on the board. Use a piece of cardboard to smooth out any bubbles in the fabric. To make sure the fabric won't come off along the edges, staple the fabric to the board along the frame (just a few staples in the corners and in the middle of each side).

4. Attach trim or ribbon to cover the edges of the fabric and staples. I used Fabric-Tac to glue vintage rick-rack trim along the edges. I cut a separate piece of trim for each side. I originally attempted to use one long piece of trim, but the corners didn't look right.

Here's the finished product!

After finishing my project, I was overtaken by some sort of crafty demon, and was physically unable to put down the glue. So, I attached vintage buttons to thumbtacks to make these cute little push pins:

And then I made another board. For this one, I used striped grosgrain ribbon around the edges.

Both of these are for sale at the Vintage Home Annex. Try it yourself, and let me know how it goes!

UPDATED on August 13, 2008:
Need more inspiration? I made another fabric-covered corkboard.  

fresh & vintage tags

You're probably wondering where I've been (or maybe you didn't even miss me). I haven't had the chance to do much yard-saling lately. Two weekends ago, we took the kids to Hershey Park, so that was a pretty lame weekend for junking (but great for peanut butter cups). And last weekend, we stayed in Cape May, NJ for my father's wedding at this beautiful (but not very kid-friendly) inn. I always get the warm-fuzzies when I hear a waitress say "get these kids away from me". Other than that, it was a lovely occasion.

I didn't go to any yard sales in the past few weeks, but I did, however, do a little ebaying and crafting. You may have noticed that I have a strange attraction to vintage price tags. I buy them on eBay whenever I see them pop up. (You gals better not start outbidding me, dammit!) I included some in the last few giveaways. I even started making some vintage-style gift tags which were part of the little booby prize. I dyed manila price tags in hot water with plain old Lipton tea bags:

I used four tea bags in this bowl of around 20 tags. I also dyed some tags in a big metal roasting pan, where I used eight tea bags. I let them soak for at least an hour. It's okay to let the tags soak overnight if that is easier for you. I also crumpled up some of them to make them look aged. And in a couple of the batches, I added soy sauce to make them a little darker (and I was craving moo goo gai pan at the time).

Then, I laid them out to dry in the sun on an iron patio table. Luckily, it wasn't very windy that day. After a few of them blew away, I knew that they were dry.

See all those holes in my table? I didn't realize that they would result in these neat-o polka-dot tags!

Did all of you crafty collage-ing, scrapbooking people know that this would happen? Here's a close-up:

I'd love to try this on an old metal grate with fancy ironwork instead of my patio table.

I added some vintage seam binding and, voila! A bundle of gift tags!

So, there's your rare dose of Crafty Colleen.

Now, on to the eBaying Colleen. This is the actual picture from the eBay auction that I won:

I wasn't exactly sure that there would be any cool tags, but I chanced it anyway. I'm glad I took a gamble on this auction. The majority of them are old blank manila tags (that look like they've been tea-dyed, but are actually the real thing). Then... there are about 50 tags from on old furniture store:

Here are a few of my favorites:

I thought the "no financing 'til 2010" sales pitch was new, but apparently it isn't:

I never realized that peer pressure was a fundamental sales ploy of the furniture business:

   

Fabric Labels Tutorial

I've been looking for custom fabric labels for the bags and other stuff that I make.  They can be pretty expensive, especially if you want them printed with your own logo in non-standard colors (lime green & aqua). Making bags isn't my full-time job, so I can't justify spending a lot of money on custom labels. So, I decided to try using printable transfer fabric and twill tape to make my own labels.  It was really easy and I am pleasantly surprised that they don't look too homemade. The paper costs $10 and the twill tape is $1.50.  Depending on the size of your image, you can make around 120 labels using 6 packs of twill tape.  Total cost: $19.  Here are the steps I took to create the labels:

This is the paper and twill tape that I used. This paper only works on white or light-colored fabric.

STEP 1: CREATE IMAGE FILE
I created my logo in the correct size using Macromedia Fireworks (you can use Photoshop, or any other graphics program). The twill tape was 3/4 in wide, so my logo need to be smaller than that.  Mine was 1.75 inches long and 0.6 inches high. I set the resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch) since it was being printed (70 dpi is standard for images being used on the web).

STEP 2: PRINT IMAGE ON TRANSFER PAPER
I copied the image into Microsoft Word and pasted it 44 times, leaving some space between each image. When you print the page, you have to select "mirror image" in your printing options. I printed the page on a regular piece of paper before using the printable transfer paper, just to make sure everything looked okay. Then, I printed it on the transfer paper as pictured below. You have to wait 30 minutes for the ink to dry before you continue to the next step.

STEP 3: CUT OUT IMAGE
Next, I cut out the images to transfer to the twill tape. It is best to leave a little bit of white space on the sides of the image, so you have room to peel off the backing paper (in a later step). 

STEP 4: IRON TRANSFER TO TWILL TAPE
Cut the twill tape at least a half inch longer than the image on each side. Turn the image face-down and press with a HOT, DRY iron for about 15-20 seconds.

STEP 5: PEEL OFF BACKING
According to the directions for the transfer paper, if you want a matte look to the image, then peel off the backing while the image is still hot. If you want a glossy finish, then wait for it to cool down.  I wanted a matte finish, so I immediately peeled off the backing. This didn't always work - sometimes it was too hot, and the image was still stuck to the backing.  So, I eventually found that if I blew on it for 3 seconds before I peeled the backing, then the label would be perfect.  I screwed up about 4 labels before they started looking good, so don't be nervous...just keep trying different things until it works (maybe turn down your iron setting and/or press it for longer than 20 seconds).

STEP 6: SEW ONTO FABRIC
Turn the edges under and stitch onto your fabric. If you use the iron to press the edges, be sure not to touch the image with the iron.  I used polyester twill tape, which tends to unravel easily, so you may want to use Fray Check on the edges.

You could also create a looped label, instead of the flat one that I made. With the looped kind, you could transfer another image to the "back " of the label that has the washing instructions (great for washable tote bags or diaper bags).

Please let me know if you use these instructions to create your own labels. I'd love to see how they turn out!  Or, if you have other budget-friendly alternatives for creating custom labels, I'd love to hear them.

Handmade Chenille Tutorial

I attempted a handmade chenille doll blanket a few weeks ago and took pictures along the way, just in case someone else wanted to try it. One of my friends has a baby blanket that her mother made using this method. Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but what the hell. 

STEP 1: Cut out 5 pieces of fabric that were 16" by 20".  You won't really be able to see the pattern on the fabrics when it is finished, so choose the fabric by the dominant color instead. I also cut a piece of white chenille from an old beadspread for the backing.

STEP 2: Stack the 5 fabric pieces together, right sides all up, and sew a straight line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Continue to stitch lines about 3/4 inch apart on each side of the first line. This would probably be much easier with one of those quilting bars or edge guides.

It ended up looking like this, after I sewed all the lines:

STEP 3: Put the backing on. I probably should have done this at the end, but its too late now! I put the right sides of the fabric stack and backing (piece of vintage chenille spread) together, and sewed around the edge. I left 4 inch opening so I could turn it right side out:

STEP 4: Press the edges and topstich around the edge of the blanket. Here's what the back looks like:

And here's the front:

STEP 5: Cut the first 4 layers of fabric in between each line of stitching. Be careful not to cut the bottom fabric, or the backing (if you put on a backing already). 

Here's what is looks like with all the cuts:

STEP 6: The hard part is done! Now, just throw it in the washer and dryer to fluff up the cut edges of the fabric:

Here's the final result:

Alternatives:

• If you put the backing on at the end, then you wouldn't be able to see the top fabric around the edges, like you can see with mine (the pink/white gingham).
• Use 3 or 4 layers of fabric instead of 5, and the chenille will not be as thick. 
• Sew the lines closer together (half inch) and you won't be able to see any of the base fabric.