Halloween Crafts and Decoration Ideas
Halloween is is fast approaching and I am a little late with my Halloween crafting project. Fortunately, the projects that I will be doing are quick and easy. Most will be completed in under an hour.
You will need Software (to design your t-shirt or other iron-on transfer), T-shirt transfer paper, Household Iron, Ink Jet Printer and a T-shirt, a canvas tote bag, or a hand towel - or any other fabric items.
Select an image that will scare the bejesus out of your friends and family - (or choose any festive image). You can get plenty of copyright free images from the internet or if you have the skills, you can draw your own image like the image of a skull I drew below. I used Adobe Illustrator to complete my image. Each portion (flower, spider etc) is done on a separate layer - doing this will allow me to re-purpose the different entities that make up the image. So, you may see the rose in a future embroidery project.
Always print a preview copy of your image before printing it on the transfer paper. Do this to insure that colors print correctly, that your image doesn't fall into your printer's no-print zone along the margins, and to see what size your design will be.
Flip or mirror your image. This is only necessary if you have text in your design. The text should be backwards on screen or on the print out. Some software programs do this automatically. (Follow the instructions that comes with the t-shirt transfer package).
Once my image is printed, I like to cut out the image as close to the edge as possible.
Use hottest setting on your iron but no steam. It takes a lot of heat to transfer the image evenly and completely to the fabric. Peel off the paper while it is still hot unless you have purchased cool-peel paper. These newer transfer papers allow you to wait up to two minutes before peeling off the backing (check the manufacturer's guidelines) so the paper is cooler to the touch.
* Tip - Use a Hard Surface - The reason transfer instructions specify a hard surface (such as Formica) is because it holds the heat. Ironing boards tend to disperse the heat and the transfer paper needs to be very hot to work properly.
If I were any good at carving pumpkins, this is what I would carve. But since I am more of a digital person, I let Photo Shop do the carving.
After I created my pumpkin carving masterpiece, I used the method described above and I made a bag perfect for trick or treating.
[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trick or Treat, smell my feet......"]
[/caption]
Another of my favorite technique is printing my images directly to fabric. It's simple - Check out the tutorial here. Once you image id printed to the fabric of your choice, you can easily create a pillows, like the one pictured below.
[caption id="attachment_432" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Panther or Wolf? its whatever you want it to be"]
[/caption]
Hey - let me see your creation.
TTFN XOXO
Al
Always print a preview copy of your image before printing it on the transfer paper. Do this to insure that colors print correctly, that your image doesn't fall into your printer's no-print zone along the margins, and to see what size your design will be.
Flip or mirror your image. This is only necessary if you have text in your design. The text should be backwards on screen or on the print out. Some software programs do this automatically. (Follow the instructions that comes with the t-shirt transfer package).
Once my image is printed, I like to cut out the image as close to the edge as possible.
Use hottest setting on your iron but no steam. It takes a lot of heat to transfer the image evenly and completely to the fabric. Peel off the paper while it is still hot unless you have purchased cool-peel paper. These newer transfer papers allow you to wait up to two minutes before peeling off the backing (check the manufacturer's guidelines) so the paper is cooler to the touch.
* Tip - Use a Hard Surface - The reason transfer instructions specify a hard surface (such as Formica) is because it holds the heat. Ironing boards tend to disperse the heat and the transfer paper needs to be very hot to work properly.
If I were any good at carving pumpkins, this is what I would carve. But since I am more of a digital person, I let Photo Shop do the carving.
After I created my pumpkin carving masterpiece, I used the method described above and I made a bag perfect for trick or treating.
[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trick or Treat, smell my feet......"][/caption]
Another of my favorite technique is printing my images directly to fabric. It's simple - Check out the tutorial here. Once you image id printed to the fabric of your choice, you can easily create a pillows, like the one pictured below.
[caption id="attachment_432" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Panther or Wolf? its whatever you want it to be"][/caption]
Hey - let me see your creation.
TTFN XOXO
Al