There is just about 50 days of summer left...let's celebrate before the cooler weather comes to town.  Now you might not think of using felt very much in the summer, but it is a great way to add texture and create dimension on your projects any time of year. Now I usually use 100% wool felt for my felt projects, but I get so many emails about using craft felt that I thought I’d try it for this project.  The craft felt I’m using for this project is a blend of 35% Marino wool and 65% rayon and is about 2mm thick and comes in so many bright, fun summer colors.

Supplies:

• ScanNCut Machine and Accessories
• ScanNCut Standard Craft Mat
• 6” x 9” Craft Felt: Dark Pink, Light Pink, Peach, Light Peach, Dark Purple, Light Purple, Yellow, White, Green
• 9” x 19” Pennant
• Embroidery Floss in complementing colors
• Embroidery Needle
• Fabric Glue (or a Glue Gun)
• Buttons
• fcm Cut File

Instructions:

Watch this video on how to create this project for follow the written instructions below.

1.  Begin by cutting out all of the felt pieces using the following built in designs:

 (****NOTE: preform a test cut first to determine the correct settings. I used a standard blade depth of 11 and a pressure of 5, but your settings may be different depending on how new your mat and blade are and the type of felt you use.)
Use the scanning feature to cut shapes out of left over felt. Use up all those scraps!!!

When removing the felt from the mat be sure to gently weed out the negative pieces of felt and then use a spatula to remove the flower and leave pieces so they retain their shape.

2. Download the “summer” cut file here and then cut out the letters using the left over scraps of felt.

3. For the yellow roses, roll up the border strip while applying small dots of glue. Allow to dry. Repeat for the remaining borders.

4.  Embroider the top layer of flowers and leaves. Sew a button onto the center of each top flower layer.

5.  Embroidery each of the “summer” letters using a different embroidery stitch.

6.  Glue the top and bottom flower layers together to create a whole flower. Repeat for all the flowers.

7.  Using scraps of felt, cut thin strips of felt, about ¼” x 1 ½” long. Fold it in thirds or fourth and glue it onto the back of the flower to pop it up and give it some height. You can do this for just some of the flowers or all of them depending on your preference.

8.  Adhere the letters, flowers and leaves to the pennant with glue.

Do you want to attach a wooden dowel to it? Here's a video on how I did it:

Is your mat all gunky now from cutting felt?  Here's a video on how to clean it!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

Get your home Valentine's ready with this easy, no-sew, Valentine's Day wreath!

Supplies:

ScanNCut Machine and Accessories

ScanNCut High Tack Fabric Support Sheet

Large Valentine Wreath (for base)

Wire Cutters

1 - Yard of Batting

1 - Yard of Houndstooth Fabric

3 - 9''x12'' Pieces of Craft Felt, one red, one pink, one black

1- ¼'' Wood Dowel

White Acrylic Paint

Fiber Fill Stuffing

Ribbon

Pearl Pins

Hot Glue Gun and Glue

Instructions:

1 – Place the ScanNCut High Tack Fabric Support Sheet onto your ScanNCut mat and then adhere a piece of felt onto it.

2 – Doing a test cut first, cut out 8 red felt and 6 pink felt of pre-installed shape BA-A067 (heart) and 2 black felt shape BA-A030. 

3 – Disassemble the Valentine's wreath to get the heart shaped base.  You may need wire cutters to remove the decorations. 

4 – Wrap strips of approximately 5'' wide batting around the heart base, covering it completely. 

5 – Wrap strips of approximately 5” wide fabric over the batting, gluing it into place with hot glue. 

6 – Set 2 red felt hearts aside and arrange the remaining felt hearts as desired and glue into place. 

7 – Paint the wood dowel white and allow it to dry.

8 – With the remaining two hearts, hot glue the edges together leaving a gap so you can stuff it. Do the same with the black “feathers.” 

9 – Stuff the heart and feathers with stuffing. 

10 – Apply hot glue to the end of the dowel and insert it into the heart and then glue the heart closed. Repeat with the feathers at the other end of the dowel. 

11 – Hot glue the arrow onto the backside of the wreath.

12 – Attach a ribbon to the top of the wreath and insert pearl pins into the hearts for embellishment. 

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

This week we are using the Gelatos^® color of the week: Banana. It has a great tone to it that really sets it apart from other yellows.

For this art journal page I used the Gelatos Mist Maker to make my own Banana Gelatos mist! I took about 1/4" of the Banana Gelatos and placed it on a lid I like to use for mixing because it's shallow, yet has a lip around it to keep liquids in.  I mashed the Gelatos down with my pallet knife and then added 2 drip droppers full of water to it and mashed it down some more to get rid of any lumps. Next I added two more droppers of water and then poured it into the spray bottle.

I then sprayed it onto my piece of watercolor paper and blotted it with a paper towel which left a cool pattern on the page.  I then held my paper up and brought the spray mist closer to the paper to create concentrated dips onto the paper.

Next I found a picture of our 4 year old Australian Labradoodle, Willow. I trimmed the photo a bit and then sewed around it with my sewing machine. 

I then covered the background of the photo with gesso and allowed the gesso to "spill off the photo" visually.  

Now, at this point I liked the texture that the sewing gave to the photo, but I decided that I wanted to see the color of the thread so I ended up printing out another copy of this photo, adding the gesso, and then stitching around the photo. I then adhered the photo to the page and then traced around the dog with a Stampers Big Brush Pen in Warm Grey IV #273, smudging it as I went. Next I used a black Pitt Pen to draw sketch lines around her. I then added pops of color by coloring the tennis ball with a Stampers Big Brush Pen in Light Green #171 and using the Snow Cone Gelato on the background as a contrasting color.

The finishing touch was using a PITT Artist Pen with a brush tip to hand letter her name onto the page. Hand lettering on watercolor paper covered in gesso is a bit of a challenge since the paper is so absorbent and the gesso makes it bumpy, but it still has a nice look to it.

Supplies:

• 9" x 6" Watercolor paper
• 4" x 6" Photo, trimmed
• Gelatos: Banana & Snowcone
• Gelatos Mist Maker Kit (it contains the spray bottle, pallet knife, drip dropper and more)
• PITT Pens: XS and B
• Stampers Big Brush Pens: Warm Grey IV #273 & Light Green #171
• Gesso
• Sewing machine & thread

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Faber-Castell to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

Yay, fall is just about here and I'm excited to welcome in the cooler weather of my favorite time of year.  Autumn always reminds me of comfort and so when I was trying to think of a project to create that symbolizes all those warm, fuzzy, comfy things, I thought what could be better represent that then a wool felt applique project!

Here's a video of how it all come together:

Supplies: 

• ScanNCut Machine and accessories
• ScanNCut Deep Cut blade
• ScanNCut Pen Holder 
• ScanNCut Erasable Pen
• Wool felt in a variety of colors (I got mine here.)
• Heat 'n Bond Iron-On Adhesive
• Embroidery floss
• Embroidery needle

Instructions:

Step 1 - Write "happy" onto a piece of scrap paper and then scan it into the ScanNCut using the "Scan To Cut Data" option and then save your design.

Step 2 -  Press the home button and then open up your design by going to "patterns" and then "saved data".  Unify the letters so you're able to move them anywhere on your screen.

Prepare your felt by ironing Heat N Bond onto the backside of it. Once your design is unified you can then apply your felt to the mat and scan it into the machine so you can line up your word "hello" exactly where you want it.

Step 3 - Insert the fabric pen into the pen holder and insert that into the ScanNCut. Use the "draw" option instead of "cut" to draw the design onto the felt.

Step 4 - Choose the designs and colors of felt that you want to use and then cut them out using the Deep Cut Blade on your ScanNCut. Make sure you do a test cut first to ensure you're cutting through the felt but not through your mat.  If your mat gets too much lint on it from the felt use a baby wipe to gently clean it off then allow it to dry and it will be good to continue using.

Step 5 - Iron your designs onto your felt (the one you wrote "hello" onto) and then have fun embroidering it!

Happy scanning, cutting, and embroidering!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother ScanNCut to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

Creating your own, one of a kind picnic blanket is really simple using your ScanNCut, and it would make a great gift!

Supplies:

• ScanNCut Machine and accessories
• Black Iron-On Transfer Film
• Iron
• Ironing Board
• White Fabric Paint
• Paint Brush
• Ant Cut File (free!!!)

Optional Supplies:

If you create your own blanket you will need the following supplies, however you can always alter a store bought blanket instead of sewing your own

• Sewing Machine
• Canvas Fabric
• Thread
• Pins or Clips

Instructions:

Follow along with the written instructions below, or view the video on how to create it here:

 Step 1: If you decide to create your own blanket using canvas fabric, hem in the edges.

Step 2:  Import the Ant.fcm file into ScanNCutCanvas and wirelessly transfer it to your ScanNCut.

Step 3: I created the cut file with the eye being a separate piece so you could adapt the design as you desire. If you plan on using the design as I did you will need to unify the ant's eye and body before resizing it. To do that click on the button with the three red squares.

Select both the eye and the body.

And then click on the Unify button.

Step 4: Apply the Iron-On Transfer Film onto the mat with the film side up. Insert it into the machine and click on the scan button.

After the scan is complete you will be able to see both the film and the design and then you can resize, multiply, rotate, and then move the design as desired to fit as many as you can onto your film.  Then cut out the designs so that the blade only cuts the film and not the backing.

Step 5: Weed out the negative parts of the film and then cut the ants apart so they can be transferred onto the fabric.

Step 6:  Following the instructions on the package, heat up the fabric with an iron and then place the ant design onto it with the backing side up. Cover it with a pressing cloth and iron for approximately 30 seconds. Allow it to cool and then remove the backing.

Step 7: Use fabric paint to paint in the whites of the eye.

Continue on until all the ants are finished.

Step 8: For the monogram, cut out the letters you desire along with ants to carry them off with. Follow the same instructions above to adhere them onto the center of the fabric.

And then you're finished and ready for a picnic!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony).