iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: New Year's Necklace by Avalon Potter

New Year's Necklace Copyright 2011 Avalon Potter

New Year's Necklace
Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts
"Teen crafted, mom approved."

My mom has been working a new video tutorial using black and white scrapbook papers. I loved her project and wanted to do a variation. Since it's almost New Year's, I added lots of sparkles so it would feel just like the day itself. This project is very easy to make and when you are done you will have something that you can wear on New Years or any day of the year!

Materials
Double sided black and white toile scrapbook paper
Large jump ring
Mini-ribbon bow tie
Aleene's Tacky Line Roll
Tulip Dimensional Fabric Paint glitter in gold
Tulip Fashion glitter in light gold jewel
Gold chain

Tools
Scissors
Ruler
Bone folder


Instructions

1.Take your black and white paper and cut out a piece that is 2.5"x6.5".

2.Take the piece and start to fold back and forth on the long side making each fold about a .5" wide. use a bone folder to make strong creases.

3.Once you have folded the whole piece fold the ends together from the center point making a fan.

4.Where the fan edges meet adhere Tacky Line Roll all the way down then pinch the middle pieces together.

5.Next put a thin line of Dimensional gold glitter on the folds and on the bottom. Then shake more gold glitter on top of that, tap off excess and allow to dry.

6.On the top attach a little white bow using Tacky Line Roll.

7. Take a large jump ring and string it through the top where the fan meets.

8. Slide a chain through the jump ring. You now have a fun and festive New Year's necklace!

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts: Cake Flower Folder

Mom says, "Avalon made a cute tank top for me this summer using 'cake flower' techniques. I love the look of these and think they have absolutely ENDLESS applications for designs. The dimensional fabric paint is perfect for this, because like a bead of icing it gives you enough color to spread and create this embroidered look. Very cool, Avalon!"


IlovetoCreate Teen Crafts
Back to School Cake Flower Folder
Avalon Potter
“Teen crafted, mom approved.”

I love to decorate cakes. One of my favorite techniques to use on cakes is called brushed embroidery. I was messing around with some Tulip paint and found this technique works just as well with paint as it does with icing! So being that it's back to school where I live I thought what better way to trick out my folder than to use my new technique. I have also used this technique on t-shirts and it works really well there too!

Supplies
Yellow paper folder
Pencil
Practice paper
Tulip Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint: Bright Red, Yellow, Lectric Lime
Small flat paint brush

Instructions


1. On your practice paper trace out your flower, then use the paint to trace over the flower.

2. On the stem use lectric lime, use yellow in the center, and red on the petals. Then take your brush and brush the red petals inward about half an inch.

3. Once you have the technique down trace out your flower on your folder then paint over it. Use your brush embroidery technique on the petals.

4. On the top write your first name and first initial in red. Let dry.

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts: Blue Christmas Holiday Card

(Here's another fantastic teen craft project from the world's craftiest 12 year 0ld! Yup, I'm a proud mom.)

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts
Blue Christmas Card
Created by Avalon Potter
"Teen crafted, Mom approved."

This week I wanted to do something that is fun for the person to give and fun for a person to receive. So not only is it a gift for someone else, it's a little gift to you. I decided on a holiday greeting card. You can easily make many of them if you have a time crunch on gifts or you just want to make something simple but nice.

Materials
White Card Stock (or holiday colored)
Blue Card Stock
Tulip Dimensional Fabric Glitter in Crystal Icicle
Foam Dimensional Stickers
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat Black marker
Large Snowflake Stamp
Aleene's Acid Free Tacky Glue Stick

Tools
Scissors
Paper Cutter
Tulip Sponge Pouncer

1. Cut your white card stock into an 11.5"x5.75" rectangle.

2. Use your marker to color the entire stamp and press down firmly in the middle of the card stock.

3. Re-apply the marker to the stamp two more times and stamp half of the stamp on the card stock in the upper right hand corner and again in the lower left hand corner.

4. Repeat step two on your blue card stock making two snowflakes. Cut the snowflakes to fit in the two empty corners.

5. Put a few dimensional stickers on the bottom of the stamped blue snowflakes and attach them to the two empty corners.

6. Once the ink has dried, take the tulip silver sparkle paint and apply to the blue snowflakes and to the snowflakes on the white card stock.

7. Put a personal message inside of the card by printing it out on the computer, cutting it out to the size and shape you like, and applying to the card using Aleene's Tacky glue stick.

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts Falling Leaves T-Shirt

Avalon has a fab new project this week for ILoveToCreate! She did such a great job with this from concept to execution and her dad helped her since Mom's been a little busy with the new job. I'm endlessly proud of her. Just a quick FYI...I'll be debuting on Jewelry Television's Jewel School tomorrow sharing three fun, fast and fashionable projects from 9am until noon EST. If you don't get Jewelry Television, you can watch the show streaming live on their website.

Falling Leaves T-shirt ILovetoCreate Project Copyright Avalon Potter 2010

Once again I bring you another fun, easy and stylish project using ILovetoCreate products. This past week I’ve seen the leaves falling outside and the beautiful colors surrounding me, and when I saw the Tulip fabric sprays and foam leaves in the local craft store I knew exactly what my project would be. I would make a shirt inspired by the leaves scattered all over the ground using fall themed Tulip fabric sprays and glitter. I had a great time making this project with my dad, we really had some quality time together making this and I hope you will have just as much fun.

Materials:
Cotton tee (white and prewashed to remove sizing)
Foam shapes( doesn’t have to be leaves)
Three or more tulip fabric sprays
Tulip glitter dimensional fabric paint in silver
Tulip craft sponge
Double sided tape
Tulip fashion form

Instructions:
1. First gather all your materials, then take you shirt and put it on your tulip fashion form.


2. Next lay out were you want your foam shapes to go, you the size, shape or amount you use depends on what you want to do.

3. Attach your shapes with double sided tape and make sure all of your corners are down because you don’t want excess fabric spray leaking under your shapes and deforming the way they will turn out.


4. Make sure you cover the area underneath the shirt to prevent getting any spray on the floor! Then one by one spray around and on your foam shapes you can leave white in areas but I filled mine in with glitter.


5. Let the paint dry then the next day take of the foam shapes and apply the glitter paint with a sponge on the white spots where the foam shapes were.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Proenza Schouler Inspired Sundress

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Proenza Schouler Inspired Sundress
Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."
I got a few cotton sundresses at Tar-jay this weekend for working in the studio. They were really inexpensive, but with that being said, they aren't exactly top notch quality. Since they came in solid colors, I thought maybe I'd craft one up and see how it looked. These are perfect for summer camp or beach cover ups for teens and they can have a blast using Tulip 3-D paints to make graffiti inspired patterns. I'm going to get a dress for Avalon to decorate this week!

I keep seeing these Proenza Schouler graffiti jeans for J Brand in all of the fashion mags and I thought I'd give this concept a whirl. I remembered the fab Rorschach test themed dress Pattie Wack did for ILoveToCreate and I thought a variation on her paint smooshing technique with a faux plaid effect would give me the Proenza look. And it did!

Use a variety of paints in different colors, cover an entire shirt or dress, mask out circles or other shapes to create little decorative graffiti sections, do an entire pair of jeans! It's easy, it's fun and it's one of those...you never know how it's going to turn out until you peel up the cardboard techniques! You'll need a lot of paint for this, so stock up and keep shaking the tube to create a consistent paint flow.

I feel like this needs a little more...somethin', somethin' so stay tuned and I'm going to make some matching accessories for next week's ILoveToCreate post!

Materials
Cotton Sundress (wash to remove sizing)
Tulip 3-D Fashion Paints black, green
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Paint Tagger black
Foamboard or cardboard insert cut to fit entire bottom of dress
Cardboard scrap wide enough to fit area you are painting and entire bottom of dress
1. Wash dress to remove sizing. Iron if too wrinkled. Slide foam or cardboard into bottom of dress. Smooth out and wrinkles. You can opt to pin the back of the dress so the fabric is tight across the front. Place cardboard scrap along top edge of area you want to decorate.

2. Start with black paint tagger. Create a series of diagonal slashes from bottom of dress to bottom of cardboard scrap.


3. Use second color to create thinner slashes in the same direction as the tagger. Create slashes in opposite diagonal direction to start making a faux plaid.


4. Add third color adding more thin slashes in both directions in between existing slashes. Add as much paint as you like, but leave spaces in between so you maintain the plaid effect and the paints don't blend and get 'muddy.'


5. Gently fold cardboard scrap over paint. Gently press down across cardboard working your way back and forth to compress paint. Continue for about one minute. Pull cardboard up from bottom and remove. If there are any raised paint areas, use a clean section of cardboard to compress until all areas have been fully compressed. Allow to dry. Repeat for back of dress if desired.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Totally 80s Pollack Inspired Tote Bag

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
How To Make a:
Totally 80s Pollack Inspired DIY Tote Bag
Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter™
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Sometimes you make crafty gold and sometimes you make...this purse, but whatever you do, own it fully and more importantly, enjoy the journey. By the end of several hours of earnest crafting, I was convinced I was staring at a full on craft fail. Then the buzzer sounded and I was staring at this tote bag, thinking...really, Madge? Is this your teen craft project for this week?!

All in all, this just might be a bit of a hot mess, but Avalon came home from school and absolutely loved it. Who knew?! I have to remind myself sometimes that my focus here is 'teen crafts', which means the projects can be quirky! This has definitely got a modern art meets the 80s appeal. It’s fun to let all propriety go and squeeze paint with abandon on a canvas. I can see why Jackson Pollack enjoyed it so much. In this case, the canvas is a tote bag and the paint is Tulip dimensional fabric paint. It’s the perfect medium for this kind of design because it won’t run and stays dimensional after it dries. After layering on paints, I carved out some floral shapes with the tip of a paint tube and embellished them with metal chain and the foil side of some old faux gemstones. Aleene’s glues make it easy to stick just about anything to just about anything else! The floral trim is from Prym-Dritz, I gave it an edge using a Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat marker.

I think other teens will dig this too. (Yeah, I said dig it.) Send them outside with some canvas totes, markers, stencils, trim, adhesives and a bin full of fabric paints and sprays and let them make some glorious messes of their own!


Materials
Fuchsia Canvas Purse
Raveled Rosettes Fabric Trim
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat Marker
Tulip Dimensional Fabric Paint Metallic Silver, Matte Black, Slick Fuchsia
Ranger Alcohol Ink Mixative Silver
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion Glue
Aleene's Jewel-it Glue
Flat back silver faux gems or the foil side of old faux gems

Tools
Scissors
2 pairs chain nose pliers


1. Layer Dimensional Fabric Paints on canvas by squeezing the tubes about 8 inches from canvas and moving the paint stream into circles and lines and squiggles. Keep making layers until you’re pleased with the results.


2. Use the tip of one of your paints to carve floral swirls out randomly.

3. Squeeze and shake silver mixative over paint layers randomly. Squeeze into the center of your carved floral areas (a little goes a long way.) Allow the paints to dry.


4. Use the marker to darken the frayed edges of the flower trim.


5. When the paints have dried, use Aleene’s Jewel-it to add gems to center of carved flowers.

6. Place chain around flower to determine length needed. Remove segment from core chain using pliers. Add a line of glue around flower and glue down chain. Repeat for each flower.

7. Glue the flower trim across the top of the purse using Liquid Fusion Glue. Allow to embellishments to dry.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Anchor's Away Necklace T-Shirt

Anchors Away T-Shirt
Margot Potter for ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

I have a long standing love for all things nautical and am a particular fan of the French sailor look. I’ve been wearing variations of it for years. Avalon and I went shopping this weekend and she kept fawning over necklace embellished t’s and stripey sailor style tops. Thusly these concepts came together and this idea started formulating in my creative noggin.

You can change this up to suit your style and ditch the nautical theme for a rocker tattoo inspired look or a prim and proper girly look with flowers and pearls. You’ll just need a pre-made stencil (check out the Tulip Fashion Graffiti line) or a permission free image you can size and print to create your own. Tulip fabric paints and Aleene’s Fabric Fusion will help bring your idea to life. Then just sew on some jump rings and attach some chains to make a removable faux necklace look.

Materials
Striped Cotton T-Shirt Pre-Washed
Permission Free Anchor Image sized to fit scale of shirt
Tulip Slick Red Fabric Paint
Folder or thick cardstock for Stencil
Aleene’s Fabric Fusion
Sewing thread (I used red to match the anchor)
Beadalon SP Rolo Chain
2 Swivel Lobster Clasps
3 SP 10mm jump rings
2 SP 6mm jump rings
Scrapbook Adhesives EZ-Runner Tape Runner
Offray Nice and Narrow black satin ribbon with polka dots

Tools
Craft Knife
Cutting Board
Foam Brush
Sewing Needle
Sewing Scissors
2 Pairs Chain Nose Pliers

1. Select image. If you are making your own stencil, size it to fit scale of shirt. Print image.

2. Attach image with EZ-Runner to thick cardstock or a manilla folder. Use craft knife to cut out stencil.
Leave a bar or two around the anchor hole at the top so you don’t lose that hole when you stencil.

3. Use foam brush to stencil image on shirt on the left side. Allow to dry. Remove stencil.

4. Create a tiny bow and adhere to top of anchor with Aleene’s Fabric Fusion. Allow to dry.

5. Sew the large jump rings to the top seams on either side of the neckline of your shirt. Sew a third large jump ring to the top of the anchor on the left side of shirt.

6. Drape chains to find best length and attach the ends to lobster clasps on both sides using a small jump ring and two pairs of chain nose pliers. Thread the longer chain through the jump ring at the top of your anchor.  Attach a second chain length that is slightly shorter to the jump ring at the bottom of your clasps. Remove chains when washing garment.

iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Creative Wings Journal Cover

iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Creative Wings Journal Cover
Copyright Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."

I spent the better part of yesterday adding layers to a canvas to make a journal cover.  Right as I was finishing the first draft I made an unfortunate executive decision, then tried to 'fix' it and had to scrap the whole enchilada.  Second round I took what I learned and applied it and I'm really digging the final result.  This is a dollar store journal that I've covered with Claudine Helmuth's Sticky Back Canvas which has been layered with a wide variety of Tulip Fashion Graffiti line and Tulip fabric spray products.  This is one of those projects you can easily adapt to your own personal taste.

Every teen needs a place to keep their private thoughts and it's a good thing to take a break from the computer sometimes and pick up a pen.  They can doodle, dream, draw and do what they please inside, the cover is all about inspiring them to spread their creative wings.  Quite frankly, I think young women these days need all of the positive creative inspiration they can get.

Even professionals have craftastrophes sometimes, the key is to turn those experiences into positives.  No matter how badly you mess something up, there is something of value there.  Some of my best ideas came from my worst 'mistakes' so don't be afraid to take creative risks.  I call that creative fertilizer for my crafty garden.  Oh and...sometimes it's good to know when to stop adding 'one more thing' to your designs!

Materials
Basic Cardboard Cover Bound Notebook
Claudine Helmuth's Sticky Back Canvas
Multi-color Textured Yarn (coordinating with paint colors)
Tulip Big Phat Marker Black
Tulip Fabric Cannon
Tulip Cannon Fabric Paint White and Black
Tulip Paint Taggers Silver and Black
Tulip Fabric Spray Neon Pink, Orange, Yellow
Tulip Matte Dimensional Fabric Paint Coral
Tulip Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint Dandelion Yellow and Poppin' Purple
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Stencil Wing (Peace Love Stencil Set)
Aleene's Liquid Fusion Glue

Tools
Sea Sponges
Fabric Scissors
Marking Pen

1.  Begin by adding silver and black paint taggers to your canvas.  Use more silver than black.  Spray some black paint with the fabric cannon.  Use a sea sponge to dab the colors on the canvas until the canvas is covered with a layer of paint.  Allow to dry.

2.  Spray the canvas with pink, orange and yellow fabric spray in layers.  Allow to dry.

3.  Use the cannon fabric paint in white on a sea sponge to dab the wing stencil along both sides of your canvas.  Allow to dry.  I used segments of the wing and cleaned the stencil in between each use, then I could flip it over when working on the opposite side.  This is intended to create a batik or resist style image, so it's not going to be a perfectly clean stencil.

4.  Add more layers of fabric spray as desired.  Allow to dry.

5.  Use the Big Phat marker to accentuate the outlines of your stenciled images.

6.  Use the dimensional fabric paints to add accents to the outlines you've accentuated with marker.  Allow to dry.

7.  Mark the canvas with a pen to fit cover of journal.  Cut the canvas.

8. Adhere sticky canvas to cover.

9.  Attach a segment of fuzzy yarn to the top and bottom of your journal cover using a thick bead of Liquid Fusion glue.  Trim ends with scissors.  Allow to dry.