Holiday Handmade with Sparkle

Today’s post is from Jessa, the creative genius that is Sparkle. How can you not love a blog with that name?!? I met Jessa at Creative Estates and let me tell you, she is all kinds of awesome! Thanks for being here today Jessa!

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I am so excited to be here at Sweet Rose Studio today! I adore Katie, she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet!

I blog over at Sparkle, where I do a little bit of everything: crafts, home decor, cooking…I call it “domestic dabbling.”

Today I want to bring up something that everyone has dealt with, either over the holiday or anytime of the year…house guests. You know, the mother-in-law that always wants to “help” or the cousin that doesn’t want to do anything and sits in front of the TV all day. We’ve all had them and possibly been them. It can be awkward, because day-to-day things still need to happen, and no one likes being hovered over while you’re cleaning the toilets, right?

I discovered that the most helpful thing you can do for ~~yourself~~ them is to make your house guests a little space of their own. A place where they can retreat to and not make the bed or leave out their skivvies if they like. (icky)

Nothing says “mine” like a little monogramming. I made some personalized pillowcases for the house guests, using the freezer paper method.

Supplies: pillowcases, freezer paper, iron, piece of cloth, scissors, X-acto knife*, acrylic paints, textile medium (found at craft stores), foam brushes

*If you have a Silhouette or other cutting machine, use it! It will save you half the work.

1. Make sure you wash and dry your pillowcases. Read the directions on your textile medium; mine said not to use fabric softener.

2. While your pillowcases are washing, pick out your design and font for your freezer paper stencils. Keep it simple. Some fancy fonts will have a lot of little pieces to iron on individually, so I’d avoid that. If you are cutting out your stencils by hand, you can print directly on to the freezer paper using an ink jet printer and cut out the design using a X-acto knife. Just make sure it prints on the non-glossy side. I took the short cut and used my Silhouette.

3. Iron your pillowcases. I do it on the table instead of an ironing board so that I can see the entire pillowcase.

4. Start ironing on the freezer paper stencils you made. Start with the biggest designs first, for me that was the letters. Place the glossy side of the stencil down and cover with your piece of cloth, then slowly move the iron over it. The great thing about freezer paper is that if you find you don’t like the position, you can just peel it up and re-iron it!

5. Once you have everything ironed on, take a step back and make sure it looks how you want it to. If you are using a white pillowcase, hold it up to a window.

6. Start mixing up your paint and the textile medium. Remember to follow the directions on the textile medium bottle. Mine (Delta Ceramacoat) says to use a paint to medium ratio of 2:1. Place something like magazines or newspaper inside your pillowcase to prevent any paint from bleeding through to the other side. I didn’t see any paint go through, but just in case.

7. Using the foam brush, gently paint your pillowcase. Brush from the edge of the paper into the middle, so that you have less chance of seepage underneath the stencil. Do two coats for adequate coverage.

8. Once the paint is dry, carefully peel up the freezer paper. You’ll need to heat set your creation. I turned the pillowcase inside out and ironed the painted area for a good 20 seconds. Then wait for 7 days and wash the pillowcases on cold and air dry. Again, check your textile medium instructions.

There you have it! Fun pillowcases to help your guest feel at home and comfortable, and it’s something they can take with them when they leave!