Posts Tagged ‘burlap’

06
Oct
2014

Halloween Burlap Table Runner

Written by: Grace

It should come as no surprise that I love decorating my house for holidays. I don’t just mean Christmas, but all holidays (Hellooooo. Remember my mantel madness? V-day, St. Patrick’s Day, Spring, Flag Day, and Fall). Partially, it is because I can’t sit still, I get bored easily, and it reminds me of elementary school, and I looooved elementary school, because my fabulous teachers were always changing their bulletin boards and room decor with the seasons. As a kid, it made every part of the year special and festive. As a mom, I want my kids to have that same kind of excitement and wonder I felt about the calendar year (or I just want an excuse to do something).

Two weeks ago, I busted out the fake cobwebs, spiders, and pumpkins, and I made– with Finn’s help– this Halloween Burlap Table Runner.

Here’s what you’ll need:

- Burlap Runner (or just burlap cut to the size of a runner)– I got my burlap from http://www.burlapfabric.com–; I can’t stop raving about this site!

-Paint brushes

- a Black Sharpie

- Black craft paint

- A stencil of a bat

Here’s what you’ll do:

- Trace the bats on the border of the runner.

- If you have a helper, allow the helper to fill in the bats with black paint.

-Write a Halloween saying or poem on the runner.

- Done!

Pretty easy, and pretty cute, don’t you think?

Are you a seasonal decorator? Or am I just a weirdo?

Wait. Don’t answer that second question

27
Aug
2014

DIY Burlap Bulletin Board

Written by: Rona

When we moved in our house five years ago, I envisioned a large bulletin board above the butcher block to keep things organized. Instead we’ve been living with a cluttered corner on our kitchen counter. When the pile got too high, we would “binge organize” and purge papers till the pile is down to an acceptable size. Needless to say, this DIY burlap bulletin board is long overdue. I’ve seen similar products at Ballard Design, Pottery Barn and Etsy. This one was made with a fraction of the cost.

Materials:

Stretched canvas (I upcycled a used canvas from the art department at school)
Burlap (mine is from the fabulous burlapfabric.com)
Upholstery tacks
Cork tiles
Hot glue gun
Rubber hammer
Nail gun

Step 1: Trim the burlap to size. I cut mine to be 10 inches larger than the canvas dimensions. You may need to adjust the allowance depending on the thickness of your canvas.

Step 2: Center the canvas on top of the fabric. Start at the center of one side; wrap the burlap around the frame then staple. Continue this process towards the corners. Once the first side is stapled, move on to the opposite side. Be sure to pull the burlap taught. If you prefer a clean edge, fold the raw edges in first then staple like I did here.

Step 3: Wrap the corners, fold as neatly as you can. The material here will be a bit bulky. Don’t be afraid to shoot several staples to hold it in place.

Step 4 (optional): Cut a piece of burlap with a finished edge of desired width. Staple it to the bottom edge of the board to create a pocket. Originally, I planned to use webbing but the green trim the burlap came with was too cute not to feature.

Step 5: Place upholstery tacks along the edges with even spacing. I used a measuring tape as a guide to help with spacing and straightness. Given the tacks a good press so they stay in place, then hammer in with a rubber hammer. If you like a more distressed look, use a regular hammer instead.

Step 6: Place the cork tiles on the back of the canvas, trim the excess with scissors. Secure in place with hot glue.

I’m really happy with how the bulletin board turned out. I don’t know why I waited this long to tackle this project. Do you have cluttered corners or piles of paper you’re dying to organize? Do you have any tips on to keep mail/reminders/coupons organized?

03
Jul
2014

Burlap Webbing American Flag

Written by: Lisa

When I first saw the red ticked burlap webbing that we received from burlapfabric.com, I immediately thought of two things: Christmas and American Flag. Since it’s a bit early for Christmas crafts, I’m going to share the Burlap Webbing American Flag that I envisioned and was (happily) able to create.

I knew the webbing would be a great fit for a rustic style American Flag—perfect for our home décor.

What you need:

Canvas (I suppose you could use wood too)

Red Ticked Burlap Webbing

Blue Burlap Garland (found in floral section of craft store) – or any leftover blue fabric you may have

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Optional- something for stars

Step 1:

Cut your strips down to size so they fit your canvas. I chose to wrap my strips around the sides of my canvas so the white edges weren’t exposed. I did not wrap the bottom, as it will be leaning on a table or shelf, but I did choose to wrap the top. In total I needed 5 strips.

I also cut out a rectangle from my blue burlap garland to serve as the blue part of my flag.

Step 2:

Layout your strips next to your canvas. As you can see, the strips are quite a bit taller than the canvas, so you have to decide how you want to layer them in order for everything to fit on the canvas.

I wasn’t crazy about the uneven spacing between the red lines and burlap color, so I decided to layer my strips to hide the top red line on each piece of webbing. This would give me nice even red/burlap spaces.

Step 3:

Fire up that glue gun and get to work. With each strip, I glued the left side of the canvas and simply worked my way to the right, again adhering it to the side of the canvas.

You can see how I cover the top red line on each piece of webbing in the photos below.

Step 4:

Grab your blue burlap rectangle and glue it to your flag. Since the blue burlap had bigger spaces/was more see through, I was worried that gluing the entire rectangle down would show through to the surface. Therefore, I chose to glue down just the edges of the blue fabric—it stays on there just fine.

Step 5:

Decision making time- stars or no stars? At the moment I have no stars on my flag and I think I will keep it that way. Reason 1: I like the simplicity of the flag without the stars

Reason 2: I made several attempts to cut small stars out of good old burlap, but each ‘edge’ of the star unraveled, leaving me with a 3 or 4 pronged/misshapen star. Perhaps if I see some pre-cut burlap stars that fit the bill at a craft store I will buy them and see if I like how they look on the flag.

I just love how this craft came out! Currently it’s on the foyer table instead of its intended shelf destination—we’ll see if it stays put.

Happy 4^th of July!!

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