Ashley Hackshaw, Author at Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Making your own mural border template (and I added the large butterfly!)

July 29, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

I talked with a woman a few days ago about painting mural in her son’s room. She basically wanted the exact “waves” border shown in this photo on the Pottery Barn website:

Making your own mural border template via lilblueboo.com

Photo from www.potterybarnkids.com

Then she said the magic words “I just wish I could do it myself but I can’t figure out how.” Even though painting murals is a passion of mine, I love when people want to try it themselves, especially when it is a “doable” project like a simple border (which she had already received a bid of around $600 from someone else). I drew up a quick waves sketch and uploaded it to my favorite photo altering website to rasterize it into a “printable” template.

So here are the steps for making a border:

First I drew the waves using the Pottery Barn Kids photo as a guide. I draw in Powerpoint, which would make most people cringe (I got this weird habit from my days writing bond offering memorandums). You can just draw by hand and scan to your computer just as easily.

Making your own mural border template waves via lilblueboo.com

Then I placed two of the sketches side by side to make sure it looked okay as a continuous border.

Then I uploaded it to the Homokaasu website and selected what size I wanted it to print out.

Note: Make sure to select “letter size” paper if you are printing at your home computer. It will print it out on 8.5″ x 11″ paper and you can piece it together like a puzzle.

Just in case anyone needs a wave stencil, you are in luck……below are the two I did for the woman that called for the mural. The small one prints out on 7 pages of paper, the larger one on 18 pages of paper.

Small Waves Template

Large Waves Template

This “rasterizing” process is the same I used for the butterfly chalkboard template in the fairy forest mural I painted a few months back!

Making your own mural border template butterfly via lilblueboo.com

I only had to do half the butterfly and then I flipped it over to trace the other side.

Making your own mural border template butterfly trace via lilblueboo.com

I went ahead and uploaded that one for you too. This one prints out on 20 pages of paper. Again you would piece it together like a puzzle and use packing tape for all the seams. I use a sharpie to draw around the border and then cut my template out. Email me if you have any questions!

Large Butterfly Template

Is there anything more pathetic looking…..

July 29, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

…..than our 8-year old, balding, 2.5 pound, grumpy yorkie Diesel after a bath? Poor little guy.

Okay, maybe the bee costume is more pathetic. Sienna kept telling him to “fly, fly Diesel” and I got worried that she would toss him off the counter…..

You might remember when I was asking for prayers back in April because we thought we were going to lose him? Diesel has been doing much better so thank you! He is still getting his teeth cleaned monthly (I, of course, haven’t been to a dentist in years), eating a homeopathic diet (with ketchup) and fighting with his sister Sienna (Diesel is winning). He’s starting to lose all his hair so he could probably use some more prayers 😉

Beanbag Tutorial – Learning to Spell

July 28, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

These beanbags were Sienna’s and my project yesterday afternoon. Who doesn’t love beanbags? We made one for each letter of her name.

How to make personalized beanbags 2 via liblueboo.com

Sienna doesn’t know how to spell yet but she loves counting them and we also play “bean bag horseshoes” with them….trying to toss them as close as we can to a target.

First, I made a square template 6 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ and used it to cut 2 squares from each piece of scrap fabric I had.

I cut 8.5″ x 11″ pieces of freezer paper to run through my printer (there is a file at the bottom of this post with the full alphabet that you can print). I printed out S-I-E-N-N-A in both capital letters and lowercase letters. Then I cut out around the letters and also cut pieces of blank freezer paper to place behind the fabric. I used a razor blade to cut out the letters to make a stencil.

Note: Freezer paper has a waxy side that adheres to the fabric when you iron it on. The non-waxy paper side should be on the side you are going to iron. Make sure to adhere all the edges and your paint won’t go on any area that you’ve ironed the paper onto! Just be careful not to use too much paint on each layer….or the freezer paper will start to unstick if it gets too wet. Do 2-3 light coats of fabric paint!

I ironed each freezer paper stencil onto the front of a piece of fabric (and ironed a blank piece to each back to keep paint from bleeding through).

How to make personalized beanbags iron via liblueboo.com

Then I used Jacquard Fabric Paint to fill in each stencil.

Note: Be careful not to use too much paint on each layer….or the freezer paper will start to unstick if it gets too wet. Do 2-3 light coats of fabric paint!

Once dry, I peeled off the freezer paper stencil and voila!

I placed each piece of fabric right sides together and pinned.

Then I started in the middle of one side of a square (do not start on a corner) and I sewed all the way around with a 1/2″ inseam. I stopped 1″ from where I started sewing to leave an opening.

I turned the square right side out and ironed flat (this also heat sets your paint).

Next I top-stitched around the edges of my square making sure to leave an opening where the previous one was (so that there is hole to put the beans through).

I had a great assistant helping to fill the beanbag with dried pinto beans…..

…..until she got a little out of hand and started “bathing” in them.

I filled the beanbag 3/4″ full and then sewed the opening shut!

One cute little beanbag finished!

We plan to do the entire alphabet, but 7 beanbags was all we had time for today!