Downloading Fonts tutorial

There are many many awesome fonts out there that you can download really easily and totally free, I have struggled in the past with how to do it, but have had a go a few times now and think I have the hang of it.  To save you time trawling the internet for how-to's I thought I would do a little tutorial of how to do it so you can have a go yourself easily and quickly. (click on the image to see it bigger)

1. First find a website to download fonts from, I use dafont because it has a lot of new and really funky fonts.

2.  Choose the font you want from one of the menus by clicking download to the right of the font,

3. Click to open the file (on google crome a tab appears at the bottom of the window, click on the arrow and select "open") and this screen should pop open:

4. Highlight the two windows files and click "extract to",

5. A box should pop up on your screen that looks like this:

6. Double click "my computer" then "local disk (C:), then scroll down and double click on WINDOWS, scroll down again till you find the folder titled FONTS:

7. Highlight the folder then click "ok".

Decorative Letters Tutorial

I am now blogging over at http://imperfectlynaturalmama.blogspot.co.uk/ I would love it if you came for a visit and said hello. 


I have always looked at those lovely wooden decorative letters and thought how lovely it would be to have the word "LOVE" above my headboard, (wow, how many times can I use the word "love" in one sentence?) however I have never been able to justify the cost.  So I, being both thrifty and crafty (even thought I do say so myself) decided that I could quite easily make some given a bit of time and the right materials.  So now I have these lovely words on my bed head and I wanted to share how I made them with you, I made these over several days but would say that they do take a good 6 or 7 hours to complete from start to finish:

1. First gather together your materials:

Corrugated card board,

masking tape,

gummed tape,

pencil,

ruler,

craft knife,

cutting mat,

watered down PVA glue,

tissue paper,

paint brush,

white emulsion,

2. Draw the design for your letters to the required height and width.  I used the Font Times New Roman as a guide.  If you are worried about drawing these letters free hand you could quite easily print them off and use the printout as a guide. 

3. Next cut round all your letters with a craft knife, use a ruler and cutting mat for safety and accuracy. Keep the craft knife upright so that all your edges are 90 degrees. *Health and safety - always keep your hand behind the cutting blade!*

4. Now draw out another set of letters using the first set as a template, cut them out as before, you now have two of each letter, 8 in total:

5. Next you need to cut the edge pieces for each letter, this part is a little time consuming, if you are sensible and do things systematically then you could measure all your edges and draw them out accurately before cutting them, I am not sensible so I did all my edges by rack of eye! 

6. Assemble your letters using masking tape the hold the pieces in place, if you are like me then this is where you realise you haven't done all your edges and you have to go back and make more, doh!

7. Get your gummed tape and cut it down the middle, then into lots of small pieces about 2-3 inches long,

8. Wet the paper with a damp sponge and wrap over the edges of the letters, cover the letters totally in gummed paper,

9. The "O" is the trickiest letter to do, I stacked some small pieces of card in between the front and back of the "O" to compensate for the lack of edges,

10. Split the tape in half again to make smaller strips to wrap around the edges of the "O", then cover these with another strip, carefully layering the gummed paper to create as smooth a surface as possible,

They should now look like this:

11. Now you need to cover the letters with tissue paper to give them an even surface texture.  Paste watered down PVA glue onto the letter and paste more PVA over the top, dabbing the brush so the tissue paper scrunches up a bit,

12. Leave them to dry then begin painting with white emulsion,

Leave to dry again, then enjoy the fruits of your labour:

Hope you like, send me your pics if you have a go, I would love to see them.

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies.

xxx

I am now blogging over at http://imperfectlynaturalmama.blogspot.co.uk/ I would love it if you came for a visit and said hello. 

Retro Wreath Tutorial

Hi everyone, hope you are all having a lovely week, welcome to some new followers this week, thanks for enjoying my blog and paying a visit.  It feels like it has been a really long week to me so far, it is going very slowly.  I am sure before I know it the week will be over, I guess I am just counting down the days till the Easter holidays!
Anyway, I promised ages ago that I would share a tutorial on how to make one of my wreaths like these:

Well I have finally gotten round to making another one, any remembered to photograph it along the way, (although it has taken me three days!) Here goes:

1. Gather together everything you need:

PVA glue,

polystyrene ring,

assorted fabric,

Assorted yarns and string,

buttons,

ric rac (or other ribbons and lace)

Scissors,

Pins,

Needle and thread,

2. Cut your fabric to a length that will go round the girth of the hoop with a little extra to spare, the width is up to you.  In this wreath I used 7 pieces of fabric in varying widths and patterns.

3. Iron a fold in one of the short ends of your fabric.

4. Sew a hem along the short end. (You don't need a sewing machine, but it is quicker):

5. Paste PVA glue directly onto your polystyrene ring the pull your fabric round it so that the hem is on the inside of the ring to the back. You will need to pull and stretch the fabric so it lies flat against the ring with no wrinkles.  Pin it into place along the hem.  (You will find that the hem is curved, this is fine)

6. Continue this process with all the fabric, leaving gaps in-between each piece.  Pin every bit and makes sure you always keep the hem in the inside to the back. 

7. Put PVA onto the ring in between the fabric and pin your yarn or string onto the ring.  Wrap the yarn or string round and round the ring until you have filled the gap.  You may find it easier to cut the yarn or string into smaller lengths, this is fine so long as you make sure every piece is pinned to the ring at the start and end:

8. Continue this process all the way round the ring till you have filled all the gaps with yarn or string:

9. Next you need to create four Suffolk Puffs for the flowers on your wreath.  To do this, use a template to cut a circle of fabric in a coordinating colour (I made one large white circle, two small white circles and on patterned small circle to layer on top of the large one).  I drew round a bowl as my large template and some tape for my three smaller circles.

10. Next, sew a running stitch round the edges of your circles and pull the ends to gather the fabric together and make the puff. Tie a knot in the thread to secure it:

11.  Repeat this process with the smaller circles.  

12. Now sew a button onto the centres of the puffs.  I like to have my puffs ruffly side up:

13. Next glue the three puffs onto the ring with a blog of PVA, pin in place until dry.

14. Leave your ring for a few hours, until the glue has dried and then remove all the pins.   Hang your wreath with a piece of raffia or other coordinating yarn.  Here is your finished ring:

I think you would need to set aside about two or three hours to make this wreath, not including drying time.  If you love this wreath but don't have the materials or time to make it yourself, then pop over to my shop and your can purchase this very ring for yourself.

If anyone has a go at making this wreath or something similar I would love to see it, so do drop me an email.  Plus let me know if yo think this is a good tutorial or how I can improve it.

Have a wonderful day.

Helen

x