Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway

Today is your chance to win a Cutting Edge Stencil of your choice!  I am sure you all already know about their incredible stencils.  They are easy to use and so fun to look at when you are done!

They have some new stencil designs that are so great!  I had too much fun browsing through them.  Here are two of my new favorite stencils at Cutting Edge...

The Kobe Allover Stencil = Gorgeous.

And being a polka-dot lover myself, I think I giggled out loud when I saw their new Polka Dot Allover Stencil.  It comes in small and large scale!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

So all you have to do to enter the giveaway is 

1.) Visit Cutting Edge Stencils and browse their new designs.  

2.) Come back here and leave a comment telling us your new stencil love. 

Random.org will choose a winner to be announced on Saturday!

Thanks for stopping by!  

Happy Wednesday!

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  THANKS FOR PLAYING!  : )

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Stenciled Closet

I like pretty closets.  Yes, I do.  So with my latest stencil from Cutting Edge I decided to "pretty" up my son's closet.  His room is kind of in transition.  He will be 3 this summer but still sleeps in a crib (best choice we ever made) and resides in his "nursery".  I am super excited to change it into a big boy room and have all the plans made but am just not ready to take the plunge yet and neither is he!  : )  

So, while we wait, I do a few little changes here and there.  I know the walls will be painted a light gray color at some point so I picked Gravity by Valspar.  I wanted it to be slightly darker than what I plan to paint the room.  I was very happy with my choice.

The stencil I used is one of Cutting Edge's Allover Wall Stencils in Houndstooth.  How fun is that?  A whole wall of Houndstooth?  Love it.

So I stripped his closet down and got to work while the baby napped and the big ones destroyed the place.  

I poured out my paint, dipped in my handy mini roller provided by Cutting Edge and went to work.  I used spray adhesive to stick the stencil to the wall.  I had not used this method before because I was scared of having it stuck to the wall forever.  That spray adhesive is serious stuff.  However, I followed the temporary bond directions on the back and it worked like a charm.

Pretty soon, this is what his closet looked like and I was loving it.  Fun, right?

Little buddy is loving it too.

By now, you all know how fun Cutting Edge Stencils are.  How would you like another chance to win one???  Tomorrow is your chance.  Stop by and enter to win a stencil of your choice!

I'll be party hopping at these fabulous blogs this week! 

Happy Tuesday!

 

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Damask Stenciled Nursery Walls

You already know how I'm a huge fan of Cutting Edge Stencils and their incredible product, and I have a major love for damask print. So upon discovering that we would be converting my office into a nursery for a little lady, I immediately hopped on over to Cutting Edge's site to finalize my choice for a damask print for her walls.

(Here's a peek - the view from the crib! :)

I was surprised (and thrilled) to discover that several more damask options had just been added in the past few months!! Now I had even more choices in my quest for beautiful walls, and it didn't take me long to settle on this LOVELY Damask Kerry stencil. (I also found out that the new stencils are named after each of the girls who work at Cutting Edge, isn't that sweet? :)

I have lots of pretty and bright colored fabric that I want to use in the nursery, so I decided to go with a cool soothing gray as a more neutral background. I chose Gray Clouds from Sherwin Williams, and enlisted my lovely mother to help transform the room from Office Orange to Nursery Neutral.

Before, with paint samples.

After. Ahhhhhh.

Then came the fun paint. I used this line of Designer Series All-Purpose Home Decor Acrylic Paint from DecoArt, in White, Daffodil Yellow, and Spa Blue, along with their acrylic paint in Desert Turquoise. I just LOVED them!! Let me tell you, these went on perfectly!! The paint was thick enough that it only took 2 coats to get the coverage that I wanted - even when going to a lighter color!! It had practically no fumes so was perfect for an indoor painting project, particularly by a pregnant lady. It also dried really quickly, so I was able to work my way around the room pretty fast. What more could you want in a paint? Particularly when it comes in such beautiful colors as these!

I also got to use this fabulous clip on stencil level, which you can also purchase through Cutting Edge Stencil's site. You just clip it to the top of your stencil and it ensures that the pattern is level. This was such a huge time and headache saver!! I would constantly have been stepping back from the wall, arms crossed, trying to figure out if any of the damasks were crooked. I am too much of a perfectionist to not be driven crazy by an uneven design and I'm glad this kept me from having to endure that!! :)

Since the damask design has so many tiny and intricate details, I decided to use a tacky stencil adhesive to ensure that it laid flat on the wall and stayed in the exact same spot as I painted.

(A note about stencil adhesive: The fumes are kind of strong, so spray your stencil outside or in another room before sticking it to the wall. If you spray it indoors you'll want to do so over some sort of drop cloth, because if it gets on your carpet it feels so nasty!!)

I poured my paint into a "paint tray," had an extra paint tray with paper towels on it to roll of the excess paint, and got to work.

Then I did it again...

and again...

You get the idea.

I loved this project because I could do it a little at a time over a course of a few days. The damask pattern is relatively small, so I would paint one or two when I had the chance, and then store the stencil until the next time that an opportunity arose.

I didn't want a full pattern on the wall, just little pops of color and a pretty design here and there.

I tried to make it completely random, but in the end I could not fight my need for symmetry. I might have been able to pull it off if there wasn't a window in the center of the wall, but all that I could think was that I needed the sides to be mirror images of one another. I did mix up the colors a little bit though, which I thought was something.

I just love it!! Every time that I go upstairs for any reason, I stop in the room, glance around and smile. I'm sure that is partially to do with it being a nursery, but still, it is pretty sweet looking isn't it?!

I kept my stenciling on the feature wall until I get the rest of the decorations settled and put up. But it was so easy with such a sweet impact that I wouldn't be surprised if I sprinkled a few more around the room before it's finished. I can't wait to show you the rest of the details!

Would you like to try out one of Cutting Edge Stencil's new designs? Stop back by on Wednesday because we'll be giving one away for free!! Yay!!

Happy Monday!!

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Stenciled Table Runner

I fell in love with this polka dot fabric I found at a thrift store and to my surprise how perfect could it be for just my little bitty dining room table!

But you know me; I can't leave well enough alone. And rightfully so..take a look!!



Voila! With the Cutting Edge's Large Paisley Wall Art Stencil I was able to bring out a unique and inviting style to my now "not so shabby" little nook! {which I simply can't take my eyes off of!!]



The first thing I did was make sure my fabric was ironed and exactly the size I wanted.
Next, I secured my Cutting Edge Stencil to the top of the fabric using duct/electrical tape. It's always a great idea to place some cardboard underneath your project to prevent any paint that might seep through as well.







Lastly, the most simplest part: I simply rolled over my stencil with some Navy fabric paint and that was that! An elegant, "store bought" looking table runner!! I just love how the polka dots show through the navy!

I'm sure by now with all of the exclamation points you can tell I am overly joyed with the way this turned out!

Some other fun projects I've been wanting to try are on magnetic boards, windows and on ceramics like this...




Yep..wouldn't that be a great conversation piece?

Thanks for stopping by and check back next Wednesday for a Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway!

I'll be linking up to these inspiring parties!

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Stenciled Pillow Covers

When my husband and I bought our couch 3 years ago, we had something very specific in mind: we wanted one with all of the features of his parent's couch. We had been saving and planning for this couch for a while, but when we were looking around in different furniture stores we couldn't find one that had everything that we wanted. When we mentioned this to them, my father in law quickly offered to sell us theirs, as they were looking for a new couch as well.

It seemed like the perfect solution! Though with used furniture there are often seems to be a price to pay.

I didn't want to get rid of our big fluffy pillows or pay to get new ones, so I turned to Tiffany's Shut Up and Sew post about Envelope Pillow Covers and hoped for the best.

Since the pillows are pretty large I was worried that I'd be spending a lot of money on fabric to try to cover them all. Especially since I want these covers to be pretty durable with a 2 year old constantly diving on them and a baby on the way. So I decided it was time to jump on the drop cloth trend.

I picked up a drop cloth from Lowes, which come in a creamy color. Since my wonderful couch is already a sea of beige, I wanted something much lighter, so I followed Miss Mustard Seed's notes on bleaching the drop cloth and got just what I was looking for. A light non-beige background all ready for some paint.

I measured my fabric following Tiffany's instructions, and cut it up. Now for the fun part.

I covered my table, laid out the front piece of fabric on the table, and covered it with this incredible Acacia Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I taped it lightly to the table (just a few pieces) so that it wouldn't shift at all as I rolled on my paint. (Does anyone else think it's incredibly ironic that I put a "dropcloth" under my dropcloth fabric, which I was painting on purpose? No? Just me? Okay.)

I got DecoArt's SoSoft Fabric Paint in Prussian Blue and rolled it onto my sponge roller. I then turned to the drop cloth.

I rolled the paint on in light layers. It took about 3 coats of paint to get the depth of color that I wanted, and I discovered that with the fabric paint I didn't need to blot off as much paint as if I was doing the walls. It's a bit thick and took more paint to get the coverage that I was looking for.

The great thing about the allover stencils, like this one, are that Cutting Edge has a little extra bit of the pattern on the side,

so that when you shift your stencil over to do the next side, it lines up perfectly, and is ready to go. So great, right?!

The moment of truth...

Perfect!!

When the paint was dry, I took my fabric to my sewing machine, and a half hour later I had a pillow cover! Tiffany was telling the truth, (not that we doubted her), but even a beginner can make a pillow cover!! This was my first ever pillow attempt and it turned out exactly how I wanted it!! Now how often can you say that about something that is your first attempt?

I just love the design, very Pottery Barn-ish. And as always with Cutting Edge's stencils, those lines are clean clean clean. This was especially important to me since this design would be seen up close, as opposed to some of the others I've done that are on the wall and are seen from a bit of a distance. Doing the stencil on a flat surface was just perfect, there was no pocketing or gaps, and it was as easy as pie. So I made another.

I didn't stencil the back of the pillows because I liked the similar but contrasting look. (You know, same fabric color and texture for both, but pattern on one and not on the other.)

I decided to add velcro to the back of my second pillow just to see how much of a difference it made. I did two 3 inch strips so my pillow still had that great over-stuffed look, but also had some durability since these will be used daily and aren't just decorative. It made such a difference that I went back and sewed velcro on the first pillow as well.

So what do you think? Fun, right?

I'll be linking this around to some great parties, including the DIY Club. Hope to see you there!

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