DIY Tutorial: Monogrammed Burlap Runner & Sack Cloth Kitchen Towels

{Source: HGTV}

BURLAP

It is showing up everywhere, isn't it? I think it is because of the great texture and inexpensive price. There is also something rustically chic about it too. 

Before the holidays I was looking for some quick, fun, unique and inexpensive craft projects I could make into gifts for friends and family that would also be considered useful.To be honest the more time I spend in Africa the harder it is for me to get excited about making something just to look at. Somehow it tugs on my heart as wasteful. Still, I really like to be creative, I love to do arts and crafts projects. So my search began for something fun, practical and creative. Pinterest is frequently a starting point for me and in my search I was seeing a lot of burlap. I had also been looking to no avail for towels with some charm for my kitchen.

When I stumbled upon many Burlap Table Runner projects they stirred my creative juices and I decided to create another product as well. Personalized Kitchen Sack Cloth Towels. If you have been following my blog you are having an aha moment right about now. Yes, indeed this is the follow up tutorial I promised you all from the Scribbles & Dots: Kids DIY Family Art Project for Gifts post. Here we go...

Lets start with the runner first.

 Monogrammed Burlap Table Runner Project.

Materials you will need:

-Burlap Table Runner Material 
 Burlap table runner as seen below (avail at craft stores or online) It comes in a variety of colors and     widths. So you can pick whichever width / color of burlap you prefer.
-Heat Transfer Iron-on Sheets - available at office supply stores, Walmart. They come in light or dark background - for the burlap table runner and my other DIY project I was planning I chose the light background.
-Iron (no STEAM setting only)
-Scissors
-Computer w/ design program
-Ink Jet Printer

Step 1.  Cut your burlap runner to the length you desire for your table. If you would like to sew under the ends you can - or I frayed the edges by sewing in about 1" from the edge then pulling 5 or 6 burlap strings out leaving the fringe look.

Next I needed to create my designs. I use CorelDraw to design - simply because I grew up in an industry using it over 25 years ago. There are several options for designing - photoshop or whatever you usually use to design with. I also found this amazing FREE Monogram Making site where you can design your own image and colors for FREE. Wedding Chicks has some really cool monogram designs that would be great for Weddings, stationery or home decorating projects.

I decided to create my monograms and my future project, towel designs, at the same time to avoid wasting material. The "N" you see on the right was designed on the Wedding Chicks site.

So once you have your designs ready to go it is time to set up the print page. Make sure you mirror your image either on the screen or within your print instructions. (In other words it will look backwards until you iron it on.)

Finally you are ready to print away. Once printed you will want to trim your image to within a 1/4" of the printed area. Once you design is all trimmed it is time to place it on the desired area and iron it on. (Follow transfer paper directions closely) no matter what brand you have purchased you never want to use steam setting. So make sure your iron is bone dry. 

Let cool briefly and peel. (Again follow directions on transfer paper instructions)

I LOVE the way this one turned out. It was SO EASY and inexpensive. 

I made this table runner a bit long because I knew we would be putting in a leaf for entertaining. 

 I think I have about $10 total in this table runner. Now that is cheap and super fun! Now to place the table decor on top of it! 

Personalized Sack Cloth Kitchen Towel Tutorial

The process is pretty much identical for the Kitchen Flour Sack Dish Towel Project as it was for the Burlap Runner.One of the main differences is you will want to make sure to wash and dry your towels prior to applying your iron-on transfer image. 

You print out your designs onto the heat transfer sheets just as mentioned in the Burlap Runner instructions. Then you want to trim it to the same 1/4" border.

Iron towel to remove wrinkles. Place graphic printed iron-on in place on towel and iron as directed in instructions. Do not slide around.

Cool and peel.

VOILA...

These ended up so cute. I wish I would have had a finished photo for you of the final presentation. My daughter had crocheted colorful cotton dish rags and we wrapped the folded towels, dish rag and a wooden spoon with natural twine for our gift giving presentations. They were charming. 

I wish I would have stumbled on this site before by Blissfully domestic. They have a fabulous post on the many ways to use a sack cloth towel. It would be a fabulous idea to attach a "Ways to use" instruction tag that is cleverly dressed. 

I hope this not only gives you a simple step by step tutorial to follow but that it also inspires you to create a new project of your own. There are so many opportunities to monogram, personalize and BEAUTIFY! 

-Simply Sublime

Scribble & Dots: Kids DIY Family Art Project for Gifts

 Our family is very close, always has been since I was a wee one. I used to spend many of my weekends with my Aunts and/or Grandparents. We had a family business where most of the family worked together. We lived within a couple miles of each other. We spent all holidays together celebrating.  We typically would have a Big Ole Family Dinner gathering once a week. Went to church together. F A M I L Y. 

Within the last 10 years, one by one, we have lost almost all of our local family that we celebrated daily life with. As the holidays that are well known for gathering all your peeps together were approaching in November, I began to become sad. I missed the day to day living with extended family. All of a sudden God got my attention - you still have this family in your home, it is just moving down through the generations. Sure enough as I looked around I still saw a gathering of peeps. They were just much smaller.

Within the walls of our home we frequently have an abundance of little ones running here, playing there and yes, there is some squabbling at times. It's not uncommon for the cousins to come stay the weekend with us a few times a month.

As I write this the younger cousins range in age from 8-10 years old. This little chaotic clan consists of my little guy, Nate - (who is 8 years old), the twins, boy & girl (who just turned 9) and a 10 year old boy. There are the olders too @ 12 & 13 years old. Add in a 19 & 24 year old and you see the total picture that could be gathered on any given weekend.  These kids LOVE to play board games, tell stories, make craft projects, play on the computer and... DRAW! They are a creative bunch. 

Trying to find a sheet of paper or blank notebook within our walls is pretty scarce as we usually find sketches or cartoons plastered on the pages. Like this one:

 

Super cute - but when you need to make a quick important note a blank page seems way more appealing. 

The day I was speaking of earlier, where I was moping over our decreasing numbers and God brought my attention to the youngers - He also gave me a great idea. I had this vision of "The Gathering Place" . A treasured location where we all come together to fellowship around a table. In place of my historical mental picture where my elders were around the table and I was the child. This time I was one of the elders. (Yes - I do find this a bit frightening) and the table was full of the upcoming generation below us. 

Instantly I had a brainstorm. The cousins were already at our house for the weekend. We could make a gift for Grandma. My Dad passed away 2 years ago and Christmas has just not been the same for her, or any of us,  since. I had been trying to come up with an arts and crafts project the kids could make her. When you have this many kids though would she really want 4-6 versions of the same DIY children's project? 

Well, I had what I thought was a terrific answer to my Kid's Craft quandary. So I bundled the kiddos all together around the table and encouraged them to warm up their little fingers as they practice doodled to perfection. We were going to create a collective piece of art. Each cousin was going to draw 1-2 people in our family around our Gathering Place. The kids even decided to add all of the precious little furry friends in our family project. 

Isn't this precious? I just LOVE it! (In the middle of the family at the top are my parents. My Dad is in heaven now but even though he is not here physically with us we still needed to have him represented within our family.)

Then I scanned and imported the image into my graphic editing program where I added names. From here I knew I had two projects I wanted to create. 

1. DIY Sack Cloth Kitchen Towel Project with heat transferred images on it in a cute oval frame with 
   "Gathering Place" printed underneath it. (Image above)
   
   
2. I also wanted to frame the adorable family project in a solid black frame with a cute  little burlap embellishment that had been heat transferred with an  image that said "FAMILY". (below)

I have to say this not only captured a fun and fantastic family snapshot in their drawing. It also captured the quirkiness of the illustrators as well. For those of us in the family we can look at each of the drawings and identify who sketched whom. It is a treasured keepsake for sure. It was such a simple craft project really, very inexpensive and I love that it was a group labor of love. I believe it is something Grandma will treasure forever. 

I will be putting up a post later on quick and easy image transfer gift giving projects that will give you the "how-to" on the towels and burlap. So make sure to check back. 

Psalm 127:3-5
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. (NLT)

-Simply Sublime