Friday, August 17, 2012

Friday Focus: Burlap and Jute

Welcome back to another Friday Focus.  Linda here this week, sharing another shabby crafting product that is close to my heart - burlap.  I had some fun this week playing around with various pieces of burlap to see what I could come up with to decorate some cards.
The first thing I made was this cute tag.  I cut the burlap and a kraft tag separately with a Spellbinders die (simply because the Spellbinders don't cut through two layers) and then glued the burlap to the kraft with Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte. Then I cut snowflakes with my Mini Snowflakes Movers and Shapers die from felt and burlap.  The burlap for the snowflake was cut from a piece that I had brushed the reverse side with Multi Medium Matte which keeps it from falling apart.  The burlap in my shop is pretty stiff and has been treated with something to keep it from fraying, but when I die cut it, and the die cut has very small parts, I like to reinforce it with the MMM.  
Then from the same piece of reinforced burlap, I die cut this Carved Ornament and gave it a bit of gold gilding by brushing on some Gold Paint Dabber and also painted my white corrugated cardboard snowflakes with gold paint dabber too.  

Next up is a flower cut with the Tattered Florals die.  This burlap was not reinforced, plus I treated it a little roughly by crunching it all up and unfurling it carefully.  I painted a couple of layers with gesso to give it more of a rustic look and add some contrast to the layers.  
Next up a pine tree cut from reinforced burlap and given a sprinkling of snow with gesso.
For the next few pieces, I cut a stencil using Tim Holtz Mask Sheets and Movers and Shapers dies (be sure to save your die cuts to use for masking on other projects).  For this one, I arranged the two Mini Tattered Florals dies and one Mini Butterfly die and passed the masking sheet through my die cutting machine.  Then I moved the mask sheet and passed it through a second time to get the next three cuts.  Then I used the stencil to stipple gesso onto the burlap, moving the stencil one time to stencil the next three shapes.
I followed the same procedure for this white-on-white piece.  I also sprinkled the wet gesso with some of the new Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles Dry Glitter, but unfortunately the camera didn't pick up the sparkles.
Love this wide red burlap ribbon which is new in the boutique.  It worked beautifully with the snowflake stencil and gesso.

Hope you enjoyed this burlap tutorial.  The entire Burlap/Jute section of The Funkie Junkie Boutique is on sale 15% off this week for Friday Focus.  Check it out - there are so many jute ribbons, burlap thread, burlap ribbon, etc.  Stock up for your holiday crafting while I still have a good supply of all these products.

Let me know if you have any questions on these techniques.  Have a crafty weekend!

All of these products used are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

15 comments:

  1. Hi Linda..thanks for sharing your creative techniques. I love burlap and this is very inspiring. Now to find the time to Play. x

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  2. I love this idea, Linda, though I don't know if my little CB will cut hessian/burlap - only one way to find out :)
    I've been MIA for a while and hope to get back to commenting and participating again real soon.
    x

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    1. Hi Irene,

      Yes, your CB will cut burlap/hessian beautifully. I use the CB exclusively for all my diecutting and embossing.

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  3. I love your ideas today Linda, that white burlap looks amazing, not seen that before. Of all the die cuts, the pine tree is my favourite - very rustic looking. A x

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  4. Fabulous Friday Focus, Linda, thank you. I love burlap/jute/hessian - whatever you want to call it, or are they all different?! Great ideas here... thank you!
    Alison x

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    1. Hey Alison, I did some checking on that - burlap/hessian is the fabric and jute is the plant/fiber from which it is made. But the terms seem to be used interchangeably frequently.

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  5. Great visuals on all we can do with the burlap/jute... love the tag you made of it and that new red is HOT!!

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  6. Very attractive and unique your magnifivent creations.
    Wish you a nice weekend,
    hugs Anja

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  7. Well you have given me some ideas!! Really liked the snow on the tree branches! Fun stuff! Enjoy the weekend!

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  8. What fun new ideas! Love them.

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  9. Some brilliant ideas Linda...and you answered my question of how to stop the die cuts falling apart! TFS!
    Alison x

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  10. Great ideas Linda
    Thank you for sharing this with use.

    Greetings Janny

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  11. Great ideas Linda, thank you for your inspiration

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  12. Excellent ideas and inpsiration. These are country fabulous!! :)

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