Ebrushed Notepad Cover

eBrush Design Team: Jan Hunter Week 8 Cycle 2

This summer has been an incredibly busy one for me -- I was excited to get back into the craft room for some creative fun... This month Kadoodle Bug Designs is our sponsor. I've got a stack of designs from their store and was happy to be able to use one for this back-to-school project. I'm thinking it might be a perfect gift for a special teacher friend of mine.

GIVEAWAY ALERT! $25.00 Gift Certificate for Kadoodle Bug Designs! Make sure to comment on this post , ALSO like FB pages : Craftwell and Kadoodle Bug Designs

Dress up a notepad or notebook using a cover. For this sample, I choose to use a fabric cover.

You'll need:

pre-washed fabric (I used some muslin)

thin batting

Tulip® Fabric Markers

eBrush with Sharpie adapter and foam pencil cushion

Notepad (mine measures about 5.5 x 8.5 inches)

Stencil material

Electronic Cutting Machine and software

Therm-O-Web

Sewing Machine, thread, scissors, pins

Iron

Plastic

You can freehand your design or use stencils as I have done.

Apple Bookworm file (from KaDoodleBugDesigns.com)

Measure your notepad. To measure your fabric pieces for cutting: double the width or your notepad and add 1.5 inches. For the height, measure the height and add 1.5 inches. You'll need to cut 2 pieces of fabric and one of batting. My fabric and batting for this particular cover, measured 12.5 inches w by 9.5 inches h.

Set aside the batting and one piece of fabric.

You'll want to cover your surface with some plastic. Remember, you're using fabric markers and if you're wanting to preserve your manicure, gloves might be helpful.

Secure your fabric to the work surface if need be. I'm using stencils and the stencil basically covered the area I was going to use the eBrush on, so I just use that to keep my fabric in place. Using the markers and eBrush, spray as desired. Remember that you can fine tune the spray by adjusting the marker in the adapter and with the speed you use. The Alpha file stencil is one I've had for a while and I think it's an Ali Edwards file from a class I enrolled in a while back.

Since KaDoodleBugDesigns is a sponsor this month, I'm also using one of Melissa's files -- called Apple Bookworm and fabric piecing the "painted" pieces to the cover.

I opened the file in my electronic cutting machine's software. Ungrouped the image and rearranged the pieces to cut and use the negative space as a stencil. I used cardstock for this project.

I used a scrap of fabric about 5 x 7 inches to stencil the worm and the apple. Once colored using the ebrush and markers, I added a little more dimension with the fine tip of the marker. The brush tip was used to spray all the pieces with the eBrush. Use some Therm-O-Web to bond the fabric so you can "fuse" it to the cover. Cut the pieces. You could choose to use your electronic cutting machine to do the cutting before you color... I just cut mine by hand! :)

Once all the pieces are colored and cut, fuse as desired to the fabric cover piece. I used a stencil cut using the image from the file to draw on the eyeglasses and left the arms off for this sample. The apple, stem and leaf are all one piece. To set the colors, follow the manufacturer's directions for the markers you're using.

Now that you have all the coloring and set the dye simply stack from the bottom up, batting, cover face up and the 2nd piece of fabric. Pin. Stitch using a 1/4 inch wide seam. Be sure to leave about a 2 inch opening along one long edge. I chose the top edge along what would be the back of the cover. Trim the corners to remove some of the bulk. Carefully turn the cover right side out. You can finger press the seams or get your iron out and press.

Place the notepad on the inside of the back cover. I secured mine with a couple of hook and loop dots ( you can replace them as you switch out notepads)

Thanks for dropping by and be sure to drop by the blog for new and fun projects featuring the eBrush. Hoping you've set some time aside in your craftroom this week!