DIY HAND STAMPED TEA TOWELS

Sometimes a girl just gets the urge to craft. At least I do. Sometimes I need to do more than just push pixels (graphics lingo) around a screen and actually get my hands dirty. I need to build, paint, or sew something!!! You know... like actually MAKE something I pinned instead of just pinning it. I had seen some DIY stamping tutorials on Pinterest & I wanted to give it a go.

I kind of combined a few different tutorials, experimented a bit, and made a few changes to come up with this.  

I made two different tea towels. 

The yellow one I bought fabric and sewed my own tea towel.

(100% cotton fabric - used for making cloth diapers, so super duper adsorbent)

And the pink one I bought from Walmart, which are sold in two-packs for $1.89!

If you like to sew, great. If you don't, buy plain white tea towels and use those. Either one will work - it's the same process. (***Note: Make sure the towel/fabric you buy does not have a lot of texture. The ink will not distribute evenly on the fabric. For example: a waffle weave towel wouldn't work well.)

Here is what you will need: 

  

Step #1: Decide on your design and make your stamps 

- I used wooden blocks that I had laying around, but you can use anything just as long as it is the right size for your stamp and a sticker will stick to it.

- Cut your foam in the design that you want. Obviously geometric designs work best and are easiest to cut, but really the possibilities are endless as long the design isn't too detailed.

- Peel of the back of the sticker and stick your design to the block.

Step #2: Wash, dry, and iron your towels

Step #3: Get ready to paint

- Put something under your towels so the paint doesn't leak through onto the table or other parts of your towel. I used an old magazine.

- Mix your paint colors. Use 1:1 ratio of acrylic paint and fabric medium. (a mixture of half paint and half fabric medium)

Step #4: Stamp your towels.

- Paint directly on your stamp. 

- Place your stamp where you want it on your towel and press down firmly. 

***Reapply paint to your stamp with your paintbrush before each stamp.

Step #5: Let your towel dry for at least 24 hours

Step #6: Iron your tea towels to set the paint

Step #6: Add some detail by sewing on edging.

There are tons to pick from. I picked the small tassel edging b/c I wasn't sure how the large ones would wash up.

And she strikes again...