A citra solv and graphic fairy inspired night

Soooo tonight I was inspired to up-cycle an old frame sitting around the house...funny how people told Cal and I that we wouldn't display our engagement and wedding pictures and we didn't believe them....  Needless to say this is a frame that is not being used so I decided to recycle it.

My original idea was to create a memo board with muslin fabric as the background as I am OBSESSED with the unfinished vintage look... 

Butttt when I had it all together I didn't love it.... insert CitraSolv....the most difficult solvent to find in the greater Ann Arbor area.  (a word to the wise if you have ANY desire to do a project like this save yourself the time and effort and just order online!)  I searched whole foods, trader joe's, and a couple of novel organic type stores in Ann Arbor and finally started calling to find a location that carried this magical solvent.... needless to say I finally found it. 

And I needed a little practice obviously because I neglected to think about flipping my image before trying to add a fun graphic fairy number onto my current favorite table decor...darn!  

buttt when I flip the placemat upside down it looks super cool...right?!?!??!  Noooo but hey I can pretend right?!?!?

Sooo onto the real project: picking my favorite graphic fairy images---I love them all so that is harder than you might think.  

In this case I wanted to make a bit of a collage so I got to pick quite a few!!!!

**note you have to print onto an laser printer or make copies onto a laser copier (I guess most are) in order for this to work (I really took this part for granted as I own an old college laser printer that my undergrad university auctioned off---check with your local university to see if they do auctions like this----newer stuff for VERY cheap!!)  

This picture also shows how you have to tape or pin down your images before applying citra solv

next apply citra solv---it doesn't take much!  Then add some muscle to a spoon or other braying type object!

I chose to iron on my images after applying them.... this step sounds like it is optional according to the citra solv web page but I liked how it dried the solvent.

****I should also note that at this point in the night I was overwhelmed by the smell of orange (the citra solv sent) sooo we turned off the heat and aired out the house (granted that only lasted about 10 minutes----I mean really---look at that snow!!!)  this might suggest that you should do this out doors!

Anyhow here is my somewhat final product aren't you just in love?!?  I am!

I added a cute quote and put it back into the frame---fun and easy and fast and cheap---all things I love and DID I MENTION EASY?!

A close up on the quote I picked.

And I have to mention that I was somewhat inspired by this splurge pillow cover I bought from the local pottery barn outlet last week.

I should also note that I did successfully make a placemat---what do you think?!?

Loving it!

And lastly since I was soooo inspired by my citra solv transferring abilities I made my house guest, sister and best-est buddy a little something  (Linds also happened to be my photographer for these!).  

We picked a fun scrapbook paper to use as a matte and pressed along the original matte in the ikea frame that I wasn't using-and-was-laying-around-my-house for a guide

I used an exact-o knife to cut out the frame.

Next I got out my trusty sandpaper (I use this for every craft project) and smoothed along the inside edges to make the corners more perfect looking (noting I make is perfect but this REALLY helps).

Next I added a bit of brown ink (the second thing I ALWAYS use in craft projects) with a sponge to the edges to give a bit of a distressed and vintage look.

wooohooo final project is a very excited Linds with a little dachshund art work that she loves....! Woohoo