Creative | Jillian In Italy

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Foil Fun

Have you ever heard of iron-on foil sheets? Neither had I until last week. I was happily mock-shopping on my favorite online fabric shop (you know when you shop through a site happily filling your shopping basket with wonderful things only to delete it completely at the end?) when I came across a page full of these iron-on foil sheets. I quickly purchased a few in various colours and forgot about it.

Then a few days ago the envelope arrived. And I proceeded to fall in love with these foil sheets.

The sheets are hard plastic so I have no idea why they are called foil sheets. There were no directions included as to how to use them so I pretty much winged it. On one side of the sheets you see that there is a thin layer of plastic covering some fuzzy material. This side is placed on the fabric face up before ironing.

As a first project I decided to gussy up a new green hoody that I had bought my son.

I though I’d keep it simple and just write his name in a typewriter font on the front of the hoody. Nico picked out what colours he wanted and we drew and cut out the letters from the foil sheets.

I positioned the letters, put a cotton handkerchief on top then simply ironed over it for about a minute.

The top plastic coating easily peels off and you’re left with a soft and fuzzy design. It’s like magic!

Make sure to position the paper with the correct side facing down or else something like above might happen. I (ahem) did it just to show what could possibly go wrong of course. And now I’m the proud owner of a cotton handkerchief with CO written on it. Don’t be dumb like me.

After cutting out a few new letters the hoody was finally finished. Pretty neat.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to logo bomb every possible piece of clothing in my house in the coming weeks. Sorry family.

Tags: crafts, homemade, iron on foil paper, kids, logo, photography

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Categories Creative

The Sad Little Chair

25 Sep

Last week I popped by my favorite local Mercatino Usato (2nd hand shop) because I was on the hunt for some vintage fabrics. While there I came across this very old, sturdy and sad looking child’s chair.

Obviously I didn’t need the chair because all of my kids are big and lanky and tall. But for 3 euro I just had to take it home with me.

First I gave it a few coats of primer (because I hate to sand). Then I gave it a coat of a nice white high gloss paint.

And then I started washi-ing it. I couldn’t stop.

Like the old Japanese proverb says “Washi makes everything more beautiful”. It’s a very old saying.

After I had finished taping it I sprayed it with an acrylic paint varnish. That way the tape is on there sicurely and won’t peel off.
I might have gone a little overboard but the chair is definitely not sad anymore. And now I must go clean those windows in the picture.

Tags: chair make-over, diy, furniture, home, photography, washi

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Categories Creative

Bij Tante Lief

11 Sep

This past summer while we were in Belgium we were invited to spend an afternoon in the ceramics studio of a very talented aunt of my husband. Tante Lief has been making the most beautiful plates, bowls, platters, figurines and jewelry for years and every time I visit I fall more in love with everything she does. I have bowls from Lief that I’ve been using for over 15 years and they’re still in perfect shape.

We arrived at their house mid-afternoon and the kids started playing with the clay within minutes. In the end there were over 10 cousins busily modelling clay into the most beautiful creations.

All the kids had lots of ideas of what they wanted to make. My daughters opted for chickens while my son a volcano (go figure). Tante Lief was the perfect teacher and was busily running around from one kid to the next helping and giving tips. Even though she had so many small kids in her studio she was relaxed as can be and the kids had the most wonderful afternoon (the adults as well).

After the sculpting we all took a break for some amazing home-made pizzas (thanks to Nonkel Jan!). By the time we were done eating the pieces were dry enough to be painted. There was lots of discussing and contemplating before the perfect colours were chosen.

After a fantastic day we all left and Tante Lief promised she would bake all of our pieces and get them to us as soon as she could. And luckily for us she dropped by our house in Italy this past week-end and the kids got to see their finished creations for the first time.

And they are proud!

Tags: ceramics, creative, family, kids, photography, pottery

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Categories Creative

Woodwork

28 Aug

One day last week my little guy Nico approached me and asked if we could do some wood work. Always game to crack out my handy jigsaw I jumped at the chance.

We found some old pieces of wood from a previous project and Nico decided he wanted to draw a simple shape on the board to cut out with the saw. He opted for a fish.

We put on our protective gloves and goggles and started sawing away. It’s possible we even got a little carried away and sawed right into our outdoor wooden table (oops). Oh and due to some reckless sawing the fish became more of an eye (that fish tail kept getting in the way anyway).

After he had his desired shape (sort of) he decided to paint it. We got out some thick masking tape so that the lines would be well defined and got busy painting the different rings of colour. Due to the 40 degree heat it took less than a minute for each colour to dry so we could continue with the painting without having to wait around too much.

We loved ripping off the masking tape to find beautiful crisp clear lines on our wood. We continued the project off and on over the following days. The sisters decided to get involved as well so we have a beautiful collection of painted wooden pieces at the moment.

I loved watching the thought process that went into the colour combinations and their concentration while painting.

After they had finished painting their lines they sprayed their wooden pieces with special varnish. That way if we leave them hanging outside the paint will be more protected against harsh weather.

Nico’s tail-less fish. Or eye. Or whatever he wants it to be.

Tags: art project, craft, creative, family, kids, painting, photography, woodwork

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Categories Creative

Doily Fairy Lights

15 Aug

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law and I were browsing through our favorite second hand shop and I came across a basket full of old vintage Belgian doilies (most were handmade lace and a few were crocheted) for anywhere from 10 cents to 50 cents a piece. I grabbed a handful, paid less than 3 euro for them and took them home.

There were lots of questions as to what I was going to do with them (and the look on my husband’s face when I enthusiastically showed them was a mix of surprise and terror). And to tell you the truth, at that point I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do with them. I just knew there was a project using doilies just waiting for me and I had to give it time to be become clear what it exactly was. Yeah I know, I’m a nerd.

And sure enough a few weeks later I was rummaging through an old drawer and found a set of “naked” fairy lights. I knew then and there what that pile of doilies was going to be made into.

I decided that I wanted the doilies to be slightly stiff so they wouldn’t hang so limply from the lights. I didn’t have any starch of any kind so I made a mixture of normal white glue and water. I then dipped the doilies in the mixture, squeezed out any excess and placed them on a wine glass to dry in a nice lampshade shape (this was all trial and error…I had no idea if it was going to work or not).

To my surprise (and joy) the next morning the doilies were all completely dry and stiff enough to hold the shape that I was looking for.I then had to snip the centres of the doilies in order to fit the little fairy lights through (some had holes big enough but most needed a little snip). Once I had the fairy lights throught centre hole I hand sewed the doilies around the centre so that the light wouldn’t slip back through.

I find the final result really beautiful with all the different shades of white and cream, the different sizes of doilies and the various lace patterns. In the evening it makes the most beautifully romantic shadows on all the surrounding walls.

I even included one that was made by my great grandmother.

Tags: creative, doily, doily fairy lights, photography, vintage

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Categories Creative

Lam Musee d’Art Moderne

3 Aug

The other day we woke up in Belgium to a rainy cloudy sky. We hadn’t really made plans for the day so we decided to drive to Lille, France to visit the Lam Modern Art Museum. After wrestling the kids out of their pajamas and into normal clothing (they wanted to stay home and read comics all day) we made it out the door.

Luckily the French border is mere minutes from where we were staying and we made it to the museum in less than half an hour. The kids were slowly getting over their dismay at being forced out of the house and by the time we saw the museum they were actually excited to visit it. They kept asking whether the “beetle-guy” (Jan Fabre) would be exhibiting seeing as it was a modern art museum. Unfortunately for them he wasn’t.

The Lam Musee d’Art Modern is a great museum to take kids. It has some really lovely permanent collections as well as temporary ones. The museum isn’t too big which means the kids can visit all the collections without getting too tired or “bored”.

The museum offers modern art collections as well as contemporary art collections. The kids loved all the cubist pieces and the way they evolved over time. I always find it amazing what kids notice in art and they way they communicate what they see. When they were looking at the Modigliani paintings they were commenting to each other on the ladies he painted and their long necks and noses, their blank eyes and sloped shoulders. They also really enjoyed the room with art brut. They loved reading the stories of the untrained artists and their life stories.

The museum offers (for a small fee) ipods for kids, teens and adults with guided tours of the museum. Our girls took the French version of the teen tour (after 4 years of French as a second language!).

After our successful trip to the museum the kids were motivated and excited to walk into town with a box of charcoal and some paper to do some sketching at the local convent.

They all found a little spot with a view and sketched away for the rest of the afternoon.

After the drawings were finished we headed to the local waffle shop (of course). All in all it was a perfect ending to our Belgian summer vacation.

Tags: France, kids, lam museum, lille, modern art, photography, travel

Comments 10 Comments
Categories Creative, Travel

De Vuile Winkel

22 Jul

We arrived at my in-laws at midnight on a Friday evening and by 9:30am the next day my mother-in-law and I could be found browsing through our favorite local fabric shop.

It’s a shop that used to be referred to as De Vuile Winkel (The Dirty Shop) due to the fact it was located in an old decrepit four-story house with narrow wooden staircases and room upon room full of materials, old and new. It was an experience just to browse through all those stacks of materials and a few times we found some great vintage fabrics (see here).

But a few months ago they decided they were in need of more room so they moved to a bright, large and spacious new spot. And it’s gorgeous.

While there made our way to the corner with our favorite fabrics from Petit Pan, Echino and Kokka. And as you can see from the photo, we left with our arms full (and big smiles on our faces).

If you ever find yourself in Kortrijk, Belgium I would recommend you pop into De Soldeur (De Vuile Winkel‘s real name).

And after just a few days the first creation was made. My mother-in-law sewed this sweet little cotton skirt (material from Petit Pan) with a stretch jersey waistband for my daughter (who picked out the fabrics herself). It really is the perfect summer skirt. And it’s ready just in time for actual warm summer weather here in Belgium. Halleluja

Tags: de vuile winkel, echino, fabric shop, kokka, kortrijk, petit pan, photograpy, Sewing, skirt with jersey waistband

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Categories Creative

Facelift: Armadio

11 Jun

A while back I received this old sticker-covered cupboard from a friend who was getting rid of it. It took me three hours to get the hundreds of stickers off the cupboard doors (my fingertips were raw and bloody by the end). After the de-stickering I gave it a few coats of white paint.

I then ordered some wallpaper samples from an online shop in Holland.And this is the result.For now I’ve left the big cupboard door white. Good idea or would it look better with wallpaper?A great way to brighten up and bring new life to old furniture!

Tags: furniture, photography, restoration, wallpaper

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Categories Creative

Origami shirt and tie

8 May

Being Canadian with a Belgian husband and living in Italy has made it so that I never know when Mother’s or Father’s Day is. I know that it is in different months and on different days for each of the countries and I’ve pretty much mentally blocked all those dates from my mind. I had a feeling father’s Day was coming up so I spent hours with the kids making these origami dress shirt garlands. Then my son proudly announced that he was making me a Mother’s Day gift at school which must mean Father’s Day isn’t for a while (but we’re prepared and ready well in advance!).

These origami garlands are so sweet and my kids were the ones who actually folded the shirts (even my little guy). Origami has become very popular in our home and I’m so glad I brought back that suitcase FULL of origami paper from Japan (despite comments such as “are you sure we need 30 packages of origami paper?”).I sewed the little shirts together before glueing on the ties and bow ties. You can make these shirts any size you want. My kids have made tiny tiny versions and almost life size versions. When we’re in restaurants they even fold the cloth napkins into these little shirts. It takes under a minute to fold one so you can make loads in a short amount of time.

The kids can hang them up on a doorframe or to put them into an envelope to open on Father’s Day (whenever that may be). You can leave them loose or sew them together like I did. Last year my kids included a pocket and put in really nice messages and poems.

Here’s how to do it yourself! There is one step that will make you want to crumple up the paper, run out of the room and never try origami again but please believe me that once you ‘get” it everything will run smoothly. Hopefully my instructions will help you a little (original pattern idea comes from Martha Stewart Living June 2004). Continue to read for the step-by-step…

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Tags: craft, father's day, father's day gift, origami, origami shirt and tie, paper, photography

Comments 23 Comments
Categories Creative

Felting with kids

30 Apr

Last week-end some friends and I organised a felting morning for all of our children. We’ve done various felting workshops in the past with our kids and they’ve always really enjoyed it. They’ve tried needle felting (a few painful stabs were felt) and the hot water with soap method (the room was SOAKED). Either way the kids loved doing it and always finish feeling very proud of their work.

This time the kids were asked beforehand to make a relatively simple drawing of something they love or find beautiful.

They then had to cut out pieces of different coloured felt to re-create the drawing. We put the drawing on the table with bubble wrap over top so it was easy to see. They then placed all the pieces of felt on top of their design.

Then they placed a piece of cream coloured felt on top of their “felted drawing” and slowly poured hot soapy water over top. They gently patted it with their fingers to start the actual felting process.Slowly the kids can start to see their designs coming through. The fun part…patting, rubbing, rolling and throwing the felt around.Checking to see if it’s the desired size (the more you work the felt the smaller it gets).