Latest Prayer Flag

Having become involved with the Sew Powerful Purse Project, it seemed only fitting that I hang a prayer flag in the garden to remind me to offer prayer for the young girls in Zambia and for the team that works tirelessly to keep them in school.

I like using the prayer flags as a way to try out new techniques and products. Hanging out in the elements where they will eventually decompose and where no one will see all my little boo-boos makes for pretty much a stress free effort. Having read about using Terial Magic as a fabric stabilizer before cutting with the Silhouette Cameo, I gave it a try. I like it!  The fabric was very much like paper and didn’t fray with the cutting. According to the bottle it also works to stiffen fabric before printing fabric with the computer; I haven’t tried that yet but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. According to the instructions, the stabilizer washes out leaving a soft fabric. (Since this will be hanging in the garden, I saw no need to wash it.) 

Following the directions from the Silhouette School Blog, I ironed Heat ‘N Bond to the fabric before cutting the letters with the Cameo. There was one little glitch, the letters did not adhere to the black fabric. Hmm….I bet that is because I didn’t prewash the fabric as instructed. So fabric glue to the rescue. This stuff works really well; again it gets tested in the elements quite often.

I will post more about the Sew Powerful Purse project after I have more purses to show. In the meantime, I have found what I think will be an excellent resource for improving my sewing skills; and it is free! More about that later.

If you would like to see more of the prayer flags that are currently in my garden as well as those that have been retired, there is a link at the top of this page. More information about the Prayer Flag Project and directions for making prayer flags can be found here.

Prayer Flags

Being away from The Underground 6 months of the year, I haven’t had much to share in the way of crafts. A friend’s art club is thinking about making prayer flags as a group project. Having made a number of prayer flags, I offered to share a bit of insight here on the blog.

I am not an artist, but have been a crafter as long as I can remember. I ran across an article about the Prayer Flag Project in a Cloth, Paper Scissors’ magazine in 2012. I was hooked. There is no right or wrong way to make them and, since they are made to hang outside in the elements, there is no need for perfection. It is an excellent way to use scraps and to try new techniques.

Below are directions copied from ThePrayer Flag Project website.

Here's Vivika DeNegre's tutorial on how to make a prayer flag. Feel free to be creative and change them to fit your own style. The dimensions used here are 5”x 8” dimension with a 3” hanging area (12.5 x 20.5 cm with a 7.5 cm hanging area) as described below.  Do sign and date your flag. Let me know via email that you are “praying along” and include a photograph of your work or link to a blog so I can post about your flags as well.

Also you can post your flags on our flickr group.

1. Create a place to thread a string by folding one short end over to the back by 3” and press, making a rectangle approximately 5”x8”.  

2. Choose a theme for your prayer, and embellish your flag with paper, painting, stitch, embroidery, buttons, etc.  You are only limited by your imagination and your stash.  Examples of flags can be seen on our flickr group.

3. Add words or journaling to your flag using free motion stitching, hand stitching or simply by writing in a permanent marker.

4. Sign and date your flag.

5. Join the Prayer Flag project (how to participate)

6. Hang it outside!

You will notice, nothing is said about hemming the edges. If you take a look at mine, you will notice most edges are hemmed.

Positive Prayer Flags

I participated in an artist Positive Prayer Flag exchange in 2017, none of the flags I received had hemmed edges, so I no longer hem mine. I wish I could share the beautiful, artistic flags I received, but I am not sure about copy rights and would not want to infringe.

When I am asked to do a workshop, I will take a width of fabric, cut it to an 11-inch length, fold down 3-inches, sew it and then cut into 5-inch widths, making several 5”X 8”-inch flags. Remember these will eventually disintegrate in the elements, so there is no need to back-tack.

As for fabric, I use whatever I have on hand. I really like using Everbilt drop cloth from Home Depot.It takes stenciling really well and the thread pulls easily for a fringe.

And it is inexpensive! (I use drop cloth in a lot of my crafts. It is a good idea to wash the cloth first.)

Pinterest and Instagram  are excellent places to find inspiration.

Click here to see some of my flags.

I hope the art club has a fun evening making Prayer Flags.

As for me, I will be living in a 200 square foot RV for the next few months. I have colored pencils, my Featherweight (aka Miss Wilma) and a bit of fabric with me. Maybe I will create something to blog about.

Nature Theme Prayer Flags

What does one do when a Prayer Flag Swap is cancelled? Finish the flags and hang them in the breeze, of course! One of the reasons I like doing prayer flags is to experiment with various techniques and products without concern of perfection. Since I will not be swapping with other artist, the pressure is off and I can just have fun. (But I will miss receiving truly beautiful art from others in the swap.)

Having bought a new printer for the RV and knowing I would be creating while traveling, I chose to experiment with printing on fabric for this project. This sweet little Epson WF-100 is not much larger than a book.

(I prefer Epson printers for fabric printing as they use the Dura Brite ink that doesn’t smear and is pretty much water proof.)

Usually I adhere fabric to either heavy duty freezer paper or to the sticky side of a full size mailing label (my preferred method) before sending it through the printer. Since we were traveling in a small RV I needed to limit my supplies so I took along June Taylor Fabric Sheets for ink jet printers.

Using photos from our winter trip, I cropped and sized them in Photoshop Elements and printed them on the fabric sheets. It was a long drive across the country, so I embellished with embroidery as I rode along (no, I don’t drive The Wanderer.) When I arrived home, I stitched a casing and added eyelash trim. 

The printer performed perfectly, no jamming or ink smears.

Fabric pens travel nicely (aren’t messy like fabric paint ;) I used Tulip Fabric Pens  to paint on drop cloth (which is becoming a favorite canvas.) Adding buttons, beads and a couple little butterflies, it is quite a cheerful little flag.

Now that I am back in The Underground, I have choices. My plan is to finish those projects I have started before I began something new. With a head full of ideas and a wide selection of supplies, I bet that doesn’t happen.  And now I hear my garden calling…..and I must go.

B+

When I was invited to participate in a Facebook prayer flag project, of course I said yes! The objective was to promote positive thoughts in today’s stressful environment; thus The Positive Prayer Flag Swap. The basic instructions were to make the traditional 8X5-inch prayer flags from the Prayer Flag Project. We were asked to be non-political and avoid religious statements. The rest was left to our imagination and creativity. So I got out fabric, buttons, burlap, paint and such. I fired up the Silhouette Portrait and printer. And did I ever have fun! I mailed these 12 flags which will be swapped with flags from other crafters/artists throughout the country.

I love using prayer flags as a way to try different techniques and products. (Culling my collection of fabric, buttons, ribbon and lace is a bonus.) Here are my favorites from the batch I mailed.

Applique using Silhouette Portrait

Painted fabric, stamping

Coloring book page scanned and printed, quote printed on fabric

Painted fabric, stamping

I have been making prayer flags for about five years. Sometimes they are for family or friends that are ill or bereaved, sometimes they are for celebrations of new homes, jobs, or babies, and sometimes they are for life changing events like graduations, marriage or retirement. I most often make a card with a photo of the flag which I send to the person for whom I am saying a prayer.

I love watching them sway in the breeze. 

As you can see, some have been hanging in the outdoors for quite a while and some are new additions.

Can’t wait to see the creativity in the flags I receive from the swap! 

Today I hung a prayer flag in my garden with hopes a gentle breeze will carry my wishes for peace throughout our country.

What were we thinking???

We could be soaking up sunshine in a warm place like Arizona. But here we are in Paducah enjoying tolerating single digit temperatures. But there is an upside; the cold gives us incentive to get that upstairs bedroom renovation (started about 10-years ago) completed 

so we can head to the northwest when the heat and humidity hits this summer. And I am quite cozy here in The Underground.

Our Christmas and Epiphany is organized, (with the help of my Silhouette Portrait) and stowed away.

I have registered fo a drawing class at the PaducahSchool of Art and Design. Having taken classes from instructor, Randy Simmons, I know the first part of the class will be about understanding perspective. (I hate perspective drawing!) Hoping to avoid a lot of classroom frustration I am practicing drawing boxes. 

(Yes, it is pretty boring.)

It hasn’t been all work and no play in the studio. I made a prayer flag for the garden,

Yep, that is My One Word for 2017

and finished HR’s stocking stuffer (Don’t judge me.)

Want to know how to print on fabric? I happened upon an excellent post on TheSewing Loft blog.

For those of you in the deep freeze, stay warm; the rest of you, enjoy your sunshine.

Catching Up

So, where were we? Oh, yeah, the last post was about prayer flags (has it really been 2 ½ months since my last post!!!)

A lot is happening in and around The Underground; we are in transition. HR will retire in two weeks!

HR's count down board in front of our house. 

We bought a small RV and have plans to travel! So I had to give up my gig at Ephemera PaducahL

I have made a couple things to make our home away from home a bit more comfortable.

 

Decoupaged box to hold cosmetics.

A sleeve for HR's cell phone.

I have several other ideas just waiting to be hatched.

I need some projects to take on the road, so I got out my embroidery threads and hoops. Since it has been awhile, I am practicing on prayer flags. This one is for my church which is also in transition as our pastor for the past 25 years retired in the spring. My wish is a gentle breeze will bring synergy to the search committee and the congregation.

With one of my soul friends, I have started a Bible Art Journal.  I just started mine a couple of days ago, so there isn’t anything worth showing, but here is a link to hers. I have kept a prayer journal for several years; my plan is to take a theme from my daily prayer, find a Bible verse that addresses it and make an artsy entry in the Bible Journal.

A great deal of my summer has been spent in the garden; while not exactly pristine, it does look presentable. I am finishing my tenure as the Public Relations Officer of our local Master Gardener Association, but have been coerced into keeping the blog updated. We have taken a couple of trips to practice retirement. We had a flash flood a couple of weeks ago, so there was a bit of clean-up in the studio. Nothing was damaged as this is not an unusual occurrence. We know to keep everything either in a plastic container or at least 6-inches off the floor.

I think this catches us up. When on the road I will probably not have much to share about crafting.  I do have a lot of projects in the planning stage for when I am home (HR will be doing the grocery shopping and mowing (Yeah!) so I can spend more time in The Underground!.

New Prayer Flags

This week I added new prayer flags to my garden.

This one is for my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day. It will replace the one I made when she became a widow three years ago. Her daughters are now teenagers. One has her driver's permit and the other one will be entering high school in the fall. I will send her a card with a photo of the flag along with my wishes for courage and wisdom as she prepares the girls to leave the nest. (Hope she doesn't have time to read my blog before Mother's Day!)

The text and photo were printed on muslin with my Epson WF-3520. I like the DurBrite ink for fabric because it is waterproof. The birds are fabric that was ironed to Pellon Wonder-Under and cut with the Silhouette Portrait. After they were cut, they were ironed to the flag.

This was made for a young lady as she was recently Confirmed. She was a delight in my 4 & 5 year old Sunday School class several years ago. The text is from her Faith Statement. I sent her a card with a photo of the flag and a personal note.

The photo is one I took years ago. It was printed on Muslin. The text was printed on Transfer Artist Paper; I had to do the text twice as I forgot to flip the image before printing!

This was made for a former Sunday School student for his recent Confirmation. He is an avid outdoors man. The text is from his Faith Statement. A card with the photo and a personal note was sent to let the young man know a prayer flag is hanging in my garden.

 

If you are interested, you can learn about the Prayer Flag Project by visiting the web site http://theprayerflagproject.blogspot.com/ You can see more of the prayer flags hanging in my garden by clicking here.

Special Guest in the Underground

Our granddaughter, Camille, chose to spend her spring break hanging out with me in The Underground. It was a jam packed week!

She loved using the Silhouette! She made this really cute garden flag for her sister’s new strawberry patch. It was stenciled with outdoor craft paint on outdoor fabric.

Zentangled by Camille

Her mother celebrated a birthday  this past week, so a birthday card and gift was in order. Following a tutorial on the BeautifulMess blog, Camille chose to make all natural bath bombs and scented goat milk soap. The studio smelled wonderful!

With the help of grandfather, HR,

she made this chalkboard/magnetic board.

We did some cooking and worked in a make-up lesson with Erin Hendley at F.A.C.E. Make-up Artistry. I don’t think we could work in one more project in the five days she was with us. Needless to say we are both tired but happy to have created few “remember when’s.” 

She also helped paint shelves for the slatwall. Next week I plan to take you on a tour of the updated studio. HR worked very hard to have it completed before Camille’s vist. 

A New Prayer Flag

I made this flag for a fellow Gold Star mom. I hung it with hopes a gentle breeze will bring my wishes for piece on the first birthday of her son since his death resulting from injuries obtained in Afghanistan earier this year.

 



 



Another Prayer Flag

I created this flag for my brother as he begins chemotherapy on Monday.

I used my Silhoette Portrait to cut the hot-air ballons; love that I can use the same pattern to make different sizes. I embelished with fabric paint. The words were stamped and glued to the flag with fabric glue. As always when making flags for my family, I attached buttons from my mom's button box.

I will send a note and photo to my brother with hopes a gentle breeze will carry my love and my hope for peace, strength and courage.

Prayer Flags and Cards

So nice to come above ground and spend some time in the garden this week. With the early daffodils at their peak and the tulips in full bloom, I am pulled between the garden and the studio for the use of my free time. I want to be both places!

It is the season and I had the pleasure of introducing prayer flags to a local garden club at Ephemera Paducah on Thursday. They had a ball with the stamps, stencils and paint!

 

I think some were surprised with their artistic talents.

 

 

 

 

The Prayer Flag Project has become popular with our local garden clubs; I look forward to seeing the little flags flying in gardens throughout the city this summer.

 

 

 

Back in The Underground, I made cards for the RubberMoon blog and wrote my first ever post ever as a Creative Design Team member. Want to see them? Hop on over to their blog and take a look! These will go to Operation Write Home.

The press release for the OWH card making event scheduled April 19 at Ephemera Paducah went to the media this week. Our first ever OWH event, we have no idea how much participation to expect. We are encouraged by the interest shown by the media. Kristin (owner of Ephemera) and I did an interview this morning for the local newspaper and Kristin has one scheduled with our local NPR station.

Also, this week I created a somewhat belated thank you note; often I have to weigh timeliness against handmade; for this couple, handmade won. This one was especially fun as I used a map from an outdated atlas and vintage lace from a stash my mother-in-law gave to me.

 

 

Classes have resumed after spring break at PSAD. We are now into charcoal drawing. I love it, but it is quite messy. With my AADD, I know I will have charcoal smudges everywhere! I am trying very hard to remember to not leave the easel and work on a card or flag without first washing my hands. And what about the white base and drawers on the new cardmaking station ….well fortunately charcoal washes off easily!

Speaking of the cardmaking station, Handy Randy added a pegboard and paper roll holder this morning. I love the free newsprint end rolls from the newspaper but they were a bit awkward to use. Not anymore!

I am off now to do a bit of organizing!

Prayer Flags in my Garden

Intrigued by an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine in 2012, I began making prayer flags.



Recently I have been asked to assist a couple of garden clubs in making prayer flags and have had a couple of phone call inquiring about the ones hanging in my garden. It seems like a good time to share my prayer flags with you.

Inspired by the Buddhist prayer flags seen flying on the mountain sides in Tibet, Vivika Hansen DeNegre started the Prayer Flag Project. Unlike the Tibetan flags with prayers written on them and each of five colors representing the elements, fire, water, wind, space and earth, the flags of the Prayer Flag Project are created by artists using their own techniques and designs. They are made quickly and are made to hang outside. There are no rules. It is really simple to participate. According to the web site all one needs to do is:

"Make a flag and hang it... take a photo. (Here are some tutorials on how to make the flag.)
2. Post it to our Flickr group or skip to step 3.
3. Email theprayerflagproject@gmail.com
with image(s) of your flag and include the meaning, your name, and a link to your website or blog if you have one. We will post it on this blog.
4. "Follow" this blog.
Together we can make a difference in the world as our prayers are flown and shared with others... Join us!"

Much has surfaced about prayer flags and The Prayer Flag Project on various blogs recently; I especially like Michele Bilyeu’s post yesterday on her quilting blog With Heart and Hands. She explains how she makes her very unique and pretty prayer flags and also prayer flag pillows. Her flags hang from an outdoor prayer arch. She has attempted to hang them from a tree and shows an entertaining video of the squirrels untying them. Michele shares an in-depth explanation about prayer flags and what they mean to her. 

I have made probably 2 dozen flags but have not sent photos to the Prayer Flag Project (it’s the “underground thing.”) When I hang the flag, I take a photo, put it on a card and send it to the person with a message that says something like “I made a prayer flag for you and hung it in my garden. It is my hope a gentle breeze will bring my wishes of strength (comfort, happiness, healing, etc.) to you.”


I make them to express my wishes for  

Hope

Peace

Happiness

Healing

                            

Success

                        
Or whatever wish I may have for a friend or family member.


Since the flags hang out in the elements, I don’t get too concerned with craftsmanship.I like that I can do some experimenting with different materials and techniques.

 When I am in the garden and I look at the flags, I remember my family and friends. Sometimes it reminds me to send an email or note. And yes, I leave them out year round.

 Click here to see more photos of my prayer flags.