Grungy Primitive Muslin Bags

I am feeling a little nostalgic. I don't post much on the blog anymore because I re-focused my creative energy into to my art blog (Art Chick Studio). In doing more art, I just don't do as much crafting anymore...though I do still love primitive crafts. So I just thought that from time to time I might share some of my favorite primitive crafts with you.

For now, I'd love to share one of my absolute favorites: Grungy Primitive Muslin Bags. I have used these in a multitude of ways over the years. The following are some of my faves. I think the Flour and Sugar bags were the first grungy muslin bags that I created.

In most of these I simply added stenciled words onto the bags. In the bottom one, with the heart, that was an iron-on I created from a graphic. Most of these are meant to be purely decorative--like the Sugar & Flour Set, and the Drieds & Herbs set. The candles in the bag can be used, and then the bag re-used for something else. 

But you can also use muslin bags to create other things--things you might not even recognize as muslin bags once you're finished. Like these Primitive Britches.

Or how about this Primitive Grungy Bunny Bag?

You can even make things that are maybe a little bit more Shabby than Prim. Like these two creations.

As you can see from these examples, I've had a lot of fun with muslin bags, grungy and otherwise. It's always a fun creative challenge to see what new ways I can come up with to use muslin bags in craft projects! 

What do YOU like to do with your muslin bags?

Primitive Christmas Mittens

I've been so busy lately, since I started a full time long-term art teaching substitute position--I haven't had time for blogging, or even crafting. I am teaching all day then doing lesson planning each night, and trying to squeeze in work for master's degree classes too. The Hubs sees me so seldom that I doubt he even remembers my name!

But that being said, I have a rare night with not a lot of lesson planning to do, so I thought I'd do a couple of blog posts on some favorite Primitive Christmas crafts I've created in years past. I'll schedule one post for later so you will actually get at least two posts from me before Christmas!

For this first one, I thought it would be fun to post a sampling of the Primitive Christmas mitten ornies I've created. I love doing things with mittens because they are just cute and can be made inexpensively, and they're quick to make too. 

This first mitten ornie is from 2010 and it is one of my more popular Christmas posts, and I've seen this mitten show up on Pinterest a lot too. I love the color combo on it and that little bit of sparkle from the mica flakes.  I think the Primitive Heart gives it just the right touch. Click below to see the full post.

Primitive Heart Mitten Ornie

This next mitten ornie is from 2010. I decided not to grungy this one--just left it plain and simple. Sometimes simple is just better. And I like the added rusty tin snowflake too.

Primitive Snowflake Mitten Ornie

This one is also from 2011. I love this one because it is grungy, AND it has a primitive snowman face. What could be better?!  And the little touch of primitive homespun, and a rusty tin bell too, make it extra cute.

Primitive Snowman Mitten Ornie

 Finally, this last one is from 2014. I decided to do this one up with pip berries, a primitive candy cane, a prim star, and some mini pine cones. This one is grungy too, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Primitive Mitten with Pip Berries Ornie

So there you have 4 Primitive Christmas Mitten Ornies from Christmases Past. I hope they find you getting in the Christmas spirit. Another Christmas post to come! :)

Grungy Heart with Pip Berries

I finally (finally!) made it back it to the studio after over a month! I've been rather obsessed with working on my genealogy lately. But my creative spark got big enough to need to play in the studio yesterday, so that's what I did. I had bought a plain muslin heart at JoAnn's last week--it was $2.99 regularly but I think it was 40% off. I am not a fan of sewing unless I have to, so this was great. A blank canvas just waiting to be made primitive. I meant to take a Before photo but forgot, of course. Here's the finished product though.

To make the Primitive Heart grungy I actually used watered down acrylic paint. Normally I would use my Grungy Sauce made from instant coffee etc. But I was already in my studio and didn't plan ahead enough to do the grungy part ahead of time in the house. So I watered down some paint and brushed it on with a foam brush a little at a time, dabbing off excess as I went. Then when I liked the look I used my heat gun to dry and set the paint.

Next I scrounged up some Pip Berries to add. The button was already on the heart, so I just used that to attach the pip berry sprigs to. Then I grabbed some homespun and and tied on a bow. And that's all there was to making this cute grungy heart that is perfect for Valentine's Day, or any day really.

Valentine Hang Tag Freebies

OK, so these are not really all that primitive-looking. But I was in the mood to create some Primitive Freebies for you, and when I got going, these two hangtags were the result.

These images are both a fairly good size, so be sure to click on each image to view it full size, and then you can download it from there. And even though they aren't necessarily prim, I hope you can use them with some gifts you might be giving for Valentine's Day.

And by the way, I've been in art mode lately, not crafting a lot. I've been working in my art journals a lot instead, which is why I haven't got any new crafts to show you. I just get tunnel vision sometimes in my studio. Can't help myself. :) If you're ever curious about my art, whether it's my journal pages, or digital art, or painting or what not, I hope you'll stop by my other blog:

ART CHICK STUDIO

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Primitive Sheep with Hearts

I had these two plain, resin Primitive Sheep sitting around and I wanted to do something with them to make them more interesting, and that could also tie into Valentine's Day. So I did some thinking and...

I decided that Mod Podge was the answer! I printed out some Primitive Hearts onto paper and cut them out, and then just Mod Podged them onto the primitive sheep. Voila! Instant Valentine's Day decor! Love my little sheep. :)

Grungy Valentine Treat Bags

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I guess it's only appropriate to create some heart-themed goodies. So I've created these primitive Grungy Valentine Treat Bags to share with you.

To make these Grungy Goods, you'll need some grungy'd up muslin bags, and you'll need some primitive graphics printed onto iron-on transfer paper. Just as a reminder, you can make your own Grungy Sauce using my Grungy Sauce Recipe. Create any designs/word combinations you'd like and print it onto your iron-on transfer paper. Be sure that if you use words you use the option to reverse the text when you print--otherwise your text will print backwards! I chose a cute prim gal holding some hearts, and also a primitive sheep with a heart on my bags.

Easy, peasy to make and great for gift-giving this Valentine's Day!

Grungy Gift Bag with Pip Berries Heart

You know I love Grungy Goods, so I thought I'd make a good and grungy gift bag for February. After all, what's February with lots of hearts? And what says primitive more than grungy stuff and Pip Berries?!

I always have a supply of grungy muslin bags on hand since I love creating craft projects with them so much. For this one all I did was use a primitive graphic to create an iron-on of the pip berries heart and then ironed it on. If you don't want to do an iron-on, you could just stamp on a heart design with a rubber stamp and ink. 

This couldn't be much simpler, and it would be a great primitive gift...perfect for Valentine's Day, or a party, or any small gifts.

Rusty Tin Bucket of Buns and Heart

I've been in Valentines craft mode lately so I wanted to create something with Primitive Hearts that could be fun for Valentine's Day. So I came up with this Rusty Tin Bucket of Buns and Heart.

All this took was a Rusty Tin bucket, some homespun, some Primitive Wax Melts that look like yummy cinnamon buns, a felt heart, and a button. Add the homespun, heart and button to the rusty tin bucket, add your cinnamon bun wax melts, and then wrap the whole thing up in a clear cello bag, and you've got a perfect Primitive Gift for Valentine's Day! Simple and sweet, all wrapped into one. :)

Primitive Crows Valentines Hangtag

When I was making my Primitive Crows Basket the other day I also decided to make a Primitive Hangtag too, with a Valentines theme...but still with some crows on it. This is what I came up with.

I still love doing Altered Art once in awhile, so this was fun to do. I started with a grungy hangtag that I stamped with a crackle background. Then I stamped on my Primitive Crows and added the primitive red heart. I finished it off with a red ribbon and a black brad. Simple, but fun, and so prim!

Love Heart Altered Art

Now that the holidays are over I thought I'd start thinking about Valentine's Day. It will be here before you know it! So I thought I'd share this Love Heart Altered Art.

I made some of these a couple of years ago for my other blog, but wanted to do a new one because I love how they turned out the first time. The heart is wood, and I've added a black and white patterned scrapbook paper to the top of it. There's a vintage photo, a button, and some ribbon too. If you drill some small holes in the top of the heart, you can add some ribbon so that you can hang this up. It would be cute on a small Valentine tree, or even hanging on something else. Great as a gift too! Granted, it's more Shabby Prim than primitive, but you could do lots of things to make this much more primitive.

Primitive Hearts Dough Ornies

I'm still thinking hearts with Valentines Day on the way. So thought I'd share some of my Primitive Hearts Dough Ornies with you.

These Dough Ornies are made with my usual Primitive Dough Recipe. But guess what? They are not painted. I don't particularly like painting lots of little dough ornies. That just isn't my idea of fun at all! So instead of painting, I use Powdered Tempera Paint added into the dough when I'm mixing it. I just add a little at a time until I get the color I want. Then I roll out my dough and cut out the hearts with a cookie cutter, and then bake. I usually seal mine with wax, but you could use a clear acrylic spray instead if you wanted to.

Powdered tempera can be found at most art supply stores. But you can also find it online all over the Web. Just do a Google Shopping search for "powdered tempera paint" and you'll get lots of results. And a little goes a long way so you shouldn't have to buy this too often. One little tip though: powdered tempera can make a mess of your hands, so if you want to avoid that, wear gloves while you're mixing your dough!

Hearts and Stars Dough Ornies

Time for some dough ornies. And with Valentines Day just around the corner, I guess I've been thinking about hearts. So here are some cute Primitive Bowl Fillers, some of my favorite Dough Ornies to make, that are hearts and stars with buttons on them.

These are made with a silicone candle mold and my Primitive Dough Recipe. They are about 3" long or so and just thick enough to not be super fragile. And they're sealed with wax, of course, which is why they're shiny. I love Primitive Hearts and stars, don't you? And I think the buttons just another nice touch of prim.