These ain't your mama's stencils....

Good morning and I hope all of you lovely people are enjoying your weekend. I must be honest, I am so tired of this weather trend we have been having the last several weeks here in the Ohio Valley. It goes like this....Monday-Thursday: beautiful weather! Friday: cold front moving in with rain! Saturday/Sunday: CHILLY and either cloudy/chilly or sunny/chilly.

Couldn't once be the other way around? We need some rainy weekdays for my personal sanity and also to keep the kiddies at school from losin' their minds too soon.

I know what would make me feel better...a good, old DIY project. This one was pretty high-impact! In light of my recent goal in doing projects (using stuff I have around the house), I was able to do this using materials I already had. My objective? To make patterned curtains.

I started with a brushed nickel curtain rod that used to be my sister's. The finials were blue glass, so I painted them brushed nickel to match the rod.

I made the curtains out of a white cotton muslin that my mom gave me when she was cleaning out old fabrics. I put a seam on each side and created a place for the rod to go. I've held off on hemming them for now, since I'm not sure if I want to add another fabric at the bottom or lower the rod. They ended up being a few inches too short.....my first time sewing curtains. : )

I used a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils that I won in a giveaway that was hosted by Shelley, over at Crazy Wonderful. Thanks so much, Shelley!!! I am loving my new stencil and my new curtains, too! Her giveaway was for one stencil from Cutting Edge and also included was a little paint roller with a foam roller, perfect for this project.

If you've never been to their website, it is just amazing. I love that these stencils look like patterned wallpaper, but it's totally low-commitment, since it's just paint and so easy to paint over. : )

I have also bought a stencil from CES and they send you a little stencil, too. I used my little stencil to practice a bit before getting started. If you were doing a wall, you would probably want to practice a bit on a piece of cardboard. It tells you this in the instructions....which are very thorough!

I cut off a tiny piece of the muslin. The paint I used was leftover from painting the room where the curtains are going.

Since I was painting fabric, I wanted to get an idea of how much paint needed to be on the brush and how many times I needed to go over each stencil. I didn't want to use too much paint and have it bleed out beyond the stencil.

Although it was a fairly pleasant day, we worked in the garage with the door shut so the breezes wouldn't disrupt our stenciling. Plus, I didn't want to get paint on my floor inside.

I picked started in a corner and held tightly onto the stencil as I rolled.

I worked my way across, left to right. Here you can see at the end, I used the stencil to finish the remaining part to take it over to the edge of the fabric.

Here is curtain #2. And my six year-old helper, who was doing his own stenciling on paper.

Here they are, hanging up. They did not take long to dry!

They turned out pretty well! If you look closely, there is a bit of variation in the paint saturation in a few spots, but not unless you examine closely. I think with practice, I would get better at that. There is also a paint drip or two that came (while I ducked inside for a minute) courtesy of said six year-old. Who did not 'fess up right away.

Here you can see how my finial turned out. Not too bad, using brushed nickel spray paint.

Here they are, pictured with the chair I redid and recovered.

All in all, it was a success. I was surprised at how easy it was. 

If you have experience painting with a roller, I think this would be especially easy for you. I was able to finish the painting while my three year-old was up for a nap. : ) My kind of timeline. 

Now I have beautifully patterned curtains.

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing