Nursery Peek | Michaels Makers July Challenge

Happy July! The past few weeks have been all about the nursery! We just finished hanging the wallpaper and a few frames last night – so I thought it would be the perfect place to share my Michaels Makers project.

For this month, I focused on Michaels newly released craft paints – there was a lot to select from, but I went with the watercolor line from Martha Stewart.

I decided to try an organic polka dot – it was SO easy and SO quick!

I just squirted a little paint on a plate and diluted with water. I tried a few methods, but loved a lighter base circle and then come back with a little more paint on one side of the circle. To get the watercolor effect – it works best to keep it wet and add more paint when it’s wet and leave it alone. As it dries, the paint will spread and “work it’s magic”.

Since I had extra tea towels (also from Michaels) I decided to also pull out my Rit dyes and try a few Shibori techniques.

I love how they turned out! I won’t share a full tutorial, but if you search for Shibori folding, a lot of options will come up! It’s super simple!

A few tips, only leave it in the dye bath for about 30 seconds – 1 minute. and make sure that it’s bound pretty tight. I probably should have used string instead of rubber bands on the blocked pieces – for this reason, I left mine in for under 30 seconds so the dye wouldn’t soak through as much. To reduce bleeding into the white space, rinse it under cool water for a few minutes – with the binding still on. Then once you unbind it, rinse the edges and pull back the layers as you go.

The best thing about Shibori is it doesn’t have to be precise at all! So don’t be too careful 🙂

I’ll probably be changing a few things up in here (paint the gold light black?) – but love how it’s coming together! Stay tuned!

Looking for more DIY inspiration!? Be sure to stop by Michaels blog, the Glue String for more ideas!