Hebrew Crafting In The Garden

Hi everyone! With the start of spring weather in my area it's time to get outside and take Hebrew crafting to the garden. I not only do all kinds of crafting I am also enjoy making art. In looking in one of my sketchbooks I found the perfect sketch to use on a garden flag. My scanner is down so I won't be able to show you the original sketch.

I made the flag out of outdoor canvas that I purchased from the fabric store. I then cut it to size to fit a garden flag holder that I purchased from the craft store adding enough to my measurement for a simple hem and a rod pocket. Make sure you have enough of a rod pocket to go over that flag holder. This fabric won't fray so you only have to fold it once for each the hem and the rod pocket. I used a heavier needle on my sewing machine for this along with s good strong thread. Note: For non-sewers I have in the past suggested that you use a heat set bonding tape but that WON'T WORK on this project. If you try to iron this fabric it will pucker. So I recommend that you use a glue that is NOT water soluble to cement your rod pocket and hem. Creating the hem adds a little weight to the bottom so your flag will hang better.

After you have constructed your flag it's time to decide on a design. If you aren't an artist  I suggest looking at children's coloring books. They can be a great resource for designs. Or better yet, use a drawing that your child has made for inspiration. After tracing your design on tracing paper you can transfer your design onto the front of your flag either by using graphite transfer paper or simply by turning your tracing on the backside and going over the outline with a soft pencil. Turn your paper over and lay it on top of your flag. Tape it down and proceed to trace over your lines with an empty ballpoint pen or a stylist. Before removing your tracing paper check to see if the lines have transferred to the canvas. Adjust and retrace if needed.

Now onto the painting where the fun really comes in. I used acrylic craft paint to fill in my design, even mixing some of my colors to get just what I wanted. This fabric is rather stiff and doesn't need any preparation to paint on. Adding Scripture made my flag complete.

I'm thinking of starting a Flickr group in the future when I get enough response and followers. Then my readers can share the projects they have made from ideas they find on this blog.