Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree is my favorite book. It is a cozy read that is fantasy with low stakes. Its a story about an orc who is done with battle, puts down her sword, and starts a new adventure opening a coffee shop. It's amazing, I promise! I have several ideas for craft projects from this book, especially with the coffee theme.
Let's start with COFFEE BAGS!
(All graphics I designed are at the end of the post, files can be found here for personal use only!)
So, a fun way to store delicious coffee beans (or anything else) is in little bags!
You will need fabric bags, wax paper, fabric ink/paint, an iron, a sponge brush, a small detailing brush, and ideally a light box (or transfer paper).
Stencils:
Time to make a stencil! Once you've picked a design for your bag, print it out (make sure it's the right size that will fit on the bag). Because I used mini bags my stencils were small, for just starting out it may be easier to make a stencil for a bigger bag. Then you need to transfer your design onto the wax paper. (It's easiest to use the lightbox!)
*Notice I left the text out, because that comes later! Unless your text is big enough to cut out. I used small bags so I used a technique I'll show you.*
Carefully cut out the design with a craft knife. You've now made your stencil!
This is where the iron will come in. Place the stencil down and gently, without steam on low heat, iron it so that it sticks onto the bag. If you need to go to medium heat that's ok, all irons are different. Just make sure the edges are ironed down. You may want to practice on scrap fabric or a test bag if you haven't used an iron before.
Because the text is left off, be mindful of the placement. You want to have space for the text and getting placement right can be a bit hard. Just be really sure before you iron. This is something you can redo, but you have to make a new stencil.
Once you have your stencils ironed down nice and flat it's time for paint! I used fabric ink and a sponge because you want to dab the paint on, over the stencil.
Time to dab!
Once the paint dries completely, it's time to carefully peel off the stencil. Very carefully!! Peel it off pretty slowly so that it comes away with clean lines.
Now you have the designs done and can move to lettering.
Lettering:
The best way I found to do the lettering was to use the light box. Make sure you put plastic or wax paper in the bag so when you paint the ink doesn't bleed onto the other side!
Line up your text with the pattern, and get a small detail brush. You then paint the letters on with care and let it dry completely. You can free-hand paint the text on too if that's your thing.
Now you have some fun coffee bags that can be used for anything! You can use this technique on any fabric with any design.
These also make great gift bags!
Designs for personal use only:
But seriously, read this book!!
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