Cheapskate Cricut Rugs

I have been busy trying to get some outdoor projects done before winter really sets in.  I think it may have come last night.  So windy and cold, and chance of flurries today.  I got my shutters painted and back up, but it's too nasty to go outside and take any pictures, so that will have to wait for a nicer day.

The other outdoor project I completed was a stenciled door mat.  I was looking for a 'coir' mat, (I think that's what they're called, not sure) for awhile, but couldn't find a plain one.  My sweet hubby found me one for Christmas last year, but it has been sitting downstairs since then.  I decided it was was past time to do something with it.  I had tried this technique on a couple other rugs, and it worked great.

I am an avid sewer, with an embroidery machine.  For that, I have a roll of sticky back tear away backing for embroidery hooping.  Well, I had a great idea!  Cut it the size of a sheet of paper, run it through my printer with the pattern I want, cut it out and stick it to my project.  Cheapskate stencil!  It is a little tedious to cut out the design, but I seem to thrive on tedious projects.

So, here are some pics of the rugs.  The little rug with the damask design is a plain carpet sample type rug that actually worked the best.  I stuck the stencil to it and spray painted it. It has been my front door rug all summer, and was getting kind of faded looking.  I just took a small paint brush and repainted it all.  Took me maybe 1/2 hour or so, well worth it, I think.

Here it is with just the stencils stuck on it.  I had to cover the rest of the rug with newspaper and tape it off before I started spray painting.

These are the designs I decided to put on my coir mat. My daughter pointed out that I am a little damask happy, so I decided to just go with something simple.  I always look at my favorite stores to see what I like, and try to do a knock off. I used an exacto type knife, and a small pair of scissors to cut it out, remembering that I wanted the outside stencil, not the actual letter and numbers.  However, they came out nicely, and I saved them for a future project, perhaps.

Here is the plain mat before decorating.

Here it is all ready for paint.

Here it is after painting.

And here it is all done.  Looks pretty good.  It was hard to get the stencil to stick really well on the points of the surface of the rug.  The other rug that had a flatter surface had a neater finish, but I'm OK with this.  I'm sure no one would notice but me!

Notice my helper sleeping inside!

Also notice the rug inside in the entry.  I am so done with that!  I am going to find a piece of carpet and have 3 rugs bound for my front door, back door and slider.  If you could look beyond the sleeping dog, you look right out my back slider, and my back door is just to the left of that.  So you can see all 3 rugs at once, and I want them all to match, sort of.  I plan to decorate them somehow too, just haven't decided what.

I'm sure this could be done with any sticker sheet, as long as you can remove it from your project.  I would really like a Silhouette. It is like a cricut, but you don't need cartridges. It is computer generated, and it will cut any stencil design you send it.  The choices are limitless.  So....if anyone wants to donate to my Silhouette  fund, I will be more that happy to cut stencils or wall vinyl or anything you'd like!  :)

Thanks for stopping by to read, come back soon!

Karilyn

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