SAY IT WITH SIMPLICITY | Folk Art Inspired Thrift Store Re-Make and SVG File

Hello again! Today I wanted to share this Folkart inspired thrift store re-make with you.

I picked this little tote up at a thrift store sometime in the past year. It may have been when one of my favorite thrift stores had a certain color tag sale. Now it’s a lovely piece of blue home decor for spring.

This is what it looked like before and I love how it turned out after I decided to give it a new look.

For quite some time I’d been using it for some of my favorite stamp pads. But I’d since outgrown it, and decided to store them someplace else. It gave me the perfect opportunity to make something new without spending any additional money.

Some time back I posted on my personal challenge to go 6 weeks without buying more craft supplies. I’m at a point, where I should almost do this once again!

Six Weeks Saying “No!” to New Craft Supplies

At any rate, it really needed some serious updating and one day I just decided to get to the task.

Waverly White Chalk Paint

Waverly white seems to save the day with many a DIY project, doesn’t it?

I did a little initial sanding and started to paint. And then I painted and painted and painted some more.

Being such a dark color to start out with, was not helping one bit. I ended up giving this tote about three coats of the stuff.

Hubby always groans when I watch a YouTuber paint something and then distress it. I decided this time to beat him to the punch line though and said, “Look, I painted it white and distressed it.”

There may have been a little bit of an eyeball roll there.

I thought I wanted to stencil something on the side, or maybe not. Have you ever had that sort of uncertainty?

One of my initial thoughts was to stencil “Welcome” on the side and use it for the front porch.

For about a week, I sort of let some ideas roll around but still couldn’t decide.

I was busy creating some stencils for a workshop that I was going to be teaching. I didn’t really have much time to DIY so I left it as a blank slate to come back to later.

In the course of making the stencils for the workshop, I hit on the Folkart idea. I created my own cut file which you’ll find a link to down below.

I used my file to create some examples for the workshop.

On Monday after the workshop, I started to think about my tote project again. Because we live in a small house, I knew I didn’t want another sign. I also wanted something that I could use in the kitchen as we redecorate.

I decided to try the design to create this Folk Art inspired piece and I love how it turned out!!

How to Use This File for a Repeat Stencil

Release the compound path and remove the square from the other pieces of the image.
Group the pieces of the leftover image.
In Silhouette Studio, go to Object> Rotate> Rotate by 45° Clockwise.
Resize in your transform panel using the lock button to keep the image proportionate.
Replicate as many times as needed for your design. Align them to the middle and arrange them with Object>Arrange>Space Horizontally.
Select all images and “Group”.
Create a rectangle the size of your area to be stenciled.
Place your Folkart images over your rectangle and align horizontally and vertically.
Cut your stencil. I used Oracal 631. Weed your design, apply transfer material and transfer to your stencil to your project.
Remove transfer paper leaving your stencil. Paint with a makeup sponge and then remove your stencil.