Smart-Fab Review and Project

Smart-Fab Review and Giveaway

Each year the craft and hobby industries stores, media and crafter’s get together in one wonderful weekend in January. For the first time in 2016 I was able to attend this show. My hope was to discover new things and new crafting mediums that I would be able to share with my readers.

The 2016 show was held in Anaheim and this year featured hundred of exhibitors – all showing what the year had in store for their brands. Upon entry, I took a moment to take everything in and after gaining my bearings I set off on my quest of discovery.

The first company that I came across was Smart-Fab, with their rainbow of color that was scattered throughout their booth. Not only did the bright colors get my attention, but the material itself was so versatile and easy to use.

Smart-Fab is as colorful at it is durable, and versatile and is the ideal art and decoration fabric that can be used for almost any project you can think of.

When you visit the Smart-Fab website you can look for projects in which to use the material. While I loved the projects suggested I decided to go on my own and create my own pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I had the 9″ x 12″ Assorted 15 Color package to create my design.

One of the first things that I did was find a piece of cardboard that I could use to mount the white material to with a simple painters tape. I decided to use a simple Elmer’s White Glue to adhere the material to itself. While once dried it worked very well, the process to dry took something heavy to weight it down.

I wanted to give my picture a 3-dimensional feeling, so I took two different shades of green and cut a couple of waves out. Once I had the wavy shape, I cut slits into the material leaving about 1/4-1/2 inch at the bottom. I divided the piece into 3 separate pieces and rolled the pieces up and adhered to the bottom of the mounted white. I cut the blue pieces in the same manner without the slits and mounted with glue.I cut the pot out of black, and found a yellow that reminded me of treasure and cut small circles to resemble the shape of coins. The rainbow took a little more consideration and time to dry since I was stacking sheets together. I wanted to cut my own shape, so I stacked the sheets in the colors of a traditional rainbow. I let this all dry overnight, and in the morning I was able to cut my arch to resemble a rainbow.

I have to be honest and say the best time I had was making the flowers and the stems. For the stems I used pipe cleaners and a green DMC floss to wrap and cover the cleaner. By using a pipe cleaner this allowed me to shape the stem how I saw fit for the image I was creating.

The second element of the image was the bloom on the flowers. I decided that I wanted a pink flower with an orange pop included. I took a mug and used that as my template and traced the circle. I was not specific when I was cutting, which I think allowed for a realistic flower shape, I mean when is the last time you saw a symmetrical flower? I used floral wrap on each floral layer individually using the tape as a wrap around the base of the gather. I did this for each layer and what resulted was a 3-D flower that popped. As a final touch I added a butterfly as if she landed on the new flowers that were presented to her.

After all is said and done what resulted was a colorful image that will be placed and hung on my porch. Yes, you heard that right, I am putting it outside. The great thing about Smart-Fab is that is economical, does not fray, does not rip or wear and is non-fading.

What can you use Smart-Fab for? Anything that fabric would be used for, although take care because Smart-Fab is NOT fire-proof. If you are a teacher, this would be PERFECT to decorate your classroom. Books can be covered (do they still have kids do that?), can be used a gift basket wrap (I like the element of surprise when I present a gift basket) and can used to decorate play sets. The versatility and uses are numerous, you can even use this in a die-cut machine!

Smart-Fab is available in 15 colors and include Red, Cranberry, Dark Pink, Orange, Yellow, Cream, Grass Green, Apple Green, Blue, Sky Blue, Dark Blue, Dark Purple, Brown, Black and White. Also available in different sizes including 9″ x 12″, and 12″ x 18″ in 3 color variations including Assorted 15 Colors, Black and White. Rolls are also available in 24″ x 18 ft, 48″ x 40ft and 36″ x 600 ft.

If you are looking for a versatile material that has the versatility of fabric and is easy to use – Smart-Fab is what you are looking for! Go get some – you will thank me!

Click here to learn more about Smart-Feb