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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign

April 15, 2013 Leave a Comment

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

I got to learn about a lot of new craft products and tools at the Craft & Hobby Association conference in January, but probably my favorite find were FloraCraft’s new styrofoam tools. I never used to know quite what to do with styrofoam beyond using it as-is out of the box to create cute wreaths and such. Today’s project was created with the help of these new tools, some graphic design software, and a bit of craft paint. For now, this home-sweet-home accent lives on my living room mantle, but I plan on hanging it on my font door soon.

Supplies

straight pins
scissors
clear tape
12″x12″ styrofoam sheet
Styro Cutter® Plus
a scrap of corrugated cardboard
this pattern
styrofoam tuck & scribe tool
acryllic craft paint
paint brush

Directions

Begin by printing out this pattern (make sure that you’re printing one page per standard 8.5×11 sheet of paper), cutting out the four pieces and taping them together. Pin the pattern to your styrofoam sheet with straight pins. Plug in your Styro Cutter Plus and let it heat up – it heats up quickly, kind of like a curling iron, but it gets up to 410 degrees. Be very careful when you use this tool. It’s a great tool that I really like, but you need to handle it with care.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

When the tool is fully hot, begin tracing around your pattern. I found it was easiest to cut it out in sections, rather than all at once.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

As you go, some melted styrofoam will build up on the Styro Cutter Plus tool, and simply running the tool over a ridge in the cardboard will easily clean off the residue.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

When the outline of the cabin shape is all cut out, set aside the styrofoam pieces, and remove the pattern from the styrofoam.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

Cut out the letters that spell out “home sweet home” carefully, creating a stencil. You can leave the middles of letters like “e” and “o” in, as shown. Center the phrase on the styrofoam and secure several straight pins.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

Paint over your stencil, being careful not to get paint under the stencil, affecting the legibility of the letters. Since you’re painting on styrofoam, rather than paper or fabric, the paint won’t run under the stencil like it could with those other mediums. The one drawback of the styrofoam in this case is the fact that it takes a few layers of paint to get good color coverage. FYI :)

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

Let the paint dry completely before carefully removing all pins and peeling away the letters. Next, grab the tuck and scribe tool and squish down the unpainted styrofoam with the rounded end. This adds some great texture & depth to your sign. When you get to letters like “e” and “o”, leave the middles un-squished.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

When you’ve finished squishing down all the letters, paint the un-squished middles and let dry. You can do this word by word or all at once, it’s up to you.

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied

How-to: Home Sweet Home Cabin Sign at Hands Occupied
The styrofoam and styrofoam tools used in this tutorial were provided by FloraCraft. 

Filed Under: Home Decor, How-to Tagged With: crafts, diy, floracraft, home decor, home sweet home, sculpting, styrofoam

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is an artist, author and crafts designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame. In addition to running the Hands Occupied Blog and Pattern Shop, you can find her making videos & co-hosting the Very Serious Crafts podcast.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

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There’s an update on the blog today, & it’s ab There’s an update on the blog today, & it’s about how I’m going to take the next 2 weeks off to rest & recharge. ☺️🧶 No new content for y’all means I can also take a moment to zoom out & plan what’s next. Link is in bio. 
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A note on Very Serious Crafts: In the post I discuss stepping away from the @seriouscrafts podcast to give myself more time to devote to some minor medical issues. Don’t you worry - my health will be fine, & @molliejohanson @redhandledscissors and I are still pals, and after a short break of their own, the podcast will be back! Just sans moi. 💁🏼‍♀️😆 
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See you in a couple weeks! ✌🏻#handsoccupied #knitdesign #craftdesign #sofadedsweater
Been a little quiet this holiday week, as it shoul Been a little quiet this holiday week, as it should be. ☺️🎄The past few days have been filled with a lot of catching up on festive zoom calls & raising toasts to the camera. 🥂 Connecting with people has been a welcome change of pace! Now I’m feeling ready to meet my inevitable end-of-year deadlines. 😆
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Warmest wishes for the season, my friends! ❤️💛💙
Hi, I’m Heidi, the craft book author & maker beh Hi, I’m Heidi, the craft book author & maker behind Hands Occupied! 👋🏻 I’ve been enjoying making Reels a lot lately, but I wanted to bop in to share a regular photo & say hello. 🤓 
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rather than giving you my bio right now, I have a question. I just got this new sweater & I can’t stop imaging how funny it would be to wear this to a knitting class ... is that bad? 🤣🤣🤣
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Pictured: a blond woman with glasses wearing a sweater that reads “all your sweaters are ugly” standing in front of a Christmas tree.
Wet blocking, also called immersive blocking, is o Wet blocking, also called immersive blocking, is one of the most common methods for finishing a knitting project and helping ensure its final size and shape. Learn basic blocking for absolute beginners in an easy-to-follow (non-Reel!) video tutorial! Catch the tutorial on YouTube or the Hands Occupied Blog, link is in bio. 🧶 #handsoccupied #stopswatchandblockit #KPAmbassadorsDec20 #sponsored
Had to share this perfect capture of one of my fav Had to share this perfect capture of one of my favorite weird homemade Christmas ornaments: a simple macramé Santa face with beads for the eyes and nose! My Great-Grandma made it too. 🎄
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Might have to try making a quickie Reel tutorial for this guy - I think it’s the perfect project for it, don’t you? 🎅🏼 #handsoccupied #macrame
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