Personalized Plate

Guess what I was up to over the weekend?  I made something using my good old silhouette!  Remember the crafts I made for Christmas gifts to give to my work friends?  Well, one of them asked me about making something specific that she had seen before.  (I think I even may have shown them to her at one time to gage interest when I was making the Christmas gifts.)  She wanted a gift for her bff.  Something like the plate I made her for Christmas but with names.  And instead of the polka dots around the plate she had seen one with some flourish styles around the edges.  She told me the colors she wanted so I got to work.  Here's what I came up with: 

I hope she likes it!  Better yet, I hope the birthday girl likes it.  What do you think?  Have you made anything with vinyl lately?
Linking up here:

M-i-c-k-e-y

As I was trying to clean up the room I've been using to craft in, I noticed I have a few of the clear ornaments left over.  I've been thinking of what to do with them to make them cute!  I think I will save a few for next year, but the little square ornaments?  They were calling to me.  They were saying M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e....

 And from the side because I loved the pink Minnie ribbon with it!

What do you think?  The pictures do not give it justice.  I made one for each of my girls and one for a gift.  Used some ribbon I had on hand and black vinyl with my silhouette.  I just downloaded some font with mickey's head and letters inside!  I might try to find some white glitter or some fake snow and add in.  That might help the mickey to pop more.  For now we are stuck inside.  Princess has the flu :(  It's pitaful!  But we are trying to have fun in between the yucky symptoms.  Today I'm making her a chalkboard to write on.  She loves those!  ;-)     I will be linking this up to any applicable parties on my side bar!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Birthday gift

In my last post I showed you all the heat transfer project I worked on for Cupcake.  Well, her bff's birthday is 4 days before hers.  Since school was canceled due to snow flurries (yes, that's Alabama for ya) I went out and grabbed the stuff to make a shirt for her!  Cause we all know there wasn't even ICE on the roads today.  LOL!  So here she is:

I used a black turtle neck from Tarjay and white smooth heat transfer vinyl coupled with the flocked heat transfer number from Hobby Lobby.  I actually thought I purchased a sheet of the flocked heat transfer like the zebra I used in the last shirt, but the number was good as well.  Now I can use the other numbers for other shirts.  Princess has a birthday in a few months ;-) 

Here is the up close.  I think it's pretty cute.  Hopefully she will as well.  I decided not to go with the zebra for her.  I love zebra print but I understand it's not for everyone.  Since I actually don't know her that well, I played it safe and went with polka dots.  Everyone loves polka dots, right?!  =) 

On another note we visited Santa's village tonight with the girls.  I will post on it soon.  Can you believe next week is Christmas?!  =) 

 

Fun with Heat Transfer =)

How many crafts can you make in one long weekend?  A LOT!  Ha, ha!  I have had heat transfer vinyl for a while now and have not sat down long enough to work with my silhouette and read the directions on how to use it this type of vinyl.  It is almost Cupcake's birthday and I wanted a cute shirt for her to wear to school.  I had already purchased a very cute and  for our budget, expensive birthday outfit.  (You will see it in a birthday post for her, however, it completely tore up while washing it on HAND WASH cycle!  Which I am more than a tad bit upset about, but that's another story and I won't post it on my blog.)  Anyhow, back to my latest craft!  Tonight I was checking out She's {kinda} Crafty where Stacy did some cute heat transfer stuff.  I was inspired to use the supplies I had already stocked up on to make something for Cupcake.  I previously purchased some zebra print heat transfer from Hobby Lobby and a cheapo black t-shirt (in case my attempt at heat transfer was a bust), and my pink heat transfer from silhouette.  Cut it out, slap it on the shirt, hit with heat, repeat until desired result achieved:

And here it is up close:

The silhouette would not cut the zebra print heat transfer.  It was WAY to thick even on the setting that is for thicker media.  So I traced a circle on it and cut it out by hand.  That was what the directions said anyway, trace and cut.  Circles ...easy peasy.  It's three layers for everything but her name.  What do you think?  I am thinking this would be a really cute gift for someone.  I can see that in my future!  =) 

Linking here:

So are you wondering why in the world I am up so late?  Well, we had SNOW FLURRIES!  Nothing stickin'  just flurries.  And our schools are opening late in the morning.  LOL!  Oh well, I got to do one more craft than I had planned.  =) 

Tutu Cute! Little girlie birthday gifts!

I finished up another craft to share with you today.  I am fairly certain that I originally saw this linked up at one of my favorite blog parties! Tatertots and Jello's weekend wrap up party.  When I saw the cutest girlie chalkboard gift with a tutorial by Greenbean's Crafterole I knew I had to bookmark it so I could do it later!  I have a niece and a friend's little girl whose birthdays were both this month.  I decided this would be a good gift for them.  =)  Here is my version:

You will have to excuse the poor photo quality.  I'm using my point and shoot for all these latest posts since it's faster for me.  My addition to the original was to cut out names in vinyl and place them on the board.  I love to personalize things.  =) 

So what do you think?  I hope they love these little chalkboards!  I think they are truly adorable. 

What's next on my agenda?  Getting a few more of the frames ready for gifts and kitchen cabinets of course!  =)  Have a fabulous Sunday friends!

**I will be linking this up to my fav parties on my side bar this week**

It's Hip 2 be Square!

Anyone else a child of the 80's?  =)

I've been up tonight finishing up some gifts for my co-workers for Christmas.  As I mentioned in a previous post I'm taking a good bit of vacation this month due to a new company policy and so are they.  I had to get these ready to take to work next week.  I have very little time during the week so I thought I'd go ahead and get them done.  I am going to give a HUGE shout out to CAM NEWTON!!!!!!!!!  I am a HUGE Auburn fan and tonight, he won the HEISMAN!!!  Woot-Woot!  =)  Why the shout out?  Because I love my co-workers to death but they are Alabama fans, our big rival.  And I'm not one of 'those' fans, so I made them Alabama-ish gifts.  Wondering what they are? 

This one is for my friend who also has a birthday this month.  She is going to get a frame for her birthday. For her Christmas present, I busted out the Silhouette and used some Crimson and Grey vinyl and cut out some circles and a monogram for her name.  That big ole Alabama A...Uh, not a font I can find.  And I understand it is their "own" font.  Thanks Alabama, you really show the love!  So, what's a girl to do?  I went out and bought myself and exacto knife! Yep, I printed an Alabama A off the computer and then I cut it out with scissors.  Then traced it out on the vinyl and used the exacto to cut it out.  I of course had to do some touch ups.  But, I think it turned out okay....being that it is for Alabama.  ;-)  The ornaments I used were square.  I really liked them as well once they were finished.  Tied them up with some red/black/hounds tooth ribbon and they are good to go. 

This one is for my other co-worker, also an avid Alabama fan.  I made her an ornament and changed the placing of the polka dots due to the actual monogram itself.  No plate for her though, she is getting a frame.  =)  Told ya I was making a lot of these gifts!  Ha, ha! 

And here is a close up of one of the ornaments.  They are not as big as the circle ornaments but still just as adorable.  Hey, it's hip to be square!  At least in this case, ha, ha!

And don't mind those ugly counter tops.  I'm crafting so much that I have limited places to snap shots.  But in our kitchen make over they will be a thing of the past soon enough!  BTW, the pic in the previous post that showed cabinets being painted...that was primer, not the actual color we are using.  Once I can figure out what I am going to do about hardware I will get a pic of the desk area.  But I have to find time to a. order new hardware b. go to a local store and buy new hardware, or c. remake what I have (it's brassy so it has to be painted or something if we go back to them).  Alright girls, I've had lots of fun today but I am hitting the hay!  Nighty-night!  I hope you are getting much rest during this busy Christmas season! 

**I will be linking this up to my fav parties on the sidebar.  Check them out!**

Christmas Gifts

Today I am going to show you all the ornaments that I made for the teachers at my girls daycare.  I made one for each and every employee at the school.  It is a small school so it was only 8 of them.  At some point in the day each of the employees there take care of my girls.  Whether it is to wipe their nose, help them potty, change a diaper, feed them, teach them, or just plain love on them.  And I know that we are SO lucky to have a daycare where they do LOVE on them! So, for the girls individual teachers, I have another gift to make.  I will be posting on it later.  But for all of the teachers we made these ornaments! 

Some of them are iridescent and some are just clear.  Some have the initials in lime green and others in red.  I am happy with the way they turned out!  I used my silhouette to cut out circles and letters in the green or red vinyl and then applied them to the ornaments.  I got the ornaments at Hobby Lobby.  I went back hoping to buy a few more and make friends gifts but they were ALL OUT!  I had most of the ribbon on hand already from other various projects like hair bows or wrapping presents.  Then I wrapped them up in lime green bags with glitter polka dots! (Hobby Lobby, again!  Man, I love that place!)

 

 As I stated before, we LOVE our daycare.  So, I also ordered some of the items that my company manufactures and put them in a big red tub to give the daycare.  It's mainly sponges and post it notes.  Last year I gave them some and they were so thankful.  And that meant the world to me that they appreciated the thought.  So to jazz it up a bit I cut out the school name in white vinyl and applied it to the red tub.  I have a huge clear bag and some festive lime green, red, and white curly ribbon to wrap it up in.  I couldn't actually get all the 'goodies' to stay in for the pic below, but you get the idea.   

 And just one more close up of the ornament, because I really like the way they turned out!  ;-)

And for those of you who remember that we do have a guy that teaches there, don't worry, no polka dot initial ornament for him!  I bought him an ornament of his favorite college football team. 

So what do you think?  Do you think the teachers will love them as much as I did?  I sure hope so!  I stayed up late a few nights to work on them.  =)  (Don't forget, I have a 12 hour day and after that 12hours I get to come home and make dinner and get kiddos ready for bed...and the hubby's in school).  So for me, time is a toughie!  What did you make for teachers gifts this year?  I just love blogging because there is so much inspiration out there!  I actually got the idea from these ornaments from a local boutique, but I'm CERTAIN someone in blog land probably did these way before me!  My next project, which will hopefully turn out as cute, was inspired from a blog post and I will link back to it for sure!  =)  

We have such a big weekend planned!  I was off work today (Woo-hoo) and managed to get the laundry under control.  Tonight it's Disney Princess on Ice for the girls, some friends of ours, and my mom.  Hubby gets a night off!  Well deserved one =)  Tomorrow is my company kids Christmas party and then Sunday is the Cupcake's birthday party!  YAY!  What all do you have planned?

Birthday Presents

As promised in an earlier post, I had/have a few crafty projects going on at once and need to post on them!  My first one will be on my latest birthday presents that I spiffed up a bit using my silhouette.  Now, to tell the truth I took my laptop to Ocean City with me on vacation hoping to 'design' my idea and have it ready to cut when I got home.  Could life get any easier?  Nah!  BUT my laptop, the ToSHITa, Toshiba, which has my silhouette software on it bit the dust.  AGAIN!  URGH!  When we got back from vaca the hubby wiped it clean and said "NO INTERNET FOR YOU" until I have a chance to load the virus software (which is still not loaded).  WAH!!!!!!!!!  So I cried and went ahead on my first gift.  See, I lost ALL my silhouette downloads and all my custom fonts when he cleaned it up.  And I can not get those back without internet access. =(  But I did not let that detour me.  Using the fonts and designs preloaded I chugged along.  In comes the first gift.  A friend of mine daughter had a birthday last week.  I purchased a purple lap desk a while back with the intent of using vinyl to decorate and make it PURTY.  ;-)  Well, what I had in mind for design didn't work out because of the Toshiba, however this is the end result:

I was happy with it afterall.  I can just use my other 'idea' for the next lapdesk gift.  I am planning to give one to my niece, Katie, for Christmas.  =) 

Last week was my bestie's birthday.  That heffer took off and went to the beach!  ;-) I didn't get to spend time with her on her bday.  But I am GLAD she was having fun.  Nothing better than being at the Gulf!  Anyway, I am taking her out for a birthday dinner tonight so I had to get busy and whip out her gift 2!  I realized I could download the font files I wanted and use my little thum drive to load them without the internet.  So I downloaded a few and got to work.  I made her a water bottle just like the ones I posted here.  (Font Curlz)  I also had purchased some cute old navy flip flops earlier in the summer.  I threw them in a cute plastic container and whipped out some vinyl for it as well.  I will add something nice from the liquor/package store for her but here's the idea:

My husband has always lovingly called her "nancy pants" (he gives everyone odd nick-names), so I thought it'd be cute to put it on the container.  =)  This font was another free one I downloaded called "chachie".   I am REALLY loving it!   

I am loving using my silhouette for jazzing up gifts!  I've always loved the idea of getting personalized gifts so I hope that my friends and family are enjoying getting them.  They are sure to keep coming unless they tell me otherwise ;-)

What about all of you?  Have you been up to any crafty adventures lately?  I will be linking to my usual parties listed on the side bar so go check them out for some inspiration!  =)

Wedding Gift (more vinyl!)

So I mentioned in my last post that I was planning to make a gift to take to a reception.  The invitation said 'no gifts please' but I hate to show up empty handed.  So, I decided to make something for the lovely couple.  =)  I've seen the idea of making coasters ALL over in blogland.  I could not tell you where I originally saw this idea.  I've mainly seen them mod podge with scrapbook paper and then initials or names on them.  I decided to go with a more classic look for these.  I started out with a (set of) blank tile(s) from Lowes. 

I cut out a "S" and "Est. 2010" in black vinyl and applied.  (this pic was taken before I sprayed on the gloss clear acrylic coating for protection, but they look the same)  They look like this:

I still have to run to hobby lobby tomorrow and pick up some flat round corking to stick to the back, but I played around with some ribbon and plan to present the gift like this (except my tiles will be straight, I am just that anal picky.)

Like I said, not my original idea. And frankly, I've seen them so much I have no clue whose orginal idea it is....but it's a goodie, that's fo' sho!   =)

Hope you all like them!  I am linking up to all the applicable parties on my side bar!  I love going to them for inspiration!!!

Vinyl Again?

I've been using vinyl like CRAZY in my crafts for the last two weeks! I have one more post to share with yall on what I've been creating using my silhouette. I actually meant to get this post up sooner, but here goes.
I mentioned in earlier posts that my dad's bday last week!  I grabbed a shirt for him (his usual gift) and then thought I wanted to do something a little special. I decided that I'd ask him what his favorite Bible verse was and create something for him to hang on his wall. He quickly responded with Phillipians 4:3 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
So what did I come up with? I ran across ax 11x14 simple black frame at the local dollar store for less than $10. I removed the back and paper filling and replaced that with ribbon and scrapbook paper that I already had on hand. Next I used my Silhouette SD to create the words of the Bible verse using different fonts. That's the joy of a silhouette SD. Fonts cost you NOTHING, NADDA, ZIP! If it's available for free download as a font, you can have it! =) I went with black vinyl and cut out the words and applied them directly to the glass. With a little creativity using the fonts and size of the wording I wanted to emphasize, here is what I came up with:

What do you think? My dad loved it. I can't wait for him to get home and hang it up so that he can read that verse everytime he walks by. =)  Oh, and I also made him a coconut cake.  It's his favorite. 

Are you wondering if this is the end of my vinyl posting? Nah, you know it's not! I have some heat transfer vinyl ideas just brewing in the back of my head. The only thing is those projects will likely take up more time! I will have to work hard to find some so that I can get to work and show you all what kind of fun that can be 2!  Maybe after my vacation which isn't for 2 more weeks. 

I am linking to the applicable parties on my side bar this week =)

Vinyl Love to the Rescue!

My dad called me on Friday afternoon to tell me that my two of my cousins, who together have FOUR children, were having a joint birthday party.  Fun right?  Well, the party was SATURDAY!!!!!  They do this to me EVERY year.  And EVERY year I am so shocked and caught off guard!  You'd think I would learn by now, LOL!  So, I was frantically trying to figure out what to give these kiddos for their birthday.  Also trying to figure out was there ANYTHING in my stash of 'potential gifts' that I could use.  We were super busy getting ready for an open house on Sunday and I did not have time to go running all over town for last minute gifts.  Low and behold, my silhouette came to the rescue again!  I found some water bottles on the cheap a while back and stocked up on them.  My intention was making teachers gifts and adorning them with vinyl.  However, for ages 10ish-14ish, I figured that'd work just fine.  Feast your eyes on my finished products:

The two girlies got polka dots on theirs.  I decided after lots of thought to just leave the boys with their initial on them.  I didn't want anything to look to cheesy or girlie for them.  ;-)  My dad's bday is this week and I am hoping to get his cake made tonight and a special project for him also using my silhouette.  I will post it next!
Here are a couple of pics of the fresh flowers I put out for our open house.  I wish I could have them sitting out all the time!  =)

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

*Added: I will link up this post to all my parties on the side bar =)

More Vinyl Love

Last week I pulled out my silhouette again!  I had three different projects I wanted to do with vinyl so got to work!

First up, I wanted to finish the citronella candles I posted about here.  While the one I showed you last week was made using a recycled pickle jar, for the remaining three I used left over supplies from my Lil Princesses birthday party.  I applied vinyl to each container which was to be for each family member.  The Lil Princess and Lil Cupcake ofcourse are self explanatory.  Hubby's is obviously the pirate.  We colored his candle red for pirate's blood.  LOL!  My Lil Princess helped me with this entire project from candle making to decisions on colors and vinyl!  Here are the pics from this project:

Next up, is coffee mugs!  I will preface this by saying I've seen many a coffee mug go vinyl in blog land.  This is a very popular idea.  The idea has been in my head since I purchased a coffee mug from Hobby Lobby for $10 in March for my mother for part of her birthday present.  I do not have a picture of it but let me tell you it looks ALOT like the cream/black combo one I made below.  I definately confirmed the project by seeing all the bloggers making similar stuff.  I  love pink and black so I decided to make myself one in those colors.  Both coffee mugs came from the dollar store!!!!  So can you believe I spent that much money on a coffee mug I could have made myself?!  (Well, I didn't have the silhouettte supplies in time....but wow!)

And finally, my favorite project is a canvas I painted and applied vinyl for my girls bathroom.  I made a similar one in this post. It was for a friend's girls.  This pic shows the finished product with ribbon and all hung up.  I think I like the rectangular version from the first project better as far as shape, but the square shape fits the space well.  I *might* eventually go back and re-do the size of some of my wording.  I think it should be a bit bigger and maybe even thicker.  But for a quick cut and paste type thing, I am content for the moment.  ;-)

My vinyl rage is not over.  I have plans to make a gift for my dad for his birthday (it's next week!) and then gifts for my cousins kiddos for their birthday.  So stay tuned for more Vinyl Love posts to come in the future.  ;-) 

I will be linking up to the linky parties listed on my side bar. 

   

Vinyl Love

There is something I post very little about on my blog and that is my love for crafting. I posted here about my first project with my new silhouette sd. I made teacher's gifts. =) I love love love that thing! Since we have our house on the market I've barely used it. For one I drag all the stuff out of the closet and hate having to get it all put up quickly if the house shows. And two a big no no when selling a house is personalization, and for me, that is what my silhouette sd is ALL about! Hubby has a buddy who is recently back from a deployment and has two girls. PERFECT opportunity for me to try out some crafty personalization using my silhouette sd don't you think?!




This was an easy project. I had everything on hand already and then the brain storm arrived. I was playing around with the software for the silhouette, dreaming up ideas of what I will make for my little girls when we move. Then I thought, hey, I can make this for hubby's friend. I grabbed my wooden board that I'd purchased at hobby lobby for nearly nothing and mixed some paints together and painted away. Once it had dried I applied another coat. Once that had dried I got out the silhouette and two shades of vinyl. Cut those out and applied to the frame. I sprayed it with some clear acrylic gloss coating for that extra finish. Isn't it cute as can be? I can't WAIT to make one for my girls! I grabbed the cutest ribbon today that's white with pink polka dots to use for hanging embelishment. I hope the girls like their new addition to decor! I enjoyed making it!
I decided to link up to some parties that I find inspiring. I will be linking to the following this week:

and


"
Hope you all enjoyed this! I am super excited and can't wait to do more with my silhouette!

Teacher's Appreciation Gifts

This post is late but better late than never right? This week was teachers appreciation and I got the chance to do a couple of things crafty. I have never used mod podge or my silhouette sd and I made a project using both! I hope our teachers like it. For both the lil' cupcake and the princess we have been blessed with wonderful teachers. Actually our daycare is great in general. There isn't one teacher there that I don't like. They spoil my girls and I love it!
Okay so back to the project. I saw a post somewhere in blogland where someone modpodged napkins to small ceramic tiles to make sets of coasters as gifts. I really thought the idea was cute but I had no napkins of interest for the project. I decided to try to mod podge some cute scrap paper onto one tile and then cut out vinyl for the teachers names. They can hang them or sit them on a stand for display. And for those who know me, I am ALL about a monogram. I took pictures to share specifically on the blog. With that said, they are not great quality. I had trouble getting the camera to auto focus so I tried manual focus and it wouldn't even snap the shot! Anyway, the moment we've all been waiting for...the pics!




Have a blessed weekend!

New Mailbox

Over the weekend the hubby and I did some spring cleaning. I had ordered a vinyl mailbox number cut out off of etsy. I thought this would help me to decide if I wanted the silhouettesd or not. I did order the silhouettesd, and it came in Friday. Just in time for spring cleaning. ;-) Funny how that works, right?! Anyway, back to the subject. When we got to the work outside I wanted to give the mailbox a makeover. I will have to take a picture of the only other mailbox on our block that was in as bad a shape as ours to let you see just what a face lift this thing got! I started by taking off the box. All I need was a hammer to remove the nails that held it to the wooden post. I cleaned up the box and used some "goo gone" to remove the old letters that were baked on from that hot southern sun. Next I took off the flag so I could spray paint the box black. Black is the original color but it had really faded. Then I proceeded to the road to paint the old wooden mailbox post. Somewhere in blog land I saw another DIY-er paint a very dilapidated looking rocking chair. It looked great when they finished. The secret? KILZ! So the hubby was going to Lowe's anyway for new mulch and he picked me up some kilz. I painted two thick coats and then spray painted the mailbox with the left over antique white spray paint I had. I originally wanted to use my heirloom white which is a little more creamish but I had run out of it when I spray painted the birdbath. =) Anyway, after it all dried I applied the new vinyl lettering. The hubby re-attached the mailbox to its post and here is the result (disclaimer: took this pic with my phone and it was so sunny I could hardly see):

Later in the afternoon we ran out for errands. On the drive back to the house the hubby said, "Hmmm...the makeover on the mailbox really does look good doesn't it?" My thoughts exactly. And what did it cost me? $6.50 for the vinyl decal, a small bottle of goo gone which can be used again for sure, two cans of spray paint(both of which I had on hand from other projects), and a minimal amount of kilz. Not near as much as the new mailbox I priced at the home improvement stores! I love DIY for that reason. =) And now my mind is reeling with ideas for that new silhouettesd! All I need is time. =)