Showing posts with label vinyl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vinyl. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Fun with vinyl!

I love vinyl.  LOVE. IT.  There are so many things you can do with it.  I thought I would share a few with you that I did while I was on my break from the blogging world.  The first time I used vinyl, I made the cute mother's day blocks, then the flower pots.  Next up, were these little cuties.  Thanks Alison from HowDoesShe for the awesome ideas! I just love these!
I made several so I would have a few baby gifts on hand.  It seems like everytime I put my kiddos down for a nap, someone rings the doorbell. So at naptime, I hang my little sign and viola! people stop ringing the baby-waker! Thanks for sharing  Alison!



Next, I made little vinyls for my kids' rooms.  Ya know, in case I forget who has a pink Paris room, and who has a Michigan Football room...
(Please forgive the icky pictures.  I have a new camera, no idea how to use it, and can't get my hands on the manual! :)  I used Cheri font in navy vinyl for the B, and Mandingo font in signal yellow vinyl for Brady's Room. 




Here is Miss Mazi's.  I used 101! Abstract DeZign font in black for the Eiffel Tower, and Cheri font in (I believe) lipstick vinyl for Mazi's room.  I have 3 shades of pink, and I don't know which is which. Ha!


I bought Mazi some great labels when she was using sippy cups that are little bands that go around the cup, are dishwasher safe, and awesome.  Anyways, with shipping, the little boogers are a little more than $20 for 4, and I'm rediculiously cheap frugal, and didn't want to pay that when I could surely come up with a solution.  I had some permanent vinyl laying around, and my hubs suggested I use it!  I have ran these babies through the dishwasher (top rack) several times, and the vinyl has lasted each time!  I love cheap solutions. And my husband...I think my crafting and vinyl addiction is rubbing off on the poor guy. Oh, and the font is Mandingo again.  It's boyish, yet still cute!


Can't forget Nana!  I had some scrap wood from making the please knock signs that I had gone ahead and cut, sanded, and stained-one a few inches larger than the baby signs, and 2 the same size.  I used the larger one for this, mod podged some paper on, slapped some vinyl on there, and this is what I ended up with.  I used Smiley Monster font (one of my FAVORITES) for the top and bottom, and Ms to try a bon? font for Nana. Easy, and Nana loved it! 

 
Lastly, I made this calendar.  I put the vinyl on the inside of the glass, so that the vinyl wouldn't interfere when writing on it with the dry erase markers, and cleaning it is a breeze.  I found the svg file for the calendar here.  I googled "free svg calendar" and it led me there.  Thank you google!  I used Bosshole font for The Smith's, and Dear Joe 5 CASUAL font for the days of the week.  I did all the cutting with my SCAL (if you don't have it, I recommend it...it's the best thing EVER!). I used a 14x18 picture frame, so I fugured out what size I wanted everything to be, how I wanted everything placed, and flipped the design so it looked backwards. This made the vinyl sticky on the opposite side so that once it was cut, I could place it on the inside of the glass. I have been using a cheapo dry erase calendar on the side of my fridge, so I am really enjoying having a cute alternative! Here are a couple more pictures of it:




I also used some vinyl as a stencil to etch a set of glass bakeware for a wedding gift.  (I forgot to get a picture of it!! :( )  Ashley over at Make it and Love it had done some and they were so cute I just couldn't stand it!  I did their last name on several peices (on the largest cake pan, I did their name on one side with "made with love" on the other) their initial on a measuring cup, their last name in an arch 2 times on the bottom of a pie dish, separated by little circles (so that when you looked through the dish, you could read their name in a circle), and their last name on the glass bowl that came with it. When I was done, the entire set matched.  I also added some fabric to some hand towels, printed my 12 favorite recipes on index cards, tied it together with a cute ribbon for a complete gift!  It was the hit of the shower!  The entire gift cost me less than $35 (for the dishes, towels, and recipe cards) and I had people asking me where they can order a set for themselves! I had etched several things before, but this was definitly my favorite.  As soon as I make myself a set, I will post pictures!


Before I forget, I get my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl. They by far have the best prices I have found, super fast shipping, and it is the EXACT same stuff you buy from Cricut. Happy shopping, and ask your husband for my forgiveness when he finds out how much you bought! It's hard not to go crazy when the prices are so good. (Expressions vinyl is not aware that I am endorsing their product-I'm doing this on my own!  I love sharing a great deal! While you are there, sign up for their mailing list-they email you great offers and coupon codes!)

Also, my favorite place to download fonts is http://www.kevinandamanda.com/. They have TONS of super cute ones.

Blessings to you and yours!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

I love flowers.


I believe I have a new found addiction.  Flowers.  I love flowers.  I have always liked them and noticed them around town, but here lately, I swear I hunt for them.  When I go anywhere, it seems that all I notice is the lack of flowers or the abundance of flowers at each house.  I think it is because this was the first year that we were able to plant them.  Last year we transplanted some day lilies from my parents' house, but other than that, we are flower newbies.  When we take the kiddos on a walk, I seriously think all that Steven and I discuss is people's landscaping and choice of flowers.  I just love them!  Thankfully, so does he!  Anyways, a friend of mine had mentioned doing a flower pot craft at our all-night craft night.  We ended up doing some other crafts, and made the CUTEST bloom bags, which you guessed it, have FLOWERS on them! :)  My friend Ashley over at Me & You + 2 showed us how to make them, and I love mine!  I had already bought my clay flower pots and paint for craft night on Friday, and since we didn't get to them, I spent today working on them, along with some other projects.  I just took some cheap clay pots from Wal-Mart, some Krylon indoor/outdoor spray paint, a Krylon Can Gun, and some outdoor vinyl and came up with these.  I'm so happy with how they turned out!  I looove me some spray paint!  Heck, I love paint in general.


This pillow is what inspired my color choices on my flower pots. I love this little pillow!


I forgot to get a before picture, but the pots were sooo plain before I painted them.  I used Ivy Leaf, Cherry Red, and Baumaus Gold Krylon Indoor Outdoor paint.  That little gun in front is a life finger saver.  After painting our Adirondack chair with 3 cans of paint, my hand looked like that of a Smurf's, and my finger and forearm were sore from pressing the sprayer on the can.  I came across that gun at JoAnn's and grabbed it. I'm SO glad that I did.  Best $3 I've spent in a long time!


After patiently waiting on the paint to dry, I got out my Cricut and got to work figuring out which fonts I wanted to use.  I knew I wanted "flower" in different languages, but I wasn't sure what fonts I wanted.  After playing with my SCAL for a little bit, I decided on Unnamed Melody, Rage, and Anke Calligraphic.  I'm really happy with the results!


This one I did in French, and is in Unnamed Melody font. This is definitly one of my favorite fonts.


I think this one may be my favorite of the three pots.  I LOVE this font!  It is called Rage.  It was tedious peeling off the excess vinyl, but SO worth the result!!  I have lots of ideas in mind to use this font for!


This lil guy is in Italian, and the font is Anke Calligraphic.

  I hope everyone has had a safe and blessed weekend!  Thanks for stopping by and being interested in the junk I make! Much love to ya!

 

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Gifts-LOVE these!

I was relaxing during the kids' naptime and came across these little cuties.  I knew immediately we had to do these for a craft day! Thankfully, the other ladies liked them, too!  We got together last weekend and made them for our moms/mother-in-laws for mother's day.  I just love how they all turned out!  The tutorial for the "granny's greats" can be found here, and the others can be found here.  I just adore this site! They have sooo many great ideas.  I will probably be featuring several of them!

I made this one for my mom


I made this one for my mother-in-law



I made this one for my Granny to display her great grandkids. I'm ashamed that I don't have a picture of them all...so, she got hers blank.  I'm so glad she loves her digital camera and photo printer! :)

 
My friend, Ashley, made this one for her mom


One of the Lindsey's made these for her mom and mother-in-law


Lindsey, our craft day founder and hostess, made this one for her mom


She also made this one for her mother-in-law


I made this one for myself. I couldn't resist! :)

Now, go buy some 2x4s, impress your husband with your power tool skills, and make a cute gift for yourself or someone you love!