Robot with Balloon Sweatshirt

I don’t know about you, but it’s always a challenge for me to find blank clothing items for my son to decorate.  I love adding my own touch to his clothing, but find it cheaper to buy clearance items….that already has a truck or saying on it.  So, when I found this blank sweatshirt for $6 something at Target a few weeks ago, I snatched it up.  He wore it blank for awhile, until I finally decided to slap on some heat transfer vinyl.

I’ve worked with heat transfer a few times, and have always had a really hard time getting it to stick.  This time, I used a mini ironing board that I had been given recently, and set it on the floor.  This way, I could put all my weight into the iron, and I found that it worked really well!  I got my vinyl from expressions vinyl, and it is their easyweed.

I wanted something that didn’t involve lots of thinking, something I could slap on and be done.  So, a robot holding a balloon was of course in order! I did have to free draw the string to make it long enough for the robot, but it wasn’t hard.

My son is enjoying his new sweatshirt, and I’m loving the fact that this was a quick project that I did during the last few minutes of nap time!

Thanks for hopping over,

~Lynette

Quick Card

Hi friends!  I just needed a little card making fix, and the silhouette blog is hosting a challenge for paper this week.  So I hopped in---last minute while my earlier-today-throwing-up-child is napping.   This was a quick project (it would have been quicker had I set up the cuts right the FIRST time.  I had the offset shapes in the wrong groups at first.  What was supposed to be on top ended up on the bottom…so I recut!), because I had designed the layout weeks earlier.  I found the layout on pinterest here.  I loved it and knew I needed to make my own!

This is my version.  I chose soft flowery prints, because let’s face it, I’m ready for spring!  I stamped the, “hello,” but if I had been thinking, I would have sketch penned something that matched a little better, but I settled on brown ink and it works!

Thanks for hopping over!  I hear my son awake, and thankfully he is playing happily so maybe he feels better! :)

~Lynette~

Craft Room Redecorate: Dresses Banner (Take 2!)

Hi everybody!  I hope you are having a fabulous weekend.  This week, I announced to my husband that I wanted to redecorate my craft room.  I told him that I wasn’t at all changing my purple door, or anything drastic, but that I wanted to add a little more color instead of JUST purple like I had been going for a couple years ago.  The fact is---I was doing this with VERY limited craft supplies (and no silhouette cameo) when I did this over 2 years ago.  I feel like the papers/colors I chose was by necessity of using what I have.  Two years later, and 6 paper packs (or more!) and a whole bunch of embellishments later, I’ve got a lot more resources. 

I also decided to go a little trendy this time.  I haven’t really jumped on the houndstooth/chevron bandwagon, but I decided I’d try a little bit of everything.  I decided this room will be ‘girly modern.,’ defined by me of course!  I’m loving what I  have done so far.  Mostly it’s just recovering things I already have made, so I am not using a lot of brain power! :)

I whipped up this quick banner this morning.  I used the same file as this banner, but changed up the flourishes to these from Miss Kate.  I used white sketch pens for the flourishes, and love how they turned out.  (I love the sketch pens by the way!  They can add a little bit of detail in a lot of different projects.)  I also changed the neckline of one of the dresses using the edit points feature because it wasn’t cutting well on the paper I was using, and that was THE right paper for that dress. :)

Well there’s the banner!  How about a sneak peak of the other things going around here?

Thanks for reading!  Have a fantastic day!

~Lynette~

Card Mania

Greetings!  Thanks for popping in today.  Lately, I have been trying to improve my card making skills.  I love all the really fancy hand made cards I see in blogland, but I haven’t really had any ideas on how to get those looks.  I finally looked on pinterest, and have been making cards to mimic the ones I like.

I made this one on World Card Making Day (or something like that) at the beginning of October.  The “you are loved,” was a premade chipboard cutout I received in a giveaway.  This was the first card that I felt looked really good.  I have a pretty simple style, and I’m learning to add a few details for visual appeal.

I used this card as inspiration for this one.  I would have NEVER thought to use so many pieces, but I love how it turned out.  I used washi tape for the flags.  No words on this one. I couldn’t figure out where to make them fit, and I’m okay with wordless sometimes.  I cut out all the pieces in a few different colors and made 3 cards with alternating colors.  I’m learning it’s a great way to mass produce cards.

I think this card is my favorite I’ve made so far.  I got inspiration from this card.  I again made three copies of this card, with different colors for the parts.  I made the hello in solid red for all three cards.  The font for the hello is halo handletter. 

I love how these cards use simple shapes and layers to get a really fun and complex look.  I hope you’re having a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Lynette~

Easy Scalloped Circle Card

Hi everybody!  I hope you are having a fantastic weekend.  I got a carpet cleaner a few weeks ago, and tried it out Wednesday.  The pump died after one silly pass!  I had moved furniture and EVERYTHING out of the room…only to have to move it back so we could sit on our couches (and still dirty carpet) that evening.  I was disappointed, but Coscto took it back easily and I got a new one.  I decided to try it out today- just because I was so eager to see if it would work.  I normally go on strike from major cleaning on the weekends, but today was an exception.  Once I’d finished and put my son down for a nap, I whipped up this card using the free shape of the week from Silhouette.

I simply typed out the hello in xiomara font, (it’s a freebie) welded it, and then did a small offset.  I had sketch pens draw out the “hello,” and then cut out the offset.  I used the free shape for the circle and scalloped circle.  I made the inner circle a little smaller so you can see the polka dots on the scalloped circle.  I simply cut a 1’’ strip of pink plaid with my paper cutter, and glued the pieces on.  Tada!

Now I’m off to make a few more---saying “Thanks,” instead of hello.

Thanks for reading, and Thanks silhouette for a fabulous free shape this week!

~Lynette~

Halloween Home Decor

My favorite part of this artwork is the two witches visiting at the top!  The witches were actually a border, but it was too busy for my taste after I made the cut.. I decided to cut them apart and let them ‘fly,’ all over the page.  I love how it turned out!

Hello everybody!  I guess I should have named this blog, “The Lucky Quarter,” since I’m lucky if I get a post up during each quarter of the year. :)  I like to keep my seasonal décor simple and cheap, so this year I simply grabbed some orange scrapbook paper and some vinyl and cut out some free shapes I had laying around. 

Details about the shapes (skip if you’d like):

These are all by Miss Kate Cuttables.  I upgraded to the silhouette studio designer edition for my Birthday in June, and have learned about a whole bunch of places I can get free svg files.  That’s one of the biggest perks of the designer studio-is being able to use svgs.  Miss Kate releases a new free shape each day, and she usually does ones for upcoming holidays.  This year I got probably 25+ of just Halloween files—and they are in the silhouette online store but I scored them for free! :)  If I think of all the free shapes I’ve gotten this year, the designer edition has more than paid for itself (I bought it from Miss Kate for around $30, and then got $10 in free shapes from her store for buying it through her! yay)

Just a spooky night.  I have plans to add a haunted house to the picture for next year.  I mixed and matched several sets of images for the artwork.

Thanks for reading, and have a Happy Halloween!!!

~Lynette~

Vinyl Covered Wipes Case

Hi there everybody!  It’s been a busy summer for us.  With as busy as I’ve been, you’d think I was doing fun things, but I’m just keeping up with the garden and my toddler. :)

Anyways, I have a little project to share.  I saw this week’s free shape at silhouette, and decided it would be cute on a travel wipes case.  I had tried this project before with clouds, but I don’t think it ever got posted.  This one is cuter.  I got the idea here, but had to make my own template because my computer and printer are no longer speaking to each other (and I’m not a very good mediator apparently).  I was sure to trim the vinyl so it didn’t wrap around the edges of the sides of the case.  My other one peeled really bad, and I think it’s because the edges needed a trim.  I’m hoping this one will hold up better.  I just may have to do one with tools everyplace in black vinyl. My son LOVES tools.

I’m submitting this project to the weekly shape challenge over at the silhouette blog.  I’ve made some super cute stuff for my son lately, I will need to snap some pictures and post them soon.

Have a fantastic weekend and thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Layered Fabric Hair Clips with Silhouette Cameo

Hi there everybody!  I woke up at 5 this morning, and couldn’t breathe with allergies, so I decided to get up instead of risk waking up my family with my loud breathing sounds!  I finished these clips last night, and decided to get them posted.  I haven’t attached the hair clips to them yet because I need felt of the right color, but better to post them almost done than not at all, right? :)

I had seen this tutorial from The Thinking Closet last week, and instantly had to try it myself.  I hadn’t been successful in cutting fabric before with the cameo, but once I figured out that you peel off the paper of the interfacing, and stick the sticky part on the mat, it worked just fine!  I have used both Steam to Seam 2 and regular old Heat N Bond, and both have worked well for me.  So don’t stress too much about getting the silhouette made interfacing, although I’m sure it works great!  I just like to use what I’ve got.  I did set my blade to a 4 because it’s getting dull, and double cut everything.  I hopefully will get a new blade soon, and that should help it work a bit better!

I followed everything from the tutorial, but I didn’t sew the buttons on!  All those layers of interfaced fabric was just too think for my needle and thread!  I cheated and looped the thread around the button holes, and then tied a knot in the back to get the sewed look.  I glued them on with trusty E6000, and called it good! :)  The shapes and sizes I used are listed at the bottom of the page!

I made several of each fabric, and then I could make several clips.  I have enough to keep, and giveaway to several people!  The small ones are just a bit bigger than 1 inch, and will be perfect for baby shower gifts or little girls’ Birthdays.

Well, that’s all for today!  I promise I have been doing non-silhouette crafts lately as well.  I need to snap a few pictures and share, don’t I?!?  I’m thinking more of these clips will definitely be in my future.  I’m even thinking of using one as an applique on a zipper pouch!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Shapes Used: 

I drew a circle in the soft ware.  Sizes:  1.5 inches, 1 inch, and .75 inch

Layered Petal Flower Sizes:  I sized the largest flower to just over 2 inches for large flowers, and just over 1 inch for the small flowers.

I found a scalloped circle I have (I didn’t save this file—whoops! so I don’t know what I used).  Sizes:  2.5 inches, 2 inches, and 1.5 inches.  The 2.5 is a little bigger than I like, so I did the others a bit smaller!

Weekly Silhouette Shape Challenge: Summer Charms

 

Hi everybody! I am just popping in today to show you my latest creation. I made some very simple charms to hang on my shelf for summer. I used the sketch pens to draw the cute summer time things and used the scalloped badges as the backgrounds. I used the offset tool to make two layers of background for added dimension. I did this in about 20-30 minutes---and the hardest part is getting it all arranged to cut (of course)!

And a huge apology for slightly blurry pictures.  I have no idea what my camera was doing today!

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Silhouette Shape Challenge: Stenciled Whale Bag

Hi everybody!  I was making this tote last night because my current church bag is seriously falling apart!  I saw this bag on MADE, and loved it.  I found the very same napkin sets at Target in a blue/green variety.  I also picked up the red pack, but that tote is still in progress…well I made it, picked it apart, and am waiting to re make it. :)
Enough chit chat----onto the finished bag!

Front before stenciling

Back of bag

I decided that the blue side would be super cute with the free whale shape from last week, and then I could enter the weekly challenge!  I fired up my silhouette this morning, applied a vinyl stencil…

Quickly painted (and even left a mess on the desk!)

Used a hair dryer to quickly semi-dry the paint, peeled off the vinyl, and Tada!

A super cute whale on a super cute bag.

I would have hung it up to get a photo, but it’s still drying! 

I used a swirl shape by Miss Kate for the waves instead of the included waves.  Overall, I love the bag and will soon fill it with all sorts of busy activities for my one year old at church!

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

p.s. I’m also participating in a challenge with the blog Silhouette Challenges.  Anything goes this month, so enter if you’ve made something with your silhouette! Details HERE.

Kitchen and Sewing Room Wall Art

Hi everybody!  I hope you’re enjoying spring weather.  We have had a pleasant week, with rain and cooler temperatures which has been fantastic.  I love it when it rains because I don’t have to water the garden or our baby grass! :)

I participated in Silhouette’s Weekly Shape Challenge.  I had so much fun, I made two projects!  The first I’ll show is a simple banner I made for my craft room.  I needed to craft with something girly, and had bought the dresses during the 50% off shape sale.  I thought the dresses would look so cute strung along on a banner.  I hung it with a piece of lace and mini clothespins. I love the look of the clothespins so much, I used it on both my projects. I got them through a giveaway, but I’ve heard you can find them at Wal-Mart. I hung it on my pegboard and just love how it turned out!

I had seen this project from A Lemon Squeezy Home a week or so ago, and loved how she displayed several quotes at once.  I decided I needed to do a similar project soon.  When I heard about the shape challenge, I knew that I could do this project and add a few banner pieces to make it whimsical and colorful.

I decided I wanted the display to be in a frame, but I didn’t have one big enough at my house.  So I hit a slightly creepy thrifty store, and found one for a dollar.   Isn’t it lovely?  I got some red spray paint and went to town on it.  I only had to do one coat, which was fantastic!

I had my helpful husband install hardware so I could string the baker’s twine across in rows.  I used the half circle banner, cut it out in a few types of paper, and clipped them up.  I made small rounded rectangle cards and used silhouette sketch pens for the quotes.  Now it’s hanging in my kitchen, and it cheers up the room a whole lot!  I think this is probably one of my favorite projects every.  When I get tired of these quotes, I can change things up with the seasons or even do an advent calendar with it.  It was a pretty easy project, and only cost me $5! 

Thanks silhouette for the weekly shape challenge!  I got two projects done I probably wouldn’t have without a little push.
Thanks for reading,
Lynette
p.s. I’m also participating in a challenge with the blog Silhouette Challenges.  Anything goes this month, so enter if you’ve made something with your silhouette! Details HERE.

13 in 2013 Update: Mini Tote Bags

Hi everybody!  I’ve been working on my 13 projects for the year.  I’ve enjoyed having some direction in the projects I make.  I certainly do extras, but it’s fun to have some sort of plan. 

Mini Tote Bag.  (Taken next to a bottle of Mod Podge so you can see that it really is mini!)

First up, is the Mini Tote Bag.  We got a disney resort themed scrabble game for Christmas, and to hold the letter tiles is a super cute mini-tote bag.  It was so adorable that I needed to make one.  This one didn’t completely end up the way I had envisioned, but it still works.  No tutorial, because I was totally sewing on the fly, but if I make another one I may take note of measurements and share. 

I use this tote to hold little strips of paper for the class I teach at church.  The strips of paper have questions that we answer each week to get to know each other better.  It’s a great opening activity to get the class moving.

That’s all for today.  I’ll be back soon to share another project.

Thanks for reading!

Lynette

Journal Cards Created with the Silhouette Cameo

Hi there everybody!  Today, I decided to share with you a little bit about how I am documenting my baby’s life.  Let’s keep a few things in mind:

1.  I am NOT a scrapbooker.

2.  I don’t have nor WANT to dedicate a lot of time to keeping his book.

3.  I only have about 5 years of my life documented, and I wanted something that I could do to keep his life documented, and not feel overwhelmed if I get behind or need to stop at some point.

4.  I won’t be sharing layouts because my husband and I don’t like the idea of our pictures out on the internet, BUT I will show you the journal cards and the type of book/layout I am using.

Alrighty.  I had seen this idea on pinterest over a year ago, and it stuck with me.  I played around for awhile on doing project life, but with as expensive as it was I decided not to.  I also didn’t like the idea of only having ONE book for the family.  What’s going to happen WAY down the road and my kids only have 1 book between them to have our memories?  I want all my kids to have their own books.  I will also do one for our family with trips/holidays, etc.  So, I scrapped that idea.  I do, however, LOVE the way Project Life looks.  I love how there are different cards, and designs, and places to journal with your pictures.  So I imagine I will get more creative as I go, but this is what I’ve done so far.

 

A sample of my journal pages made with the silhouette cameo.

The Book: Recollections Photo Album.  400 4 X6 spots (40 pages).  I found it at Michaels.  I paid $18 with a 40% off sale, but remember they always have 40% coupons floating around as well.  I loved this books because they have places for pictures to go vertically AND horizontally on both pages.  They have nearly every color of the rainbow, and I plan on getting myself a purple one to catch up on my life once my baby’s book is well established.

(Don’t bother going to Joann’s. They didn’t even know what I was talking about, and all they had was scrapbooks or silly photo books with horizontal spots only.)

My Layout:  I use 5 pockets on each page for pictures, and 1 for journaling unless the material requires different.  The journal cards change positions each page, depending on how many vertical/horizontal pictures I have.

The Journal Cards:  Here’s what I did.  I created a rounded rectangle in silhouette studio.  I sized it just under 4 X 6.  Then I chose my shapes: T-Rex, Moon, Gears, Wrench, etc.  I placed the shapes on the rectangles where I wanted them.  Then I grouped the shapes, and cut out the cards.  After that, I had cards with cut outs.  I grabbed scraps and glued them behind the cutouts (see picture below).  I kept the shapes that had been cut out for future projects.  I could glue these on plain journal cards, or use them for complete different projects.

Backside of journal cards so you can see how I glued my scraps to fill in the cutout.

The cards were generally easy to do, and I had them cut out and some written on all in one nap time on a Sunday afternoon.  So, there ya go!  That’s how I am memory keeping, and journaling along with the pictures.  If you have any questions about specific shapes, or anything else, feel free to leave it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Lynette

Making it Ours: Canvas for Family Room

I found some inspiration for this artwork here.  I loved the concept of using the shapes as frames for some of the words.  I painted the canvas and cut out the vinyl with my silhouette.  I love how it turned out and reminds me to have a positive attitude.

Picture of canvas with the other art I’ve made.

That’s all for today!  Thanks for reading,

~Lynette~

Making it Ours: Love at Home Tiles

 

Thanks for joining me today for another post of the ongoing “Making it ours,” series.  I’m enjoying sharing the large and small projects we’re doing in our home to make it feel like ours. Enjoy!

I started and finished this well before Dash was born.  I finally got it hung last week.   I had bought three mdf tile pictures for $2 each from family dollar.  They were beach themed with large fake seashells glued to them.  It worked for a cheap apartment bathroom makeover, but I am done with beach bathrooms.  So I asked my husband if he could remove the shells and I would reuse the tiles.  And that’s what I did.

Above is what they looked like after the shells were removed.  (Yes, I got ahead of myself and forgot a real before pic).

I sanded the beach themed stuff (which was actulaly paper glued on), and painted them a brown I ahd left over from a previous project.

I got the idea for the ‘love at home,’ from this guest post by Craft-O-Maniac on Tatertots and Jello.  I cut out the shapes with my silhouette.  I slapped the vinyl on, and I was done!

I hung it in my family room next to probably my most favorite vinyl project I’ve ever done.  I will get that posted later this week, don’t you worry.  I love the personal feel my home is finally taking after a year of being here.  It’s starting to feel like ours.

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Hand Made Birthday Card

Good morning!  I just wanted to show a quick and easy card I whipped up for my brother’s Birthday last week.  I made a template for the card in my silhouette software (you could easily just cut it out, but this was easier for me) and then cut out the letters.  I had the decals in my stash that coordinated with the paper, and stuck those babies on.  Easy peasy, and turned out cute too!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!

~Lynette~

Making It Ours: Laundry Room Sign

*Making it ours is my simple series where I feature some of my projects to make our new home feel more like ours.  Some projects will be simple décor, while others will be major remodel type projects.*

Hi everybody!  I needed a breath of fresh air from maternity/baby stuff today, so here’s a simple project I did with some firewood (literally-but it’s for decent stuff because we get it from a business who throws their crates out for grabs), some paint, and some vinyl from my silhouette.

I had fun coming up with my other laundry room sign, but for this one, I struggled.  I didn’t have a big enough board for the saying I really wanted to use, so I went with an unoriginal “Laundry Room,” sign.  Boring, yes, but I still love how it turned out.  I got the hanger image from Microsoft Word, and imported it into the silhouette software.

Well, that’s all I’ve got today!  Hope you’re having a great day.  It’s raining today.  I busted out my purple paint and added a 2nd coat to one of the sides of my craft room door.  I was in the first trimester yucky stage when I first painted, so I finished it up now that smells don’t bother me. :)  I also painted something else purple, and will show you in the upcoming days/weeks!

Thanks so much for reading!

~Lynette~

Valentines Mail Box Makeover

Hi there everybody!  Here’s a really quick and easy project for you.  I found these mailboxes at Target in their $1 section, and decided that with a bit of vinyl, it would be super cute Valentines Day Décor.  So I cut some letters and hearts out using my silhouette, and in about 15 minutes I had a very cute mailbox to display in February. 

I just had to add a heart to that flag.

And a super cute heart with arrow for the back.  Although, I wish I would have put it on another side of the mailbox so it’s actually seen.  Oh well, it’s done and I’m happy with it!

I have been beefing up my maternity wardrobe lately, and will be having a mini series starting next week.  I’ve decided to call the series, “Project Maternity.”  I’m not exactly sure why.  Maybe it’s because it sounds like Project Runway?  And who doesn’t deserve to look cute and stylish while pregnant?  And for those of you that aren’t with child, no worries!  Many of the things I’ve done are simple t-shirt refashions that anybody can do!

Thanks for reading, I appreciate it!

~Lynette~