Heaven Vinyl Art

This was made for my brother and sister in law in honor of their little Ian.

My friend painted the ombre effect using acrylics and I cut and placed the vinyl.  The canvas is a 12x12 if I remember correctly.  We found the phrase on Pinterest.

Tshirt Vinyl Extravaganza

We had a T-shirt making party the week before Christmas.  This wasn't all of them, but a few with images from our favorite comedy group and a "Snowman" shirt for Mark.  

Hope everyone liked them and that glitter vinyl is pretty amazing.  Brooke will have to let me know how it holds up in the wash.  Love my Silhouette!

Run to the Temple

Bookmarks for my mom's Relief Society lesson.

This is our take on Sister Dalton's "Run to the Temple" bookmark that she talks about in THIS BYU Women's Conference talk.

Disney Kids Shirts

Made these shirts for the boys...we are heading to Disneyland in a few weeks!  This is the first Disneyland trip for our boys and they are so excited.  I've been all over the internet and Pinterest looking for advice and tips for traveling.  I'll share all of my findings after we get back and I can put my acquired knowledge to the test.

These shirts were so fun to make, just an image search online and a free Disney font download.  Hopefully we'll get a cute picture with Donald Duck and the boys.

Trouble Onesie

Here is my adorable nephew in his onesie that I made him.  He does look like trouble, doesn't he?

Double Trouble

My friend is having twins next month! Couldn't resist making these for her baby shower.

I had one extra baby onesie, so this one is going to my new nephew.  My boys had a similar shirt when they were little.

Last Minute Halloween Projects

We let the boys chose an image online to carve into their pumpkins.  It was pretty stressful since we didn't have the best pumpkins and my husband and I had to do all the work!  They turned out decent (Yoshi and Iron Man if  you can't tell), but next year we are drawing a face with a marker and cutting it out.  Done.

Mike Wasowski shirt

Saw this tutorial HERE and we just had to try it.  I was too lazy to go down to the store for fabric paint, so I made a template for each color on my Silhouette program and we cut it out of heat transfer vinyl.  The next Monsters, Inc movie is coming out next year, can't wait!

Usain Bolt Halloween Costume

My five year old is severely autistic and is in a running away phase.  Considering he has little self preservation skills no verbal skills at all, it makes it very scary when he bolts away from us.  He has shown to have an uncanny ability to wait for the right moment of parental distraction to break away and he is FAST.  Kind of like the world's fastest human, Usain Bolt.  My mom thought up the idea to have Austin be him for Halloween, since he fits the bill so nicely.  I loved the idea and got to work.

Picked up a child's running shirt and pants (who knew they made them this size?!) and added a little vinyl.  I had to recheck a few times to make sure I spelled the country correctly, it just looks wrong to me...

Back

And what is a world class runner without a racing bib?  I tried to replicate what was worn at the Olympics.  There will be another one for the back with a number on it instead of the name.  This is the perfect costume for my son, not only because it's so appropriate, but because it's loose, comfortable, and doesn't have anything on his head.  So many costumes have head gear and he won't tolerate it.  Hope you like it, buddy.....Ready?....Set....GO!

Party Favors Using Disc Sleeves

I did a low-key baby shower for a friend at a local restaurant recently.  As a parting gift, I needed something that could be passed out and taken home without a fuss.  I saw a very similar version of this on Pinterest, but of course, now I can't find the picture or link because I didn't pin it, oops.  Lesson learned.  So, I didn't come up with this one on my own, but I wish I had!  I baked my favorite chocolate chip cookies, wrapped them in plastic, and placed each cookie in a CD sleeve.  A cute vinyl elephant on the front, a little sticker on the back that read, "Love you a TON, thanks for coming!", and we were good to go.  I'll probably do this again, it worked great and they turned out really cute.  Thanks Pinterest and photo link that I can't find!

Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl: A Tutorial

I am familiar with T-shirt vinyl or heat transfer vinyl, but I have yet to delve into the world of specialty T-shirt vinyls.  There are patterned, glow in the dark, flocked, and glitter...probably more, but I just don't know about them.  The glitter vinyl sheets are much thicker than regular vinyl, so if you are using a cutting machine, you will have to adjust the blade depth accordingly.

Once you have your image (I cut mine with my Silhouette), how do you get it on the fabric?  Well, you're in luck, cause I took pictures along the way and I will explain it to you.

First off....supplies:

T-shirt vinyl image with plastic still attached

clothing item

clean, cotton cloth (I use my kitchen flour sack towels)

iron and ironing board

 STEP ONE:  Iron your clothing so there are no wrinkles.

 STEP TWO:  Place your vinyl image on your clothing.

Quick tangent:  You want to make sure that you place the vinyl image on correctly.  There is the vinyl image itself (the red, glittery Tootsie Pop Indian in this case) and the plastic sheet that keeps all the pieces of the vinyl grouped together.  There is a sticky side to the plastic and a smooth side.  When you place the image on your clothing to be ironed, you want the sticky side facing DOWN, touching the fabric and the smooth plastic side UP.

The picture above is with the sticky side of the plastic up...DO NOT iron it this way! You will iron the image onto your cotton dish towel instead of your clothing (not that I've learned that from experience or anything, ha!)

 

This picture is with the sticky side down, the correct way to iron it on your clothing.  You can kind of see the sheen of the shiny side of the plastic.

 

 STEP THREE:  Ok, once you've got your image placed where you want it and with the sticky side DOWN, you can place your cotton cloth on top of the image and press the iron firmly down on all the layers.

A few tips:

Turn off the steam on your iron.

Don't use the highest setting on your iron; mine is from 1-6 and I use about a 4, works great.

Press firmly without wiggling the iron around (it could shift your vinyl image) for about 45 seconds.

 

STEP FOUR:  Take off your cotton cloth and let the image cool slightly.  Slowly begin to peel the plastic off.  It should come off easily.  If any part of the vinyl is still sticking to the plastic, place the plastic back down, cover it up again with your cotton cloth, and iron that spot for a little longer.  Try 20 seconds or so and then see if the plastic peels easily.  Repeat as needed.

STEP FIVE:  Once the plastic is off completely, I replace my cotton cloth again and iron it once more for another 30 seconds or so.  It's probably not necessary, but it makes me feel like I'm really "sealing it in".

And that, my friends, is it!  Easy, peasy.  Wash on gentle cycle inside out and dry on low heat.  If any part of the image begins to peel up from the fabric, just get out your trusty cotton cloth, iron, and reapply some heat.  I have had great success with my regular T-shirt vinyl staying on my boys' shirts, they are pretty rough on their clothes too.  We'll see how the glitter vinyl holds up....  I'll let you know after a few washes.

Monogram Canvas Art

Months ago, I spotted this beautiful calligraphy monogram and instantly pinned it, knowing it would make a great gift on something for my friend.  Her name begins with a "J", her husband's begins with an "L", and their last name begins with an "H".  Perfect.

My friend's birthday was coming up and I also happened to know that she is currently redoing her bedroom in shades of blue and gray AND needed some decor/wall art.

I bought a 12x12 canvas and used my acrylic paints.  I mixed a nice, medium gray.

Applied at least 3 coats using a foam brush, allowing for drying time between each coat.  Don't forget the sides.

Then, I mixed up some blue for highlights.  I think this was a combination of light blue, a pearly silver, and a touch of royal blue.

I used a bristly, flat brush and dipped it into the blue paint just enough to get some color.  I then tapped off any excess paint. 

Very lightly, I added some quick strokes to a few places on the canvas.

I cut out my monogram on cardstock using my Silhouette machine.  After the paint was dry, I placed it on the canvas. 

Very lightly, I traced around my template using a graphite pencil.  Any pencil would probably work fine, I just happened to have a fancy, art pencil from another project.

Using a thin brush, I slowly filled in my pencil marks.  I was surprised how therapeutic it was, I wanted to keep going after I finished!  I painted two coats, using white acrylic mixed with a little pearly silver.  It's not perfect, but I kind of like it that way.  If you want perfect, crisp lines, cut your image out of vinyl and Modge Podge it on.

Can you see the hints of blue on the gray?  I loved how it turned out and the birthday girl seemed to like it as well.  Now I just need to find a perfect calligraphy monogram with my initials.

Mockingjay Pin

 

I love the Hunger Games book series, just like so many of you out there.  I planned a movie night for our local book club and it was a lot of fun.  My crafty friend, Jamie, made some treat bags for everyone.  I made some cardstock mockingjay pins, the idea shamelessly copied from Little Pink Monster.  We weren't able to get a picture of everyone, but we all wore our pins faithfully.  I think we are going to have more book-to-movie viewings for book club in the future.

 

Drawer Sticker Labels

Two of my boys share a dresser and the youngest was having a hard time remembering where his clothes were stored.  I saw THIS at crafterhours and knew that was the answer to my problem.  I used her clothes template, tweaked a little bit and cut the shapes out on yellow vinyl.

One wears boxer briefs...

The other prefers tighty-whities...with Thomas the train on them.

Shorts, pants

Pajamas

The dresser is in a strangely lit area, so sorry for the bad photos.  I wasn't going to move the entire dresser, filled with clothes just for a couple of pictures.  Sorry, I love you....but not that much.

The good news is my no longer confused four-year old can find his clothes easily and quickly now. Hooray!  I love fast, easy, and functional projects.

Yoda Onesie

My friend recently had her second boy and pinned this on her Pinterest board.  So cute!  I hadn't given her a baby gift yet and thought I could pull this off.

My version.

I made my design using my Silhouette software, a lot of circles and rectangles put together and tweaked.  The ears were a leaf image and for the cane I used a candy cane image, deleting the stripes of course.

I used a printable heat transfer for dark fabric, printed it on my 7+ year old injet printer, and fed it into my Silhouette machine to cut around the image.  A couple of minutes with the ol' iron and ironing board and viola!  A cute Yoda...didn't know that was possible, but here he is.

I hope she likes it!  Congrats, Rachel!

Oh, I also gave her a laminated set of THESE, one of my go-to gifts.

Milk and Cookies Shirts

In the spirit of overachievement (not a word, I know), I made each of the birthday boys a shirt to wear at the party.  Alas, no good pictures with the boys was snapped....and heaven forbid they both agree to wear them on the same day after the party so I can take a couple of photos.  I give up, so here you go.

Just pretend there are two cute little redheads wearing these.

Milk and Cookies Birthday Party

Two of my boys birthdays are a month and two days apart; one in December before Christmas and one right after New Years.  While they're young, we are doing a combo party in January for both boys.  So far, no one is complaining and it's easier to throw a birthday party after the Christmas holidays.

My 4 year old loves milk and my 5 year old loves cookies.  Only natural to do a milk and cookies party to celebrate what they both love.

Milk bottles with cookies and cream flavor milk straws.  Prize bags filled with cookie making supplies for our cookie contest winners.  In the very back were bags for our guests to take extra cookies home.

The print is from HERE.  Glass jars and cake stands collected through the years.  The cake stands are on inverted glass bowls for a little extra height.  Labels from HERE.

I made sugar cookies with royal icing, my son's favorite chocolate chip cookies, and my favorite chocolate creme filled cookies.  Each family brought a plate of cookies to share as well.  We had LOTS of cookies.

Straws in milkshake glasses

The milk straws are at all of my local grocery stores and come in a variety of flavors.

Cookie mix in a jar party favors.  The polka dot top is a piece of scrapbook paper.  The cookie shaped tags were made on my Silhouette.

Paper cups for the little ones.  Cookie stickers made on my Silhouette and stuck right on the paper cups, so easy.

Carafes for white, chocolate, and strawberry milk.  I thought chocolate milk would be the most popular, but strawberry won out big time. 

Made a small 6 inch cake for each birthday boy.  Cut the cake in half horizontally, filled with some cream cheese frosting, topped with a sugar cookie and cute candles.

Sign made with my Silhouette.  Took me about 15-20 minutes, no joke.  I don't have a use for it anymore, so if anyone wants it, I will mail it to you.  First come, first served.

 My boys had a great time and all the guests seemed to enjoy themselves too.  

Happy Birthday A and T!

And NOW.....2012 can begin for me....whew!