Love at Home Vinyl

I am noticing hints of this pretty patina blue creeping into my home. I love this color, and I love the freshness that it adds to my red, green, brown home.

This vinyl design is one that I put together for my friend's cub scout group. They are planning to put it on small wooden plaques for Mother's Day. I had just one left, so I grabbed a black frame, spray painted it and added the paper behind. The vinyl is on the glass. I like the shadowbox effect. Once I had it finished, I had to tone the blue down just a bit with a little brown ink and a sponge.

My version of Subway Art

I love the subway art I have seen around blogland. I thought that something about family and love would be fun. But I knew that as much as I really, truly do enjoy painting, I am not the steadiest with black and white. So this is my version, using vinyl lettering, created for a sister's crafting weekend. 

Family, Home, Blessing

Another Plate, Another Great Thought

This plate and vinyl are available in my etsy shop.

Another Party? Another Magnet Board

It really wasn't a conscious decision to give magnet boards for all the birthday parties. But it is something that we really like around here and I would rather give something that will last longer than the cheap toys that I can afford to send.

When Collin was invited to a friends party this week, I was excited to be able to sew something for her. But Collin had other plans, he has been watching all of the older kids take magnet boards and he was determined that he would do the same. 

He was excited to decorate the gift wrap for this one, and I was so happy to see how well he did. This is a picture of the birthday girl as a princess. I wanted to unwrap the present and keep the picture.

I am linking up to:

Thankful for Dirty Dishes?

I saw this thought for a kitchen around Thanksgiving time and it really stuck with me, I love that it makes me grateful for the little things that I have--even the chores that I am not grateful for--

I bought a couple of these plates, and think they are so pretty with vinyl on them. 

If you would like one, they are in my etsy shop.


I am linking to:

New/Old Window

Do you remember this window? I love it! Of course I can't keep the Christmas wreaths up there. So it was time (a little while ago) for a change. I just hadn't taken a picture yet.

What do you think? 

I love being able to cut vinyl whenever the impulse hits me.

I do think I may be getting carried away, but I just can't seem to stop.

I love this font, especially when there is a shadow behind it from the sun. It is just what I imagined.

Milk Can House Numbers

My brother-in-law stopped by with this milk can a couple of weeks ago, asked if I wanted it, and said that he would like to see what I came up with. I hope he approves.

I chose to paint our house numbers on it. I used my Silhouette to create a stencil out of vinyl, I had planned to use contact paper; but I guess I ran out. For anyone considering a digital craft cutter for vinyl, paper and cardstock; I would suggest checking out the Silhouette. It hooks up to my computer and can cut any font that I can download along with tons of designs. I LOVE MY SILHOUETTE!

I scrubbed the milk can a bit, no need to rough it up with sandpaper; it was rough enough already. I chose to paint it Satin Black, so it would stand out against our house. 

This is the kind of weeding I like, I have always planned to get the fun tools to do this; 

but a sharp paring knife works so of course, I haven't.

I masked the can off, so the paint wouldn't overspray. Then I used my fun spray outside and run back in with the project technique. I am sure that anyone driving by would wonder what in the world I am doing running in and out of my house and 10:30 at night. This time I went fast enough and didn't end 

up with any wrinkles from the cold in my paint.

I left it inside for a couple of days to make sure that it was really dry, and then took it outside where it will likely stay. I don't love taking pictures of my house in the winter, but this summer it will look great with flowers all around. The milk can has already made it through a couple of snowstorms and still looks great.

 

I am linking to: 

Try, Try Again- XOXO Framed Glass

I really struggle to visualize what something is going to look like before I make it. I generally go through several steps to finally get it to the point that I am ready to share it with others.

This simple little framed glass is one example of that.

I have to say right off, that I am sorry I don't have more pictures of the process here. I accidentally deleted all 1100 or so pictures from my camera a couple of days ago aargh! and these were some that I hadn't yet downloaded.

Anyway, I loved the XOXO in red vinyl right off. I cut it out, and mounted it on the glass, framed it and tied some ribbon on and hung it on my wall. Quick and easy, just my kind of craft,

I was planning to make several for gifts and for my etsy shop.

I looked at it a few times in passing and decided to add some little half-back pearls as accents. Cute, but they didn't stand out enough. I figured that if I added some more white to the design it would tie in better.

I added a white vinyl layer to the first O and it lasted like that for about an hour.

It looked way too bullseye target-ish.

I tried adding more ribbon, but it just wasn't working for me.

Then I added a cute white scalloped background, it was a nice background for the XOXO but I lost the fun transparency of the glass, so off it came.

I finally stumbled upon the idea of matting the entire design with white, and I love it.

I would love to be talented like a lot of you are and able to visualize the end result without actually putting it together. It would be nice not to waste all that vinyl. ;)

Have a great day! I hope all your projects turn out just like you imagine, or maybe even better!

BTW if you are interested, I would be happy to cut some of this vinyl for you for a reasonable price, just contact me at swells154@gmail.com. 





Linking to:
Craftaholics Annonymous Valentines Party

Wha-cha-ma-call-ums? give-away

What would you call these? I am open to suggestions. I really like this creation. Would you like a kit to make your own? This was a collaboration between me and my friend, Rachelle. Most of the credit belongs to her. I just did the decorating part.


They are one of the projects available for our craft mini class for Relief Society in February. The ladies that sign up get to choose their paper, word and the color (black or cream). I am really happy with the end result, I just need a name...framed word thingy just doesn't sound quite right.

Post your name suggestions, my favorite one will win a kit to make their own. (You provide your favorite paper and ribbon) I will send you the frame, plaque and vinyl.

How to enter: Leave a comment with your name suggestion, the vinyl word you would like, and the color of vinyl (cream or black). The give-away will be open until Saturday morning-since I need to get my sign-up sheet ready for church on Sunday.

I am linking to: 

Teacher Gifts Courtesy of Blogland

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Christmas. I am excited to have my children and husband home with me. I have seen some great ideas all over blogland for teacher gifts. This is what I chose to do.
Obviously, the "M" jar holds pencils (this will be given along with a bag of cookies to my older kids' teacher), the "H" jar is filled with cookies (this is for our principal), and the "W" is filled with lifesavers for my husband. Since high-school teachers rarely receive gifts from their students, I figured that I would take care of that.

The jar ideas are courtesy of My Mix of Six (her pictures are MUCH better than mine).

I can't remember where I saw the recipe for these cookies...if you recognize it, let me know. I would love to link to it and give her credit; she has a great tutorial with pictures.

I only have the recipe and a couple of notes, bear with me it is long but not actually difficult:

Perfect Chocolate Mint Cookies

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 T water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt
36 Andes Mints

Melt butter, brown sugar, water over low heat, add chocolate chips and stir. When partially melted, remove pan from heat and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes (15 for a double batch). Pour into a mixing bowl and mix in eggs, and then dry ingredients.

Refrigerate cookie dough for 1 hour (the original poster said that she doesn't refrigerate hers, mine was a little soft to roll into balls; I think that it would work well to refrigerate it for about 20 minutes.) Roll the cookie dough into balls (I used my cookie scoop from Pampered Chef). Place on un-greased cookie sheet (I used my stoneware pan) about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350.

While the cookies are baking, unwrap your mints and cut them in half. (I couldn't find the mints so I tried the Andes mint chips, although they taste great, I wouldn't recommend them. It was a hassle!!) Place one mint on each cookie immediately after removing them from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes and then gently spread the mint/chocolate mixture to form an "icing".

Yum, Yum, Yummy!

What do you think, Jamie?

I couldn't resist posting a picture of a fun neighbor gift that my friend, Jamie and I collaborated on the phone about. I am cutting the vinyl for her and she is putting the boards together. I couldn't stand to just put it in the computer without seeing the finished product; and I love it.