We Love Dads! Easy Fathers' Day Gift Idea

So, I happen to be a bit of procrastinator when it comes to sending gifts.  ("Groan. Really?" Says my family. But hey, it's a matter of having time to get to the post office! ...Usually.) And as it turns out, May is big month for my family: Mothers' Day, parent's anniversary, and my youngest sister's birthday.  Then, right on the tail of that, we have Fathers' Day in June.  Since moving across the country from most of my family, it has become easier for me to send one big package home with everyone's gifts and let them open it all up together like it's Santa's big bag of goodies---Dad passing out gifts as he calls the recipient's name, probably chuckling and "ho-ho-ho"'ing even if it is the middle of June. (I'll imagine.) So that's the story this year.  Finally sending some gifts home that have been sitting quietly in the corner of my room, waiting for their new owners and homes.  It's sweet, really. :)

But okay, on to more important things.  For instance---what do you get your Dad/husband/the man in your life for Fathers' Day?!  I mean it.  Really.  Help me with ideas! :)  Every year it eludes me, and every year I find myself struggling as to what to buy this man who, at this point, either has everything he needs or wants, or buys himself whatever he needs or wants as soon as he sees it.  Thus, my gifts tend to be a bit more personal, silly, or simple.  But always full of love.  I'd love to hear your ideas though.  Really. One struggling gift giver to another. :)

One thing that I do know that my Dad loves is nuts.  He's a nut eater.  He's a nut in general. ;)  (Kidding Dad!  Sorta.) So that little treat portion was an easy thought.  I decided to make it cute and print out a sticker to put on top with a catchy phrase about nuts and dads.  I went with "Just nuts about my Dad!"  I made my own print and cut design using Silhouette Studio, to be cut from some of Silhouette's printable white sticker paper.  (We also have it in clear, and gold and silver foil.  Click here to see those options.  I just preferred white due to the variety of wrappings I'd be using in this package.)

After doing my own little print and cut, I realized that I had a lot of paper left on that one sheet.  (Note: You can look to either of the following previous posts, one or two, for more instructions about how to make your own print and cut designs.) Rather than waste it, I decided it'd be the perfect way to label all the rest of the gifts that I was going to be sending home in this package.  Big bows and other such things don't last too well when getting sent through the mail, but stickers?  Those have a way of staying put.  It's in their nature.  :) Okay, sorry.

As you can see here, I filled the page with various other labels and stickers for the other gifts I'd be sending home.

Fill your page to the brim with personalized labels and stickers to make the most from each sheet.

When making your own print and cut it's easy enough to put your text right where you want it.  Plus, it's fun to do more personalized designs and stickers.  The lacy/ folksy heart was chosen to seal the bag enclosing an Amish lace doily I was sending to my Mom.  I made an elephant sticker with the cut out heart for my niece, and used a lady-bug for my sister's tag specifically because we used to call her Love-Bug. :)  When all is said and done, I think they add a nice touch, don't you?

If you want to learn a little about making your own print and cut designs, you can read the two previous posts mentioned, or keep reading on below for just a few simple reminders/tips.


First: when making print and cut designs always remember to double check what part of your designs are going to be cut before you send it to the Silhouette.  If you look closely in the picture below, you can see that the word "just" was also cut out (I had to stick it back in place) because I forgot to click on the "No Cut" for that portion of the image.

If you forget to change portions of your design to "no cut" it may end up cutting around something you just wanted printed. (Look closely at the word "just.)

Simply click on the scissors like icon/button in Silhouette Studio in the upper right hand corner of the screen and it will then dim most of the image, while putting a bolded red line over all the lines that are going to be cut.  See the compared images below.

Left: My designs. Right:  Designs after clicking on "Cut" icon to see which portions I have selected to be cut out.

Next: when you want to take an image off the web and copy it to have it cut out on your Silhouette, you generally have a few options revolving around the "Trace" option.  The picture of the mustache below shows what happened when I tried two of the different options in the trace window.

The middle mustache is "traced and detached" from the original image.  Since all I wanted was the outline of the image, I then selected middle mustache and then clicked on the "Trace" icon.  That gave me the mustache on the bottom.  By selecting around the middle mustache a second time and then clicking on "Trace Outer Edge", I ended up with the mustache on the top.  Just depends what you're looking for.

And that, my friends, in a nutshell, is that. :)  Hope your coming Fathers' Day is lovely!