Winter Branch Wall Hanging

With winter comes snowballs and sledding, warm coats and cold noses.  After a few months, it also seems to bring with it a hopefulness for spring and for a time when the world will again be in blossom and things will maybe be a little easier (driving, for one!).  Sometimes, we feel an emotional "winter" in our lives, and we need to be reminded that it is just for a season, and that after winter comes Spring. That is partially the idea from whence this lovely wall-hanging was sprung-- it was meaningful to me, as well as useful in filling a nice empty spot I had on the wall behind my piano.  :)

To make this wall-hanging I just needed a few easy-to-find materials:  a square canvas, Silhouette Double-Sided Adhesive Sheets, a sprig of fake red berries, brown and black crafting paint, and some fine, brown charcoal glitter (the latter was actually the hardest to find, as far as a color that I liked.)  To start, I first watered down the brown crafting paint and then applied it to the canvas with a large sponge brush.  I then immediately wiped over it with a soft cloth to create a light antiqued look.  This helped tone down the bright white background of the canvas.  I decided to paint the edges of the canvas (it stands out about 3/4 an inch from the wall) black to help the picture "pop" from the wall depending on the angle from which you approach it.  Next came designing the branch image I wanted to use.  I made my design by transforming an existing image of a tree with bare branches.  I used the Silhouette eraser function to get rid of some of the branches, used the "edit points" function to change the shape of some of the twigs (to elongate, make skinner or fatter, etc.), and finally turned the "tree" into the type of branch I had been envisioning, and which you see.  These functions can seem a little tricky at first, but they are something that even beginners can use.  I will do a tutorial post on those in the coming month.  

Because the adhesive sheets are standard "letter" size (8 1/2 by 11 inches), my entire image could not be cut on just one sheet.  I remedied this by copying and slicing my image at two different points, so as to be able to overlap each piece on top of where I had to cut it. Because of the nature of the double sided adhesive, I wasn't worried about my "cut" lines being noticeable once the glitter medium was put on, as I knew it would cover them seamlessly because of the overlap. I cut as many of these "pieces" as I could fit on one page, and then applied each piece to where I wanted it on the prepped canvas by peeling off the yellow backing sheet and placing the image sticky-side down. 

Once I had the back-side stuck in place on the canvas, I peeled off the top white protective layer to expose the top side of the adhesive image.  Next, all I did was sprinkle on some gorgeous glitter and shake it down the canvas. It adhered perfectly.  Even after giving the canvas some light tapping on the backside to help shake off excess glitter, that on the adhesive stayed perfectly in place. 

Next, I hot-glued on the berries and then chose a font for my script (I used "Painter's Handbrush"). After using transfer tape to...well to transfer the vinyl to the canvas, I was finished.

Now it's on to awaiting spring, while enjoying the wonders of winter....

Bridal Shower Invites

Ever see those absolutely adorable cards in the stores, the ones with all the cute little glued-on details and that cost like...$4.50 a piece?  ;)  Well, I wanted some for my friend Brit's bridal shower, but didn't have the funds for the pre-purchased things at that cost.  Good thing, the total set of 25 invites that I made today cost a total of about $6.50--yes, total.  And they were hand-made with love. :) They take just a little bit more time, but are super adorable.  Just throw on your favorite TV show on Hulu as you adhere the ribbon and rhinestones, and you'll have super cute cards ready for mailing before the show is over! 

This was the stuff I needed: textured or pearl finished white designed paper, cream colored paper for the printed inserts, 1/8"ribbon, small adhesive  "bling", and 1/8" glue dots.

I found the "wedding dress card" image in my Silhouette library.  (It is still offered in the online Silhouette store.) I decided on a textured and slight print design on the white paper to give it a bit more "umph"/adorableness.  (That's a real word--you should use it.) Luckily, Hobby Lobby had a pack of just what I had in mind on sale for 1/2 off today.  Half the store is half-off all of the time, and it's always switching.  You should have no problem getting what you want on sale if you just watch the sales.  And can I just confess something that I am sure we all have a problem with?  I just need to say...that place is my downfall.  It has so many great things, I instantaneously want to take up crocheting, painting, welding, jewelry making and paper mache artistry, all while redecorating my entire apartment in new DIY projects and decor.  Yeah.  Must. Get. Out. ...Truly.  The "bling" rhinestones were only $2 at WalMart. The ribbon was in one of Brit's colors. (I figured it'd match her other things if she wanted to scrapbook a card later.)

Cutting pearl-finished cardstock can be done easily with your Silhouette, though there isn't a setting specifically for it.  I set it as "glittered/flocked cardstock", but then lowered the thickness to 30.  That may have still been a bit too thick, but it cut beautifully. Just be sure to check "double-cut" if it isn't cutting through all the way, and play around with your setting some.  A slow speed is good for thicker paper so it doesn't snag or bunch up.  

Applying that many small rhinestones can be a bit tedious getting them to set in the correct place.  I used my Silhouette "pick-me-up" tool with the first few to place them right where I wanted.  This tool is pretty handy for working with small embellishments and die-cuts letterings, etc.  Click on this link to see a tutorial about the tool and how to use it/how it works.

After that, I just had to use a little stick glue to adhere the inserts to the inside of the card with the information about the shower.  (For the inserts, I sized down one of the cards images until the skirt was just a bit smaller than the original, erased the top of the dress, and used that for the printed information portion.)

Guess I can check that item off my To-Do list! 

Oh, and did I mention that they stand up?  So adorable. :)

Grandpa's Lil' Artist Wall Hanging

So, if you have kids, are ever around kids, have ever seen kids, know what kids are...you know that kids often like to produce tons of artwork.  Artwork on paper, in coloring books, on the wall, with their food, you name it.  Kids are naturally creative!  And I love it.  I feel like a big kid sometimes with how excited I get over something I've painted, or even colored in a coloring book with my niece.  There. That's my weekly confession. :)  And what do kids do once they've made something?  (At least, the things they know they won't get in trouble for?)  They like to give it to you!  Or to someone else that they love.  You know exactly what I'm talking about, I'm sure.  I recently went home for Christmas break and was the loved recipient of no less than 20 pieces of art and pictures drawn and colored by my two young nieces (one of my nieces particularly loves to color). See Exhibit A for a sampling:

Exhibit A

I love it.  It makes me feel loved by those cute kids that I only get to see 2-3 times a year.  But anyways. What do you do once you get all these papers and lovely early masterpieces by future Van Goghs? Where do you put them all?  I've taken to keeping the ones mailed or given to me (at least, some of them--I can't have a room dedicated to just storing amassed, ripped-out coloring book pages!) in what I call my "You Make Me Happy" binder.  More on that some other time.  Another idea is to make something like the following for yourself, or to give it as a gift (as was the case with this particular one):

My Mom had the board lying around (she's so great for stuff like that) and then all we used was a little black vinyl with her Cricut cartridge, Lyrical Letters, hot-glued on a few of those clamps, and voila--a super cute way to display the artworks of your little ones.  Now you can save the front of the fridge for wedding announcements and A+ report cards. ;)

(Note:  I chose the "Jack Sprat" font from Lyrical Letters, in case you were wondering.  But there are all sorts of other fun cartridges with great "kid-like" fonts, such as Alphalicious, Ashlyn's Alphabet,  Learning Curve, and ZooBalloo just to name a few. All depends on the look you think you're going for.)

Merry Christmas

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2:14.  

Merry Christmas, everyone.  May your day and coming year be filled with joy and peace.  

Easy small gift box idea

Each year, my sister exchanges gifts with her five sister-in-laws for Christmas gifts.   Because they are all generally crafty people (not wily--just like to make crafts!), the gifts are often hand-made in some form. This makes exchanging gifts a bit easier, as she generally makes the same gift for each of them.  This year, she decided on making some cute beaded watches, which she found were super cheap and easy to make.  Once she finished the watches, she just needed the right wrappings.

We found some cute Christmas themed cardstock, decided on the box style/shape that we wanted (Silhouette has a seemingly endless supply of options, with all sorts of fun closures, etc.) and set our Silhouette to a-cuttin'!  Here's what we came up with!






With a little twine, some gold chalking around the edges, and a little punched tag, these perfect little gift boxes were ready to go!  We liked them.  How about you?  :)

Note:  The boxes have flaps inside that you glue to hold in place.  Just some regular stick-glue will do.  Some box shapes have cut holes to enable you to tie them closed on top (such as ours did), while others have neat twisting flower petals that link, or entwining flaps, etc.  So many fun options!  Just depends on what you like and pick.  Play around!

I think these would be fun to put small party favors in.  In fact, I think I'll do that for my very next party...

"Draw-Your-Own" Christmas Cards

So...when I first saw the Silhouette and Cricut sketch pens, I was excited.  Now I could have my machines draw, in a variety of colors, all these absolutely adorable images that I had?  Sounded like way too much fun.  So to test them out, I decided to make a simple Christmas card for a friend.  

First, I picked some whimsical images that I liked from my Silhouette library, and positioned them where I would like the image drawn on the paper.  This grouped snowflake image reminds me of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas for some reason, already looking hand sketched and about ready to fall onto Cindy Lou Who's little head, which had just the feel I wanted. I then made sure the image measurements were correct for the size of card I wanted (needed to fit in an envelope for mailing).  I love that Silhouette shows and tells me exactly what size my images will be.   

Although I did not plan on having both images drawn by the Sketch pens, I did want to get the correct size for both images, so I also positioned my image to cut where I would have it on the card to check sizes and design.  Once I decided that I liked it, I copied the second image and then deleted it from the page so that it, too, was not sketched by the pen. Putting in the sketch pen to replace the blade was a piece of Christmas cake--not even worth telling you just how easy it was.  After that, it was just a matter of letting the sketch pen do its magic, and to await the result.  

And the verdict is... I liked it and was surprised at how perfectly the image was drawn.  (I wanted to fill in the bottom snowflake and dot ends, so if it looks a little messy, that's why--it was me.) Now I just need to play around more with having the pens do more filled-in images, and see what more these pens are capable of! If you've used them, share some of your favorite ways to use these pens!

 Here's to some fun new crafting capabilities. :) 

 Hint:  You need to be sure that the color pen you pick will show up on the color paper that you choose for it to draw on.  You can always just test it on a corner of paper by drawing on it with the pen yourself.  Also, pay attention to the thickness of the paper. I found that my thick, slightly textured paper seemed to soak up some of the ink after it dried.

Frosted Vinyl Snowflakes

What do you do with frosted glass vinyl?  Lots of things. :)  But here's one option: window snowflakes!  A cute extra lil' touch just in time for Christmas.  Maybe they will encourage a bit more of the real stuff to fall from the sky for me to play in...  

This vinyl is a bit different from regular vinyl, thought it works just the same in your Silhouette.  (Can also be used in your Cricut on its vinyl settings.) It has a frosted look once adhered to glass, rather than just being a solid color, and it can last outside for up to 7 years!  Because I don't want it to encourage snowfall in July, I'm thinking I won't keep mine up that long to test it, but this could be used for some beautiful window border designs to keep up all year.  Perhaps that's what I'll try with it next, for my kitchen window.  

Well, for this project, I searched through my silhouette library for the lucky little flakes that would be making their debut on the wondrous world of front room windows, and then saw how many I could fit in one cut.  Again, have I mentioned how much I love that Silhouette gives us measurements of each of our items and where they are placed on the mat?  I love that.  

Before peeling back the excess vinyl, the sheet looks deceivingly silver, and I'll admit that I peeled back a little corner before even cutting anything, just to see if it really did look frosted.  It did. :)  

The vinyl looks silver until you pull it back and see that it really is frosted and slightly transparent.

Use your hook to pull out the intricate excess "inner" pieces

Perhaps, had I thought through my snowflake selection a little more before cutting, I would have chosen something a little less intricate and with less inner pieces to have to hook out.  But then I might have been left with something less beautiful, and less, well, intricate than what I did get.  And what are snowflakes if not incredibly beautiful, intricate, small works of wonder and art?  Random aside:  Have you ever just stared at a snowflake on your glove?  If not, next time you go outside and see "sparkly" snow (the good kind that glitters in the sun) stick your glove into it and then examine your hand closely.  You'll see beautiful, intricate snowflakes that look surprisingly just like the kind we draw as kids!  (Or cut out of Silhouettes and put on windows...)

My roommate confessed, after I put up the snowflakes on the front window, that when she first heard what I was doing she thought it sounded like those cheap and (forgive me) tacky window stickers that people sometimes put up for the holidays.  But THESE, she said, were actually really nice and classy.  After seeing them, she wanted more!  :)  So I guess that's a win. One-point, frosted glass vinyl.   (I wonder if that means I can use this to make frosted glass-ghosts to put up next Halloween? :))

Learning: Foil and Printed Envelope Stickers

So this little "DIY" was a learning project for me.  I wanted to use our printable silver adhesive foil to make Christmas envelope stickers seals for my Christmas cards, and I thought it would be easy.  Turns out that it is easy, but only after I learned a few valuable lessons. Be sure you read on to find out what I did wrong, so that you don't make the same simple mistakes.

To start, I had never played around with making my own "print and cut" image before. After looking for some images in the silhouette store, I decided that I wanted something that would let a little more of the silver show through, since that's the color I wanted in the first place.  I created my own design, a Christmas wreath with the word "joy" inside, and then deleted all the cut-marks.  Then, I took the circular cut-marks from a set of seals that I had found in my silhouette library and was also going to use, by doing a bit of "un-grouping" and copying of pieces of the image.   Turns out, all of that was the easy stuff.  It was good to play around with and try out.

Where the troubles came in was when I actually went to print on the foil.  I first tested my images on a regular sheet of paper to be sure that it would print my created image in the colors I had chosen. (Again,  it was my first time, so I wanted to be sure I did it correctly.)  I was pleased with the outcome, and was feeling pretty good about my own quickness at learning the ropes, when I sent my job through to print onto the foil paper.  Turns out I should have read the directions a little more carefully.  When Silhouette says that the sheets are to be used with your ink-jet printer, it means it.  I was actually not using my home printer, and was using a fancy laser-printer, which is not as easy to use with these foil sheets.  Thus, Silhouette telling you to use an ink-jet printer.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My first real mistake was to not change the settings on the printer.  I had it printing as if it were printing on a regular sheet of computer paper.  But for a laser printer, I needed to change the settings to print for "glossy paper".  I didn't realize that until my first sheet came out with the images shifted and smeared.  I quickly found out that mistake and sent it through a second time.  Unfortunately, one of the problems with a laser printer for this type of paper is how it puts ink on the paper, and as my second sheet went through, the printer still deposited some of the displaced ink from the previous print job onto this sheet.  You can see the comparison between the two sheets below:

The second sheet (on the right) is much better because I used better printer settings, but still had a residue of the ink from the previous print due to using a laser printer.

In the end, because I did not have the best type of printer for the foil at the house where I was, I decided to also print some of the stickers on our printable white adhesive sticker paper.  When the cards went out, I used some of both sticker types I'd printed, since I thought both turned out cute.  Of course, it takes me forever to write that many Christmas cards, so I had a few stickers made that were perhaps a bit more appropriate to the timing of when I expected the cards to be sent out...

Here's to another happy year of crafting and learning!  I love this stuff. :)

DIY Photo Pendants

These are very beautiful handmade photo pendants by Ginger Snap Crafts.  All craft materials were picked up at an Etsy store. Have fun!


Check out the step by step directions to create your own photo pendant here http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2012/01/tutorial-photo-pendants.html

DIY Fall Framed Letter Project

This digital scrap booking project of Fall framed letters courtesy of Happy to Create, looks great and not hard to do!  Check out the link below for step by step directions.

http://happytocreate.com/printable-hybrid/hybrid-craft-framed-autumn-word-art/