Love Photography – custom business logo sign

I love this custom wood sign I made for a customer. It is a business logo, painted in ‘Ballet Slipper’ with black & grey vinyl. Turned out adorable.

Custom wood signs from Remembories!

DIY graphic t-shirts

After I made the boys these ‘hello’ shirts, I decided it was too fun (and easy) so I made some more t-shirts for them. I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it, the Silhouette machine is amazing and so worth the money. You can do pretty much anything with it. I definitely used it to make these shirts, here’s how:

First I found some free images off the internet that I liked, saved them to my computer and imported them into the Silhouette Studio.

Then, after the image I wanted to use was saved in the design library, I inserted it on my page and traced it so that the Silhouette could cut the outline of it. To trace, I clicked on the “trace window” icon (top right) and then adjusted the settings until the helicopter was mostly/all yellow then hit “trace outer edge”. (You only really need to make the picture all yellow if you are using the “trace” method. When you are using the “trace outer edge” method, like I did, you only really need the yellow to be seen all the way around the picture so it can trace the outline…if that makes sense). 

Then I adjusted the picture to the size I wanted and then cut. I cut my pictures/icons/words/whatever out of vinyl so I could just stick in on the shirt and not worry about it moving when I painted. I’ve never tried it, but you could cut freezer paper and have the same effect (vinyl is just easier, so I went with that). After I cut them, I peeled away the areas I wanted to be painted on the shirts and stuck them on (using transfer paper of course).

Then I painted. I used fabric paint from Joann. I had to do a couple coats, especially with the helicopter shirt because it isn’t a contrasting or bold color, just a different shade of the shirt color.

And the finished products -

These dudes look great. Little G man’s shirts are still a little big (got them on a good sale that I couldn’t pass up, of course), but he still loves wearing them. And little B man is wearing his nickname shirt that I think is hilarious…inside joke I guess.

**This would be a really great idea for themed birthday parties. Next year, if little G man actually decides on a party theme (he went from fish to trucks to horses to pirates and everything in between for his party this year) I could easily make him and his little friends party favor shirts. Michaels and Joanns usually have their Jerzeys t-shirts on a pretty good sale and in youth sizes. I’m totally going to do it!

Project tools/details:

• Silhouette machine (gotta have a Silhouette!!)
• free clipart graphics (or hand drawn) from the internet
• GreenStar intermediate vinyl from USCutter.com (and transfer tape)
• fabric paint (and brushes) – I used Tulip brand from Joann’s
• blank shirts (go for the clearance shirts!)

DIY roads (all over the house!)

My little G man turned 3 at the end of March and I didn’t really plan ahead for his birthday party. I thought about doing a “car” party, but I’m not a huge fan of themes nor did I have time to plan one. Instead we just had a bunch of his little friends over. Nothing was planned really aside from PLAY TIME, but I did make a giant roadway all over the house.

I thought, since all his friends are boys (aside from one sweet little girl) they would be all over this action. Well, lets just say I saw at least half of them play on it for at least 23 seconds. OH WELL! Maybe they are still too young to enjoy it. The balloons were WAY more exciting!

I looked online for some vinyl roadway or some black duct tape, but in the end I just made this myself. I have a 30” x 10 yard roll of black vinyl and I haven’t been using it nearly as much as I thought I was going to. So I cut tons of strips off of it and laid them all over the house.

The dashes are just masking tape. I was going to be even fancier and buy some yellow masking tape, but I don’t know if such a thing exists (I couldn’t find any at Walmart anyway).

[chill time after most of the friends left]

So, if you have older boys that actually like playing with cars rather than balloons and wrapping paper, this would be awesome fun! We had it mostly in the living room, down the hall, down another hall and in his bedroom. Pretty fun!

USA bulletin board map

 

Last week for my little G man’s at home preschool was T week. This week was ‘U’ and one of the days we did ‘United States’. We did a few other activities, but this is what we ended with. A map of the United States on a bulletin board, with pictures of family so he can see where everyone lives.

To make this, I started with a regular bulletin board, from Target (less than $10) and painted it ‘espresso’ to match the rest of the furnishing in their bedroom.

Then I used my Silhouette (as always!) and cut out a map outline of the U.S.A. out of vinyl. I had to do it in two sections, because my Silhouette is only 9” wide (not the cameo).

I peeled away the lines and applied the transfer tape (see the two sections together).

Then I put it on the bulletin board and covered all the other areas I didn’t want yellow.

I sprayed the outline with ‘sunshine yellow’. I probably should have done a better job at covering the other areas because there was a tiny bit of paint on the board where I didn’t want it. Luckily pictures will cover those areas, no problem.

I took everything off and pinned where his aunts, uncles, cousins and a few friends live. I haven’t printed all the pictures yet, so this map still has some work.

I was also thinking of adding some pictures of important places – like where Grant and I got married (Portland, OR temple), and things like that. Our map is a little one sided…looks like the family needs to branch out a little more ;)

Project details:
*spray paint: Rustoleum - Espresso & Sunshine Yellow
*vinyl: GreenStar Intermediate Vinyl (white, but color doesn’t matter)
*transfer tape: DigiClear plus Clear Digital Transfer Tape, low tack

Washer & Dryer Decals

When we first moved into our house (3 1/2 years ago) we didn’t have a washer and dryer and we weren’t in a position to buy new ones. Grant is a huge fan of craigslist and scored us some very used, but still in good working condition, washer and dryer for $125 total. The dryer lasted for almost 2 years and then we were looking again.

Yes, I’d love to get a brand new front loading washer and dryer, but we aren’t ready to throw down that kind of cash yet. So our second set of w/d came from an older couple in our church. They are just about as old as I am, but have been used way less than our previous set, because this older couple always left for half the year (winter) and these just sat in their house, unused. These cost us $ZERO! Even better.

Since I can’t have the brand new, shiny front loaders, I decided to dress up these old suckers. I found a design I liked (search ‘flourish’ or ‘swirl’) and had my wonderful Silhouette cut it for me in three different colors and I varied the sizes.

The trickiest part of the whole process was deciding where to put the vinyl and putting it on with the help of a 2 1/2 year old!

In the end, it wasn’t a huge improvement to my laundry room, but it does make me a little bit happier when I’m in there. Now I just need to tackle the rest of the room!

*inspiration for the washer & dryer decals came from this post

VINYL DETAILS:
*GreenStar Intermediate – Sunflower, 020
*GreenStar Intermediate – Middle Grey, 074
*GreenStar Intermediate – Chocolate, 080

 

 

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Spice Jars

Our kitchen is wonderful. Coming from small college apartments and particularly our last apartment (3 1/2 years ago) of only 550 square feet, our kitchen now is big and perfect. But having lived in our house for, like I said, 3 1/2 years now, it somehow keeps getting smaller, and we keep putting more and more things in it. One specific problem area is the spice (and other cooking ingredients) cupboard.

I use to only have a handful of spices, namely cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and some steak rubs. I wasn’t huge into cooking and making things taste good, obviously. But after being married for nearly 5 years and having Grant help me realize that things can actually taste better with a little effort, my spice collection has nearly quadrupled in size. That being said, here is the untamed cupboard with our spices and cooking ingredients SHOVED full (along with cookie cutters, sprinkles, muffin liners, vitamins, etc).

What use to be a big, open, spacious shelf is now a tiny space for what we have collected over the years. So I thought I’d try to get my spices more organized and, dare I say, cute. Here is where SKS Bottle & Packaging, Inc. comes in.

I dug around on the internet for a while trying to find the best deal on square spice jars. Don’t know why I was so set on SQUARE spice jars, but they had to be square and they had to be glass. SKS had the exact thing I was looking for and at an affordable price. They aren’t technically spice jars, instead they are ‘Clear Glass French Square Bottles’, but they definitely can be used as spice jars. They come in cases of 2 dozen, which was plenty jars for all my spices. I was SO EXCITED when these arrived at my door.

I love how with these are so classy, sleek and uniform. I added my own little touch to them and label them with some red vinyl (thank you Silhouette) to match the rest of my red kitchen. 

But check out how awesome they look filled up with the different spices. So fun!

I mean, yeah, I probably could have just bought a brand new set of spices with the spice rack and it would have been about the same price. But I already had my spices and only wanted the SQUARE spice jars ;) But I do have the dilemma of where to put them now. I have them sitting in the same spot as before, which is much more organized. But it is pretty annoying to have to carefully take them all out to find the one I want. Yet another project to complete!

I’m pretty stinin’ pleased with these spice jars. I love how uniform and organized they’ve made my spices. I love the sleek, classy look they have. It was fun adding my own touch to them.

 

SKS also has a promotion (don’t know how long it is available) for a $10 discount. If you like the on facebook or follow them on twitter they will send you a promo code for a $10 off coupon.

 

Vinyl label details
font – Smiley Monster
vinyl – Oracal 631 Exhibition Cal vinyl, red (031)
size – .65” x <3.35” (average)