Enlarged Family Silhouette cut-out

This project, unfortunately, took me FOREVER, but it was well worth the wait. The idea came to me about two months ago and I finally finished it. Don’t you hate how life gets so stinkin’ busy. Normally I only stick with projects that take me an hour or two, not a month or two. But, I’m in love with this family silhouette. I love having unique and personalized home décor, and this obviously fits in that category.

I started out with a family picture that would work as a silhouette. Luckily you can’t see the faces or what is really going on in the actual silhouette cut-out. In the silhouette, it looks like little B man (on the right) is being cute and just looking up at me. In reality that little stinker is trying to get away and right after the picture threw a big ol’ fit.

I edited the picture in Power Point (I don’t have anything fancier) and removed the background.

In the beginning I didn’t know how I was going to get this little picture into a 3’ x 3’ size. I thought about cutting it with the Silhouette out of cardstock (in many pieces to get it big enough), but that just sounded painful. Luckily my friend has a projector that is perfect for projects like this. (Thanks Jennifer!!) So in the end, I didn’t really need to remove the background, but it did make tracing it easier.

It only took about 30 minutes to trace it onto the MDF 3’ x 3’ board. So easy! I may need to add a projector like this to my collection.

Then came the fun part! I cut our family out with a jigsaw. Before this project I had actually never used a jigsaw. Growing up I worked in the shop a lot with my dad, who was a carpenter for most of his life. Grant and I now have as many, or possibly more, tools as he did and I just love it! Here is another tool I can check off my list of experiences.

There was only one casualty in the process. Little B man’s arm broke at the shoulder. Thank goodness for glue! Next time I make a huge family silhouette cut-out I may need to use a different type of board. This MDF is pretty rigid and I was very nervous the whole time that it was going to break more than it did.

I painted it with a couple coats of black Rustoleum spray paint and one coat of clear matte finish. It ended up being just under 3’ tall and wide.

Now it sits on top of our cupboards in the kitchen. I still have more decorating to do up there, but this is the main piece I’ve been waiting for! Talk about personalized home décor! I love it :)

 

*sorry about all the splotches on the pictures. That’s frustrating!

 

 

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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!)

Recycled car metal ring band

I really like making jewelry with recycled car metal! First of all, it’s free. Grant went to an auto body collision shop and asked for some scraps and they gave him a whole car hood! Second of all, you can make whatever you want and if you mess up, oh well…IT’S FREE! I have made earrings, rings, and necklaces. I wish I had more time to create more, but right now I only have the time to make a new ring for myself.

Grant and I were married almost 5 years ago and since then I’ve had two kids and my weight has obviously gone up and down a bit. As of right now, my wedding ring doesn’t fit, especially when it is cold. I never wear my wedding ring anymore because I know it will just slide of my finger, never to be found again. Rather than get it resized to fit my now skinny little finger, I just let it sit on the counter and think about wearing it. Instead, I decided to make a replacement ring until my wedding ring fits again (probably the next pregnancy).

This replacement ring isn’t nearly as glamorous as my actual ring, but it is fun and unique.

I even personalized it! (see the G + K)

I’m not going to show the process of how I made it yet, but this is what I started with (car metal cut to size) -

What I used to create this ring band:

• recycled car metal
• aviator tin snips
• a dremel and different sanding and grinding tips
• ring mandrel
• rubber mallet
• metal hole punch
• craft wire(cut to size & used as a rivet)
• paint
• finishing wax
• sandpaper
• metal stamps(for the inside engraving)

And just for fun, here are some of the other rings I’ve made in the past

I particularly like the white of my new ring – makes me think of my wedding all over again. Take about fun!

**MORE DIY JEWELRY PROJECTS**

 

 

 

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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!