Upgraded Coffee Thermos

Last weekend was the neighborhood garage sale I look forward to every year. It usually has a pretty good participation of sellers and plenty of shoppers. A friend (who's expecting her first baby) went with me (as well as my four kiddos and an extra one to boot.) I really had to have some self restraint as I would see something and say, "Ooooh, I saw 'fill in the blank' on Pinterest, we could add some burlap, lace and a mason jar, a little spray paint and it would look so cool!" But alas, I resisted the chandelier, extra frames, interesting wood tables, etc.

But something I was looking for, was a 12 cup thermos, for entertaining. I stumbled across three at one garage sale. Again, I exercised a bit of self control and only bought one. My first thought was to  peal the "skin" from it and vinyl it up. But I could tell the more I looked at it, that underneath the wrapper there were some dents. So I decided to work with what was there and make it mine. I am not a coffee snob...I don't mind generic brands, won't pay the outrageous prices of the coffee shops that are all over the region, couldn't tell you the best coffee in town...and really only pay attention to the cream and sugar. So "Seattle's Best Coffee" would be a serious case of false advertising if I left it like that. My coffee isn't the best in any town :)

Using Make-the-Cut, vinyl and a free dingbat font from Clever Someday, I came up with this:

I'm just so tickled with how it came out!

Kissing Ball Topiaries

The following is a tutorial for a Pinterest inspired, kissing ball topiary. It is photo heavy to hopefully make it thorough.

A couple disclaimers to start off...

• My finger nails were not polished, filed or pampered in anyway before taking pictures...please ignore them.
• Although ,my desk was cleared off  at the beginning of the project,  most photos are in real time and the working mess is there for all to see.
• I thoroughly torched my finger with hot glue and the bandage on my right ring finger makes typing a hunt and peck adventure...my backspace key is getting quite a workout!
• My hot glue gun says to wear eye protection...nothing was mentioned about hands.
• The inspiration for this project was pinned on Pinterest from these sites: Pepper Design Blog, LW Design, and Today's Fabulous Finds.

 

1.Cut zillions of 1 foot length strips of crepe paper streamers. (I bought mine in a two pack at the dollar store.) To speed up the process, I used a 24" ruler for a rotary cutter and wrapped the crepe paper around it 'til I finished the roll. I then cut the top and bottom. I folded the pieces in half (all at once) and cut those too, to get my 12" pieces. (Approximate measurements are okay for this project!)  I used  a few rolls.

 

See? Zillions of crepe paper strips :)

 

2. Layer two pieces of crepe paper together. With sewing machine tension loose and stitch length as long as possible, sew a straight line down the center-ish of the crepe paper.

 

3. When finished with one, just sew right off the edge and start the next one. No need to clip threads at this point. 

I try to do a chain of about 5-7 strips before I leave a thread tail and clip it. Here's the next pile.

 

4. Pull the bobbin thread to gather the paper. Leaving the strips connected for this step helps with keeping track of the thread. After they are gathered, go ahead and snip them apart.

  

5. Fold a strip in half, keeping the gathers the best you can. Lost threads can be fake gathered as it's folded.

6. Roll up flower.

7. Generously glob hot glue on the bottom of the flower.

8. Stick it to the Styrofoam ball. (The ball I used is 6" and was the most expensive part of the project.) Styrofoam can handle the hot glue much better than fingers!

 

Notice the top of the line stand for the ball.

9. Repeat...placing flowers near each other...some visible space can be covered as you fluff the flowers.

10. Before filling the last bit in, hot glue a candlestick (also from the dollar store) onto the bottom of the ball. And then fill in the rest around it.

11. Remember all those threads...They need to be trimmed now. (I used a colored ball so the white thread would show up.)

 And It's Finished!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Personalizing Hard Hats

Had fun tonight making a personalized hard hat for my hubby. He's just started an engineering company and I thought the hat was a blank canvas just waiting for some vinyl. The logo was designed in Photoshop Elements and then brought into Make-the-Cut as a jpg.

Howdy

I got to do another baby plaque. This was actually a special request for someone else to give as a gift. Apparently the new mom loves horses and cowboy stuff. Soooo, I got my all time favorite Cricut Cartridge out, Paper Doll Dress Up. I used the horse from the Knight and the Cowboy character. I had just bought Stampin' Up! Soft Suede card stock and am especially pleased with the look of black chalk on it.

Subway Art Baby Plaque

I love doing baby plaques, but they're really hard to personalize if I don't know Jr's name. This was the case for a new baby that was arriving in early March. The parents were very tight lipped when it came to sharing the baby's name. I did know that it was a boy and the nursery was black and white...and football. I decided to wait to make the gift after I had the "details." I set up the type and verse and mock weight etc. in Make the Cut and then changed it once I knew. (I did guess the length...woo hoo!)

This is a definite change for the usual style I've done...but it was fun. I still have lots to learn on designing good Subway Art. But babies keep coming, so I'll have lots of practice. :)

I found the frame at Michael's, painted it black and  used white Orcal vinyl for the lettering.

It is Well

Here is another Pinterest inspired project. I repinned this collage. Unfortunately, whoever originally pinned it, didn't pin it from the original source. It may have been user uploaded, but whatever the case, I have no idea who to give credit to. Please message me if you know the original link or source!

**Here is the link to this at Etsy.

All that to say...I thought it was a great idea and loved the composition. I'm still pretty green on the whole painting thing, but here is my take on it. (I made it for a gift for my father-in-law.)

Here's what I did to make mine...

1. Find sheet music for It is Well with My Soul, size it to fit in frame (8x10), and print off on parchment looking paper.
2. Seal that with Modge Podge. (I did this so that my letters wouldn't stick and rip the paper.)
3. Cut out "It is Well with My Soul." I used Make the Cut and my Silhouette to cut out contact paper.
4. Adhere words to sheet music to use as a mask.
5. Paint two coats of very light color all over. Let dry.
6. Mix a medium color with some glaze medium, then brush it on working in small sections, wiping it off in circular motions with crumpled cheese cloth. Let dry.
7. Repeat with a very dark color/glaze mix. Let dry.
8. Carefully remove the contact paper letters.
9. Mount the mat. (I used clear packing tape on the back.)
10. Cut the bird image out of contact paper, removing the inside part, to make a stencil. (I found my bird on Silhouette's website here. I did tweak it a bit to make the branch a bit longer.)
11. Position stencil over mat and sheet music and adhere.
12. Paint inside the stencil with a light brown.
13. Mix dark brown with glaze and paint and wipe with cheese cloth like above. 
14. Remove stencil. Let dry.
15. Frame it :)

Doggie Bag

My daughter made an adorable puppy hat for baby Jeremiah. I got to help with the wrapping by making the gift bag and tag. Here's the coordinating efforts...

I used Cricut Doodle Charm cartridge for puppies.