Double-Sided Holiday Blocks

Remember my "Give Thanks" blocks here and my "Spooky" blocks here?

Well... although I described the fact that they were double sided, I never posted adequate pictures... so since the season is upon us and I had them back out of storage anyway, I decided to snap a few photos to better explain how totally rad they really are.

So here goes...

Here are the blocks and then how they look from behind

The "Give" block is the only one that doesn't have something on the back. I suppose you could put an exclamation point on it to read "Spooky!" if you wanted to utilize it. 

Wait, I know! You could also make two different words out of it like "Boo!" and "Eek" or maybe since Halloween is over you could turn the back of the Thanksgiving blocks into Christmas sayings like "Noel" and "Joy".

The possibilities are endless. What will your new reversible blocks say?

Vinyl Stenciled, Fabric Painted Onesies

I set out to make freezer paper stenciled onsies for a baby shower gift and realized that some of my designs were too intricate for freezer paper (mostly the tires on the jeep). I had some leftover blue vinyl that I wouldn't be using for anything, so I decided to use it along with some transfer paper to apply the stencils to the onsies before painting.

The first batch of stencils were way too big (I guess I forgot how small newborns really are!) so I had to start over and I was already in a time crunch so my sweet husband helped me out by blowdrying them. He tried to be nice and help even more by adding a second coat and ended up getting a blotch on the black guitar onesie. I had to improvise by adding some more blotches all around it using a cut-out of an oval shape. I think it looks cool that way!

 I used my one of my huge vinyl stencils from the first batch to make our son a Superman shirt. After seeing this and helping me with the onesies, my husband decided to use the other huge stencils to make our son a brown jeep shirt with black tires and our daughter a guitar shirt. He was really into it too, he wouldn't even wait for the paint to dry before taking the vinyl off because he was too excited to see the finished product lol!

Because of the cost, I wouldn't recommend regularly using vinyl for this project but if you really want a specific design that's too hard to do with freezer paper, this sure works great! And you don't have to break out the iron :)

Spooky Blocks

I got a little lazy and didn't bother painting these blocks. I simply mod podged the paper on and used dye on the edges. I really love using my Make The Cut software! So glad I got it before it stopped being compatible with Cricut! 

Have a spooky Halloween!

Vinyl Bin Labels

I have been meaning to do this project FOR. EV. ER. Seriously over a year now. I guess I just knew it would take some time and effort and I haven't had either one to put into it. Well I finally finished everything else written down on my to-do list and it was the only thing remaining so I just made myself do it. Now I'm off to make a new to-do list!

Spa Rules Sign

Really fun gift for my father-in-law's birthday! I made it with my little 6x12 personal Cricut. I got some blue vinyl and a blank white metal sign from a wholesale company. It was 18x24 so it was a challenge to make my 12" wide sentances fill it up - which is why I added extra vinyl on the sides of the title and bullets to the rules.

Let me know if you have any questions about making it... also, I learned a little tip about getting rid of bubbles in the vinyl. Pop them with a straight pin! So easy.

Vinyl Projects

I know you've all seen these family name plaques a hundred times and don't need a tutorial on how to do them BUT I just had to share my first vinyl projects with you because I'm so happy that I finally got the guts to try cutting my precious vinyl with my Cricut! I've mentioned that I love Make The Cut but I'm going to say it again... I would definitely not be using my Cricut much if I didn't have it. The possibilities are endless with this software and it's cheaper than getting any more than 2 cartridges anyway! But moving on... do you see the little squiggly designs on either side of "Est. 2001"? I found that character in the "Curlz" font, turned it sideways and enlarged it. I cut two normally and then flipped the image and cut two more. I was going for a wrought-iron-ish design above and below these three 8X10s that I put on my wall using those corner picture holders for scrapbooks.

I'll be honest, I'm not loving it but I think if I can find a big frame to go around all of it that might be cute, right? It just really needs some dimention since it's all completely flat. If you have any other ideas for me about what to add or alter, I could really use some input!

Faux Vinyl Tile

Looking for a cute home decor item you can make with items you probably have on hand?

Check out The Hybrid Chick's great tutorial here to make your own tile

A few tips:

Home Depot will cut your tile for free even if you don't buy it there

If you don't have Photoshop just use funky fonts in Paint or Word

Don't be stingy with the Mod Podge when adhering the paper to the tile