Playing on the Walls

I am embarking on a new project today. I took the 1980's wallpaper down from the last room in my house this summer and painted it instead. The bathroom now looks a little plain, so I am going to use some vinyl and original canvas artwork to spruce it up. I can't wait to get it done and to share it with you.

In the meantime, I have a couple of pics to share with you of some vinyl lettering artwork I did the middle of January over at my friend, Angie's, house. The first one is in her bedroom. We originally only did the "Wake Up" and "Wonderful" in the light blue, but it was a struggle to see them. Since I used the Cricut Craft Room to make the projects, all I had to do was "un"slant the lettering and cut again in brown. Now it looks like the blue is a shadow. The scroll work above was a metal piece she already had on the wall. The font is from Opposites Attract.

This one is on the back wall of her laundry room, which she completed as part of a remodeling of her home. I love the saying - it fits my friend's mothering style to a "t" (completely practical). It looks like the "n" in laundry is smaller than the other letters, but it isn't. All the letters were sized evenly in Cricut Craft Room, so it is an optical illusion. The scroll above the letters came from the Cricut Cake Basics. The center flower is from page 64 (filgree3). The trails to each side of it are from page 55 (swirl4). I used the "flip image" on the R one to create the mirrored images. The fonts are from Plantin School Book and Opposites Attract.

The two of us also did a Marilyn Monroe saying on the wall of her tween's playroom. The wall was brown and the vinyl was white and red with silver stars sweeping from the top L down to the bottom R of the wall. The saying was something about make-believe. She also has some hollywood glamour posters up in the room. I thought she was very creative in coming up with a way to update an older child's "play" area! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Tile Coasters

I had an afternoon to come up with a housewarming gift for someone I barely knew. I had no idea what this person's decorating style, color palette or needs were. So, I went to Cricut! Doesn't everyone love what comes from the Cricut? Here's what I came up with!

These coasters started out as plain stone tiles purchased loosely from home Depot. There was a set of 9 in the box and I paid less than $4 for the box. I made a set of 4. This will leave me with enough tiles to make a second gift at another time.

To get started, I washed my stones off as I have found that when I have worked with natural stones, as opposed to ceramic tiles, there is a lot more dust that interfere with the adhering of the vinyl. I cut my "H" at 3" from the Opposites Attract cart. After placing the vinyl, I covered it with a layer of Modge Podge. Finally, I put these clear nubbies on the bottom. The nubbies are actually designed and sold for the purpose of keeping cabinet doors from slamming. All in all, I have $5 tied up in this project.

The best part: When my hostess received her gift, she was thrilled. Their new home is much larger, and they had just bought a new table for a new sitting area, but were in need of coasters. She was thrilled. So was I.

Don't burst my bubble!

Claire's birthday was the middle of the month of May. Our month was so busy we had to cancel a few things just to find time to have a party for her!

When we first moved to this house 4 years ago, I painted her room this yellow with a small section over by the windows the bubble gum pink. We decorated in Dora, but Dora was quickly outgrown. For the last 2 years I have been wanting to find a theme that would fit my decidedly less-than-frilly girl, but wouldn't require repainting. She adores Bobby Jack so this was a perfect fit for both of us.

I used vinyl in a teal, chocolate brown, golden, and bubble gum pink to create the wall decor. Obviously, the lettering and bubbles were simple cuts on the cricut. Bobby himself is made from circles and ovals as well. The only thing hand cut are his eyes and nose. But even the eyeballs were simple circular cuts. The lettering of the Bobby Jack signature came from the Opposites Attract cartridge. The caption lettering came from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, along with all the ovals and circles. I used the monkey on the comforter as my pattern. By employing some algebra, I was able to keep my ratios the same when I enlarged it onto the wall.

I had a lot of fun with this quick project. It took me about 4 hours to complete. Not a bad time investment to get a one-of-a-kind look!

Wedding Tile

May is by far much busier than December ever thought of being! To add to an already full calendar, I have been getting ready for a friend's wedding that the whole family was asked to be a part of. So while I have actually been doing a lot of crafting and sewing, I've not had a chance to post any of it.

As the maid of honor for the wedding, I had to prepare a toast. Being the chatty one that I am, I made sure I wrote out my speech beforehand in order to keep the toast short. As part of the speech before the toast, I had a bible verse that I felt was particularly applicable to this couple. I used the Cricut to cut the verse from vinyl, along with the couples name and wedding date. I have learned that I must modge podge over the tiles or else the vinyl letters lift with time. This particular font was the "upright" from the "Opposites Attract" cartridge. On the back I tried something new. I modge-podged on a sheet of scrapbook paper to cover up the ugly back. Then I printed out a copy of the speech/toast to put on the back as well. I loved the way doing both sides of the tile turned out. I think the bride could even flip the tile over to the back and display that side if she ever wanted. Much better than the plain ugly back or adding just felt or cork!

Candles and flower Pails

I have been very busy with too many things to mention over the last month. But I wanted to take a moment to post a set of candles I was asked to make for one of my daughter's girl scout troop. The words come from the Girl Scout Law. There are 10 candles, each one containing a part of the Law. The girls used the candles as part of their Investiture and Rededication Ceremony. I cut Cricut letters from vinyl, used the transfer tape and lit the candle. Nothing complicated, but very unique!

I have also been helping a friend get ready for her wedding at the end of the month. I included a picture of the flower girl pails. These started as galvanized metal buckets with wood colored handles. Gotta' love spray paint, fabric and hot glue!

Simple Cricut Lettering

I wanted to share with you some very simple lettering with the Cricut. I only have 2 font cartridges for my Cricut. I keep thinking I am going to invest in the Sure Cuts A Lot software that would allow me to use any font program on my computer on my Cricut, BUT I haven't done that yet. So, this was an experiment to prove to myself - and all those who have EVERY cartridge under the sun, that less can be more. These pages have all been completed in the last couple of weeks. I am ashamed to admit that they cover a vacation that happened a year ago. In my world, less has to be more because I keep getting more and more and wishing for less and less! Can I get an amen?

Starting with the top left 'Backlot photos", this was done with the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, using the basic font in red and the shadow feature in gray. Next, I switched to the Opposites Attract cartridge. For the word "Zaniness" I used the upright round feature and then the Trapezoid feature for "Muppets". Instead of using the actual trapezoids, I used the negative space from the cut. This created a really nice contrasting line across my page. In "POP Century" I combined my two cartridges using the Plantin Schoolbook for the POP, with the shadow feature as previously shown, and then the upright lettering on the Opposites Attract cartridge for the "Century". Finally, on "Disney World" I used the basic lettering on Opposites Attract and then went back over the lettering with a glitter pen. I loved how closely this mimicked the Disney font without paying for a whole new Disney font cartridge. The point of this lettering is to create a feel, a theme, a look, and not to be an exact replica. For me, keeping $30 in my pocket is worth the "knock off".

What I am most interested in is ideas for adhering the lettering to my pages and cards. I have tried the mini tape runner that Creative Memories used to sell. It worked OK, but my understanding is that they have discontinued that product. The glue pens from Zig tend to be messy in my opinion. What I am using right now that seems to be working very well is the Xyron 1.5" sticker maker. The only downside to it that I can see is the time it takes to get the letters to align in there so you are wasting as little sticker tape as possible. If you have any other ideas or suggestions I would love to hear your comments!

For those Cricut Addicts out there, I have a chalenge for you: How many projects or layouts can you do using only 2 cartridges before you get bored or hit a wall?

Mastercard Commercial Quality Gifts

I needed new gift ideas for teachers & friends who had already received my standard glass light block (see previous blog post). So, I came up with these tiles, which I already had in my basement left over from some past projects. I used the Opposites Attract Critcut cartridge to cut the letters for the Girl Scout Tiles. The Girl Scout sayings are part of the Girl Scout Law. The teacher's tile was adapted from a plaque I saw in a store that was actually intended for families. I used the Plantin School catridge to cut my letters and the Locker Talk cartrisge to cut my globe.

A couple of thoughts if you are going to do these projects yourself. The multi-colored tile is unsealed slate. Even though I washed the slate before I added my lettering, I still had difficulty getting the lettering to stick. After laying my letter down, I used modge podge on the whole tile, using a criss-cross motion so that in case any streaking showed, it would look intentional. This sealed both the lettering and my tile. There was some slight show of the modge podge, but the criss cross pattern actually made it look professionally painted.

Need help with sentiments for your tiles? Go shopping! Premade greeting cards, plaques at local hobby stores and home furnishing sections. You can find so much online as well. Then personalize the sentiment in some way. Making something you can't buy anywhere else will make your inexpensive gifts priceless. Isn't that what makes the Mastercard commercials so great??? 1 tile: $.90. Vinyl lettering: $2. Stand: $3.99. A gift made only for them, priceless!