Embellishing Disney Matching T-shirts

A few days ago,  I posted about how to make these fun matching Mickey Mouse Ears t-shirts using fabric of your choosing and you Mickey and Friends Cricut cartridge.  Today, let's talk about embellishing.  The top R Pooh shirt has no embellishment and the thread was a Pooh brown.  To me, it lacks pop, but it fits it's owner to a t!  The Princess shirt on the L however, has a nice bright hot pink border.  To add to the princess flair, I found tiara iron-on embellies at my local Joann store.

 

Let's talk for a minute about the zig-zag stitch.  You should be able to find a zig stitch even on the absolute simplest of machines.  If you look closely at the shirt on the left, you can see that the zig-zag produces a stitch similar to a satin/embroidery stitch done on a high end machine.  But that there are gaps and even some missed stitches.  The fun thing about the Mickey Ears is that imperfection on your machine's part adds only whimsy to the overall look!  So if you've never sewn before, this is a fun way to start!

 For embellishment here on Miss Tinkerbell, I added some individual iron-on bling that actually came in a large sheet of random iron-ons.  I cut them out from the big sheet and ironed right on.  Easy breazy!  The outline thread was a bright lime/Tinkerbell green and pops a lot more in person than this picture shows!






Finally, the classic Cinderella outlines in Cinderella pale blue with the same tiara iron on as the princesses above.  All of these t-shirts were easy to make because the owner chose popular characters with fabric easy to find!  But what to do for those who chose something a little less obscure?  The villain, perhaps?  Or a quirky side-kick?  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

Paris Party (Part Deux)

I previously posted details about last week's Paris Party held in honor of my daughter's birthday. In this post, I wanted to highlight all the things I was able to use the Cricut on to make this party a snap.

On our front door, I posted the word art "Paris" with the Eiffel Tower in it. I used vinyl that I am able to get from my brother's graphic design company for free. They frequently have leftovers from projects and he is kind enough to save them for me. So, this nifty little mood-setter cost me nothing, and came on my cartridge exactly as is. A punch of a button and it was ready to go.

Just inside the front door was the sidewalk scene (see previous post). On the French doors behind the scene were an Eiffel Tower and more word art. Hanging from the ceiling were an array of French inspired designs from the Summer in Paris cartridge. These included a shoe, perfume bottle, dress form, hot air balloon, and more word art. Again, all of this was done by click on Cricut. The only thing I had to do was decide my colors, glue the layers together and hang them up!

You know, no trip is complete without the classic t-shirt souvenir. Using the vinyl, I cut Eiffel Towers to use as stencils on t-shirts. I found these permanent fabric spray bottles at both Michael's and Joann's. The girls had a lot of fun with this and it was the easiest craft of the night.

In addition to the t-shirt, we also had table in which the girls made hairbows (see previous post on hair poms/rosettes for directions) and Eiffel Towers. Again, the 3-D Eiffel Tower came as a cut on the Summer In Paris Cartridge. I had cut the towers out before the party. The girls used glitter and gel pens to make designs on the cutouts and then glued them together using pre-cut notches.

I wished I'd had the cartridge 2 weeks earlier so I could have done my invitations with it instead of the stamp. I have to say, though, this cartridge paid for itself with all decorations and crafts it covered!

Same cut, 2 ways

I am working diligently on finishing my last few pages from our Disney trip LAST March. In playing around with the Mickey's house cut from the Mickey and Friends cartridge, I found out that my good friend Kelly has just moved in to a new home. While I miss her (she's now in Florida!), I am so happy for her. So, I began to wonder if I could kill two birds with one stone!?! I don't know that I am thrilled with the outcome, but it was definitely a challenge to see how different I could make the two look just by changing colors and finishings.

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!

Season of Lights - One "Upped"

I LOVE the glass blocks with the Christmas lights inserted into them and have found they are great, low-cost teacher gifts with high impact. My daughters' teachers still display them in their classes every year and the girls take so much pride in saying, "I gave that to Miss X when I was in her class 2 years ago." But this year I have the Cricut. Which means the blocks have to be taken up just a notch.

My husband is an avid Missouri fan. And if you are from the midwest, you know that MU does NOT mix with KU. We have the Borderline Showdown every year here in KC to prove who is top dog - "bragging rights". My husband's boss is one of those "detested KU people", as was my own grandmother. So for Christmas this year, he broke down and had me make his boss a KU lightbox. I found the ornament at WalMart. The jayhawk is actually a face tattoo. It had great adhesion and a transparency that most stickers do not have. The other KU letters are vinyl cut with the Cricut (plantin schoolbook text).

His boss loved it and has plans to incite other KU fans in the office against my DH!

Pillow cases and matching baby dolls jammies

I've been on a kick of creating personalized pillow cases using my sewing skills and my super fun Cricut machine to add names of lucky birthday girls to the side margins. I've also used scraps from the projects to make pajamas for American Girl dolls and Bitty Baby dolls and matching pillows for the babies. This idea works great, so long as I get the invite within a week's time!