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?

Batman Birthday

This was my favorite party so far and I have a 2 and 4 year old so I've had a few!

I found this cute favor box cake idea here and created my own using the favor box template found here.

I was able to make two 4" boxes from one poster board. The first one was the hardest to figure out but once you have it you can use it to make all the rest by marking all the creases with a pencil so it's much easier to fold. I also used a corner cutter on the corners that needed curves which made that part easier. I also added each child's name in the Batman logo using my Cricut and Make The Cut software.

These cute superhero suckers were included in the favor boxes (template found here). I used leftover poster board scraps, a hole punch for the masks and cape, scrapbook scissors for the bottom of the cape to look more like Batman and a sweet friend to help with the tedious tracing and cutting!

Each child got a Batman cape that I made from some knit polyester found at Hobby Lobby. I cut a cape shape, made points at the bottom and sewed on strips to tie around the neck. This fabric doesn't need to be hemmed and since I was making 12 of these, my main goal was ease of construction! I then used a freezer paper stencil and yellow fabric paint to make the logo cut from my Cricut. 

I must warn you that this fabric is terrible for fabric paint, though; I had to put three coats to make it show up good. I had to let each coat dry in between coats so it took a few days. Also, the freezer paper bubbled a little from being wet each time which made the paint leak in a few spots. I used paper underneath the cape to keep from getting paint on the table and it got stuck on the back side. Use freezer paper instead.  

Nevertheless they turned out fine so I was happy. 

Each kid also got a paper Batman mask cut using this template. It's a really cute idea but it wasn't a very big hit so you may want to skip this part. 

This awesome Bat signal was supposed to take place of a birthday banner but our party was at 3pm so it was too bright to show up on the wall (insert sad face here). I found a tutorial here but I actually didn't need to black anything out like she did because I simply took the reflective piece out and it worked fine. I also used vinyl instead of paper and cut it with my Cricut and Make The Cut software in order to write the personal message. You will have to put the light close to the wall or it will be huge and blurry. We put it up that morning for the birthday boy though and he thought it was awesome! He's used it as a nightlight in his room ever since.

This is the Bat Cave. Coolest part of the party because it took the place of structured activities!

We blacked out all the windows (using cardboard and garbage bags) and hung paper bats and balloons with invisible thread. Each balloon had a Batman Villian taped to it for the kids to shoot at.

This provided hours of entertainment for the kids!

A 12-pack of foam dart launchers cost me $12 on Amazon and each gun came with 2 darts. They shoot SO far AND they're easy enough for little kids!  

 We kept the cake simple and my husband drew a bat with black icing by shining the flashlight on the cake and tracing it!

 I stayed up all hours of the night making this Bat Cave table tent with that same knit polyester used for the capes. This fabric was a horrible choice for this project! DO NOT use a knit fabric for it! I spent too much AND it stretched as I measured and sewed. I chose it so I wouldn't have to hem but it would have been worth the trouble :) I also ran out of fabric so I had to piece the door side together instead of making a slit down the middle like planned. I was going to add a Batman logo to the door but it was 2:30 in the morning so I scrapped the idea. The finished product was pretty bad but it is for a four year old so I'm not too torn up about it. That's what you get for procrastinating!

And the great idea below is courtesy of my artistic husband. My son got some knight dress-up stuff so my husband drew dragons on the balloons left over from the party and they were fighting them with a sword and some nerf guns. He did a great job! Drawing Batman villains on the balloons would have been cooler than taping print-outs onto balloons but also a lot more work for sure. 

Isn't my husband the coolest!? People think I'm creative but I'm not at all... he's the creative/artistic one in the family, I'm just crafty. A load of crafty ;)

Give Thanks Blocks

Princess Party

Here are a few cute ideas for a princess party using Make The Cut software and a Cricut machine:

I found crown templates online (girl's and boy's) that I re-sized to be a bit smaller and then merged them into one piece instead of two. I had the kids glue the shapes on the crowns then stapled the band to the back.

The applique on her shirt was also cut using my Cricut but if I did it over I'd just do fabric by hand because I think it dulls the blade.

This picture is hard to see but I found a simple dress image and put each letter on each dress cutting them both (dress and letter) out. The letters that had pieces inside (like R or D) that needed to stay attached were just taped together and it wasn't too noticeable.  

Another hard to see picture has the stars hanging in the windows. They were made from the same posterboard as the crowns. Hang with fishing line or invisible thread and add some pretty lights for a very girly/princess-y look!

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.

Freezer Paper Stencil with Cricut

I don't know why but I've always been too chicken to do the freezer paper stencils... maybe because all the tutorials I found said you had to take an exacto knife to the image and that sounded like way too much work!

Well I went to a craft night with some friends and one of them was doing a shirt for her husband for Father's Day and she was using this tutorial from I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar. This girl was using the Cricut to cut out her image so I decided this was a way cooler idea than my original one (which was actually cool too - I was going to have my 3 year old son write "Dad" on a shirt and then use a bleach pen to trace over it). I found this website describing how to do this with your cricut.

This project was so fun for my son because after I applied the freezer paper to the shirts with the iron, he could paint on the stencil and essentially be the one to make Dad and Grandpa's shirts. My husband needed a green shirt anyway since he's going to be coaching my son's soccer team and their jerseys are green. I think I may do another one just like it but use heat transfer vinyl instead of fabric paint for a more professional look.

The "Grandpa" one was tricky to design because of the swoosh part... it took forever to design in my Make The Cut software.

Happy Father's Day!

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!

Tutorial: How To Make A Ruffled Monogram Pillow

Thank goodness for birthdays or I'd never have an excuse to make stuff! I feel like the only time I get to create anymore is when my kids are going to a birthday party. My poor neglected kids don't ever get anything made by me either because it's just getting harder to find the time as they grow. Not to mention the fact that we just moved AND started a new job. But ANYWHO...

Here is an adorable pillow for a little girl's bedroom that you can personalize with her initial.

I used my Cricket to cut this letter "M" but you could easily print it then trace it onto your fabric and cut. This was my first time cutting fabric with my Cricket machine (using these instructions) and it worked great.

It was also my first time applying an applique. I'd had the stuff to do it forever but was intimidated. For no reason I might add. It was so easy. All you need is Fray Check, Heat n' Bond and a somewhat simple shaped applique. For me, sewing around the applique was too hard when I used a super curvy font (i.e. "Curlz").

So this is what you do:

Cut out two squares for your pillow in any size you choose. Also cut out a letter (or anything else you want to use for your applique) and apply Fray Check to the edges. Cut four strips of fabric for you ruffle that are each about 1.5 times as long as one of your pillow's sides, fold them over length-wise with wrong sides together and iron.

Then open them up and sew them right sides together on the shorter sides until you have a big loop. Iron the seams open and then re-iron it length-wise over the seam. Come to think of it you might as well just wait to iron the entire thing lenth-wise until after you've sewed each strip together.

Now gather the whole thing by sewing the raw edges together with an extra long stitch length and pulling on the ends.

Now attach the ruffle to the right side of one square with pins. Use your seams as a guide by pinning them to the corners so that it's all even. Speaking of corners, make sure your ruffles aren't bunched right there because mine were sloppy and I had to use my seam ripper and redo them after sewing over the outter edges of my ruffle the first time.

Use your Heat n' Bond to apply your applique to the other square. Once attached you can sew around the edges of the letter using your zig-zag stitch and a very low stitch length setting.

Next, take your monogramed square and lay it face-down on top, right sides together, and re-pin, removing the pins used in the previous step as you go.

Now you're ready to sew! Leave a small opening to pull it right side out through (it's best if this opening is in the center of two corners instead of at a corner). Once right side out, stuff with batting and sew opening shut using invisible thread or a matching thread if fabric is a solid color.