#vinylallthethings

I've been such a "cut-up" lately...

I had been wanting to make a giant canvas for a long time. A little re-decorating of the front room plant shelf was my impetus.

This is Psalm 100 on a 24" x 36" canvas from the HobLob.

My friends are relocating their antique shop to downtown Glendale and asked me to make a few signs.

front shop window

I usually spend way more time designing than the cutter takes to cut the vinyl! 

And then my friend found stashed (& forgotten) stocking-stuffers from 2 years ago. I tried a little stretch vinyl on them. 

I also made the hubs a shirt he'd been asking for since the one he special ordered at a shop (who knew tall men need longer t-shirts?!?) has started to wear.

I've also got a few more projects in the planning/designing stage...

Esprit décor

I just wanted to post a couple items we made for Alec’s graduation party. His high school colors were purple, black & white. His college colors will be purple, black & white. AWESOME!Aside from driving to 7 different WalMarts on 3 separate (stifling hot!) days to find enough purple plates & napkins, these little graduation hats were the most time-consuming project of the celebration.I had envisioned a lovely string of purple bulbs with a black hat affixed to each. Since there were to be 20 bulbs, I decided the cutouts in brim of the hat would say: C – O – N – G – R – A – T – U – L – A – T – I – O – N – S - - A – L – E – C.                     Lovely in theory, but the mortarboards were too broad for the spacing of the lights. <sigh>However, we hung them along the enty arch to welcome guests. (You just couldn’t read what it said…)

The second project I used the electronic cutter for was the name cards for our refreshments.I totally love the little grad cap cutout!

The exhibit on Alec’s gift table was made perfect with the easel I borrowed from my friends’ antique shop. We used it to display his lovely framed praestantia award. And I loved that I could utilize my Wolf dressform to show off the cap, gown and honor cords from the graduation ceremony.

Backside of the June…

The 6^th month of the year is has always been a whirlwind for my family. When I was growing up, my grandparents’ anniversary was on the 2^nd, my parents’ the 6^th, then came Father’s Day & my birthday right on top of each other. Grandpa & Grandma had a camp that they ran for at least two weeks of this month as well.

Then I decided to have a June wedding, and my in-law’s decided to have both their birthdays in June, too!

If you blend the above facts with this month’s trips, you can see that June was, well, INSANE!

In between the two Colorado jaunts we took Mom & Dad out for dinner to celebrate their joint birthdays. Creative planning running thin, we decided to take them to, ummmmmmmm, Rudy’s.

I was able to muster a few creative juices to make their gifts.

I made this for my MIL with the help of my digital cutting machine & a frame from the HobLob.

For the FIL (a man who ♥s coffee & adores fudge) I whipped up a batch of Espresso Toffee-topped Espresso Fudge.Silly me, I made the old-fashioned recipe of fudge where you have to beat it until your arm falls out of the socket.

But it was worth it!The toffee was my favorite part of it all.Although, the fudge wasn’t too bad…

Pretty sure it’s all gone now…

House of Cards…

Although this home houses extreme Red-Bird fans, that’s not what this post is about. (Just know we are very disappointed to be living in the city hosting the Super Bowl & not have our team show up…)

But I did want to share a few paper projects I’ve done the past few months:

A dear man turned 90 today.That’s a whole lotta-lotta candles!

And December 17th a sweet woman celebrated her 90th birthday.(This is a beautiful card cover from Bird’s Cards.)

Here are December 2014’s biscotti tags.

Nothing better than birthday bunting!

Needless to say, I put my heart into the cards I make. But it’s the sympathy cards that require heart, soul & many tears during creation.

I even tried my hand at making seeded paper. Next time I’ll make the paper thinner so I can cut it. (No kitchen shears or box cutters were injured in the shaping of these letters -- but almost!)

I’d have to say on of my favorites was this Scrabble card:(Sorry I’ve had to blur some letters to protect the innocent.)

I’ve some more cards in the works for Valentine’s Day, so keep watching this web space…