Customized Photo Frame - Baby Dedication

A really good friend of mine is having her baby dedicated at chuch and I wanted to give a special gift to little Quinn.  Because the baby is not being baptized as that doesn't happen until the child is old enough to make that choice on his/her own accord I had a difficult time deciding what to give as a gift for this important event.  Then someone reminded me that I could just make a gift with vinyl!  So funny that I wasn't smart enough to think of that all by myself!  : )

I have seen many people customize picture frames and thought that this just might be the perfect gift.  I found a nice picture frame that had a mat inside to fit a 5x7 picture.  And then I decided to include the name of the church, the date of the dedication and simply just have the rest say "To Celebrate the Dedication of Quinn Alexander Scott" and then included a professional baby picture of little Quinn.  For this gift I must thank Facebook as it allowed me a chance to take one of little Quinns baby picture from my friend's photo album on her Facebook page!  She can always change it out to a different picture but this picture will work in giving the gift.  Because I wanted the vinyl on the backside of the glass I had to reverse the words prior to cutting them.  I also used beige for the vinyl color as the mat was a deep, dark red.  I think the color combinations worked out great as the inner part of the photo mat also is outlined by a beige color.  Below is my finished gift!

The dedication isn't until this evening so I really hope my friend does not visit this blog until tomorrow!  I just didn't want to wait that long to post the finished product!  : )

Cindy

Trick Or Treat!!!! - Halloween Buckets

Trick Or Treat!!!  Halloween is Almost Here!

While shopping at Michaels one day I saw orange and black buckets for a $1 each.  I knew these would be perfect for my boys for Trick Or Treating with a little help of some Vinyl Decorations!  This was a very simple project as I cut out several vinyl pictures and sayings and just placed them on the bucket.  Much easier then my last Halloween project of adding vinyl to pumpkins as their grooves proved to be a challenge although I did eventually win in the end! 

These buckets could be used for many other Halloween decorations as well.  Just not in my household as once my boys saw the finished buckets, they will not set them down!  They love to pretend to Trick Or Treat in the house with the buckets and in their costumes which I'm hoping will still be in one piece by Halloween.  Below are the final pictures!

Cindy

Halloween - Craft Pumpkins

Slowly but surely I am decorating for Halloween!  The other day I stopped at Michaels and picked up 2 White Craft Pumpkins and knew they needed to have some vinyl placed on them!  This was actually a very long and frustrating project as trying to line up vinyl pictures on grooved pumpkins is much easier said then done!  Once I would line up a picture, I then used several thin coats of Modge Podge to ensure they were sealed tight and the Modge Podge also gave a nice glossy finish to the pumpkin!

Here are my final pictures - I did put 4 pictures on each pumpkin so I could rotate them around and no matter which angle a person came from he would have a picture to look at!  : )  I am so glad I can save these pumpkins year after year as, at times, it may have just been easier to just gut and carve a real pumpkin!  : )  ha ha!

Cindy

Coasters

Recently, I have seen several other craft blogs and forums with individuals making coasters out of 4x4 inch tiles.  I was amazed by how well they looked and how these could be great personalized gifts so I had to try it out for myself! 

My husband went to Ace Hardware and purchased 1/8th inch cork board sheets that I cut down to size for the bottom of the tile such that the tile will not scratch any surface.  I went to my favorite store and found light green tile and white tile.  Each coaster I made is with a different color combination to see what works and what does not.  This was also a perfect time to try out my Monogram files that I have yet to use!  After adding the vinyl to the tile, I then sealed it with a water based Minnwax to protect the vinyl and tile from getting wet.  Below are the coasters, I have made thus far!

My son was determined that I make him a coaster too so I made him the Grey and Red Monogram and the colors actually work very well together!  Today, I'm heading back to the store to replenish my coaster supply as these were fun and relatively easy to make and would be great gifts for others! 

Cindy

Coffee Sign

I apologize for my severe lack of posting lately!  My son had his tonsils and adnoids removed last week and the recovery has taken much more energy out of me then I ever thought possible!  I naively thought I would focus my weekend on projects while my son was recovering but that did not happen!  It has been a slow process but my son is getting better and the last 2 days I have had some free time for projects so I am very happy about that!

This is a small project that I finished last night but it is something that I wanted to complete for awhile.  My kitchen has a coffee theme and I desperately needed something above the double doors that lead to the back porch from the dining room table.  Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the sign hanging above the door but will post updated pictures of that soon. 

For my sign, I bought a MDF board and cut it down to 4 1/2 feet wide by 8 inches tall and painted it the same color that is in the kitchen.  Ironically, the paint is called Latte from Sherwin Willams.  One wall in the kitchen is wall paper so this sign will go on the blue wallpaper but all other walls is the brown, Latte color.  I used 3 different fonts and found the coffee picture online.  The sign reads "Good coffee is a pleasure - Good friends are a treasure"  The words are in a dark brown vinyl and the coffee picture is black.  Below is my finished project:

This new sign ties in really well with another coffee vinyl saying I created and placed on the wall directly under our kitchen cabinets and right next to our coffee maker.  The vinyl is the same dark brown as my new wall sign.

Cindy