Always Kiss Me Goodnight!

This isn't the first time I have created a sign with the saying "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" but this particular time gave me a few unexpected challenges.  This time my client was a teenager who wanted a simple sign with just the saying in a wavy line and in Burgundy to go over her full size bed.  I used the font "blackjack" that I found on the Internet and then designed the sign.

The sign looks simple but was difficult because there is no magic feature in my software that automatically creates a nice wavy line so I had to draw one.  Again, much simpler to describe then to actually do!  When the line was drawn, then I attached the words to the wavy line and stretched it across to 48 inches.  When satisfied with the sign, I then had to "unattach" the line from the words and I was done.  Except for the fact that I only had 36 inches of vinyl and my cutting machine only cuts up to 24 inches wide. 

This is where one's creativity really can play a role as I had to place different "markers" on my software to ensure I kept the curve and spacing in tact then I separated the words out, flipped some around, turned others and finally was able to fit 48 inches worth of a sign, onto 36 inches of vinyl and split it up on 2 separate sheets as my cutter can only go 24 inches wide.  You can see my markers below as these are the 2 sheets of vinyl I ultimately cut out with the "astericks" as my markers.

Finally I was satisfied and finished my sign!  ONLY to find out when I went to deliver my sign....that the teenager had a WATERBED!!!!  I had to try and now re-align everything onto the wall while dealing with standing on a waterbed....I haven't even seen a waterbed since I was in high school which was a LONG TIME AGO!!!!  Please don't think that I help put up EVERY sign I design either....this was a special circumstance!!!!  : )

In the end.....we were able to piece together the sign and the finished product is below! 

18 x 18 Welcome Tile

Some very dear friends of mine just recently relocated back to their home town which is 15 states away!  Everything fell into place for them and I have no doubt this move will be perfect as they are back by their family, with the husband finding the perfect job and they have already found the perfect house right next to their old neighborhood.  And they sold their current house in just 10 days which is nearly impossible in today's economy! 

With the family moving, I wanted to make something special for the new house such that they will always have some sort of memory from my family and for living in the great state of Montana!  Prior to them moving, I was able to see pictures of the new house and saw how an outdoor 18x18 Tile would look great by the front door.  I had my friends pick out the saying and below was what I made using an outdoor glossy, dark brown vinyl. 

Pheasant Hunting

It will not be long and pheasant hunting will be upon us before we know it!  I am not a pheasant hunter but grew up in a very small community where pheasant hunting and other types of animal hunting is very popular.  I remember times where the town is packed from hunters all over the United States and Canada taking trips to our little, tiny community just for hunting.  Just recently, I was asked to make a hunting sign for a teenager's bedroom back in my old community.  This wasn't a huge surprise considering how popular the sport is back home.

The teenager came up with a hunting saying "Every Day is a HUNTING DAY" and then requested some pheasants and cattails to be incorporated into the sign.  It took some hunting (no pun intended) to find the requested pictures but, in the end, I found some for the boy to choose from.  Below is the final sign I cut, but not placed on the wall.  It's cut so that he can place the cattails, birds and saying on the wall in any position or layout that he chooses.

Happy Spring Day!

It's the first day of Spring and is absolutely beautiful outside!  To celebrate the day and to acknowledge that I did not forget about my Blog I have new projects to share!  Sometimes life gets in the way and no matter how hard I try to keep adding new posts, something else always comes up.  This next week will be better so come back often as I will have several new postings with different signs and projects I have completed this last month!

For this post, I have new tumblers to share!  I made a "Mommy's Sippy Cup" for a friend's birthday.  She has 4 kids both boys and girls so I added pink and blue circles around the tumbler, aka. sippy cup, and then used the Curlz font for the words.  I always use outdoor vinyl with tumblers to better withstand washing and any other elements the cup may face.  The tumbler states it's hand-wash only but many other customers have used them in the top rack of the dishwasher without any issues. 

The second tumbler is a gift for a 9 year old boy.  He loves skateboarding so I have a silhouette of a skateboarder on the back of the tumbler in grey and then his name, Connor, in the front in a dark, navy blue.  The skateboarder is positioned perfectly that when you look at the name, you see the skateboarder right behind it, making a 3-D effect. 

This is the second skateboarder I have made for the boy, awhile back I made a sign for him which was placed behind his bed with a quote from Tony Hawk and then the skateboarder above that.  The picture of that project is below:

The last tumbler I made is for a 5 year old girl who loves flowers.  Her name is long so I was limited in the type of fonts to choose from as I needed to keep the width of the name small to make room for flowers. I added 2 flowers to the cup and used a nice purple color for the name, Caroline.  One flower is pink with a blue center and the other flower is blue with a pink center. 

Valentine's Day Subway Art Sign

It has been far too long since my last blog so I decided to design a "BIG" sign to make up for me past absenteeism.  I love doing Subway Art and wanted to incorporate that for Valentine's Day.  My goal was to create a 2 x 4 foot Subway Art Valentine Sign that will be displayed outside on our front porch!

This was truly a family project as my husband cut and painted the sign and then my 2 boys helped me place the vinyl onto the sign and also to keep the room free of garbage while working on our big project.  When finished my husband will seal the sign to protect it from the winter elements that I think nearly everyone is feeling right about now!

The pictures below show the sign with a fresh coat of red paint and then my design laid out in pieces!  This is when I wished I had a big industrial sign that would just do everything for me!

The next group of pictures shows my 2 boys helping by keeping the excess vinyl backings off of our project and even placing vinyl on the big red sign!  My 4 year old is very patient and can do the easy signs although I will line up everything for him.  The 2 year old also did a great job but is not quite as "careful" as I would like him to be!  : )  But they had a blast and so did I!

And now here are pictures of the sign in different phases of completion:

And finally the sign is Complete!

Once my husband seals the sign to protect it from the Winter Elements and hangs it outside on the front porch I will update the Blog with the final picture!

Cindy

Master Bedroom Vinyl Wall Art

This new year I have been dedicating as much free time as I can to decorate MY house!  Between customer orders, kids, the husband and everything else my walls continued to stay bare and boring but now at least my main bedroom wall has some life to it!  Since we moved into our house nearly 2 years ago this wall has been bare and boring and I didn't know what to do with it, just knew I need something to take up a lot of space and I did not want to buy an expensive wall painting or anything else.  This last weekend I figured out what saying to put on it, designed it and tonight I dressed up my boring wall....

Because my Cricut is limited to how big I can cut designs I had to piece my design onto the wall.  It wasn't too difficult to individually tape everything and measure everything out but it was getting old to constantly stand on my bed, climb down, bend over for the level or anything else that I needed.  In the end, I was very happy with my end result and the new life my wall now has!

Below is my final product from start to finish:

Vinyl is So Easy a 4 Year Old Can Do It!

My son requested his name in vinyl for his room and today we decided to make it a joint project.  I used Ravie Font and cut out his name to fit on the front of his car bed.  My son, Brady, picked out orange as the color (his favorite color) and helped put it on the bed.  I did tape the sign, center it and removed the backing but the rest was all my son! 

This project is just to show how easy signs can be placed on walls or other objects.  There are always some exceptions, like heavily textured walls can be tricky to get the vinyl to stick but a wood car bed frame is perfect for anyone, including a 4 year old to put a vinyl sign on!  Just a note - because there are 2 boys in his preschool class named Brady - my son goes by Brady M for everything!

Personalized Tumblers

My new craft project this last week was Tumblers!  I have seen these tumblers everywhere, at Starbucks, major retail stores, Hobby Lobby, Walgreens, and many other stores.  Most have some type of logo on them, are double insulated so you can put in hot or cold drinks, comes with a nice plastic straw and can be used over and over again.  I was able to purchase quite a few tumblers and made several gifts and sold several others.  The tumbler says hand wash only but I have heard many people say they use them in the top rack of the dishwasher without any problems.  I used outdoor vinyl in case people decided to use them in the dishwasher and below are my finished personalized tumblers.

The tumblers below say "Grandma's Sippy Cup" and "Linda's Sippy Cup".  The tumblers on the left and right are identical except for the wine glass are different sizes and different colors.  The middle tumbler just says "Linda's Sippy Cup" in bigger letters without any pictures added and in a gold color.  I forgot to add the lid and straw to this picture but you will see it on the next group of pictures for a different tumbler.  

My last tumbler says "I'm a Beautician NOT a Magician" with a comb and scissors on the front.  On the back of the tumbler, it lists the hair dresser's business name and contact information.  I gave this to my hairdresser as a Christmas gift.  Inside of the tumbler I just placed red vinyl to try and take a "decent" picture and to show off the vinyl a little better.

More Christmas Gifts!

Last weekend caught me off guard with the flu bug hitting our house!  Not fun and literally takes all of the energy out of oneself.  We are almost back to normal and I was able to make up a few more Christmas Gifts.  Some of these are similar to other posts but different sayings, layouts, etc...  All fun and relatively easy projects that hopefully the recipients will like!

The cutting board below is from a sign I created for a customer last Summer but thought would look perfect on a cutting board.  The cutting board is 12 x 15 purchased from Walmart and I just cut the vinyl in reverse and placed it on the backside so you do not cut on the actual vinyl.  I used outdoor vinyl so it will hold up to washing better!  

Christmas Ornaments!  Christmas Ornaments!  Christmas Ornaments!  I sold quite a few of these and also made a ton for gifts to our good neighbors, teachers, and several others!  Below are just a few group shots of some of the ornaments I made.  Some of the ornaments has either our son's name or our entire family's name and year on the back with vinyl which I thought gave a nice touch and personalized it a little more. 







For my husband's boss we decided to give her a nice, marble tile for Christmas. 

Cutting Boards

I saw this idea on a craft website and wanted to try it out.  On the craft site, the person went to Walmart and found several sizes of clear cutting boards and placed vinyl on the back side.  By using outdoor vinyl, the cutting board can easily be hand washed on both sides and placed in the dishwasher (but I would only recommend placing it in the top rack).

Luckily, I was easily able to convince someone looking for Christmas ideas to try out my new cutting boards so off I went to Walmart and below is my final product!

Cindy