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

Outdoor Halloween Sign

After creating an 18 x 18 Tile originally intended for my front porch but now afraid it would be too easy to have someone walk off with it - I needed to make a "BIG" Halloween Sign that can be attached over the railing on the front porch! 

I started with a 4 foot by 2 foot piece of wood and painted it orange and then went designing!  I based it off of the very popular Subway Art themes that I have seen on numerous other blogs and a few that I created myself.  I kept the main color as black but then added some white, grey and red vinyl for a more dramatic touch.  When finished we sealed it with modge podge and then added several coats of a urathane finish to provide a super glossy finish and will protect the sign from rain and the snow that will be arriving way too soon for me!

And here is the sign on our front porch! 

Cindy

Wedding Tiles

The last few weeks has gone by so fast and I have not had any time to update my website!  I am currently working on a few custom orders for others and also a BIG project for myself for Halloween that should be completed this weekend with a new post and pictures to share with everyone!

In the meantime, I wanted to show a few 12 x 12 tiles I have designed for customers.  The tiles displayed below are with the brown indoor vinyl and then can either be displayed on a plate holder or attached on the wall with a special plate holder wall attachment which can be found at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, etc...  All of my 12 x 12 Wedding Tiles are $20 (plus shipping) and can be designed with different quotes or embellishments. 

 

The Marriage Tile below is actually sized for an 18 x 18 Tile.  I do not have a picture of the tile finished as the customer wanted only the vinyl and she would place the vinyl on the tile which also helps reduce the cost of shipping.  

I can create either a Marriage Tile in 12 x 12 or 18 x 18 size or can provide just the completed vinyl sign at a reduced cost.  If you are interested in either please contact me for specific costs and additional information!

Thanks!

Cindy

Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater Wall Canvas

A few months ago we repainted my son's bedroom and installed a chair rail.  My son is a HUGE Disney Cars fanatic and still wanted to keep the same theme of Cars that has been in his room for 2 years so we kept a lot of the old decorations.  Even with a chair rail and new paint, the room needed more work, I wanted to spruce things up a bit and found a really neat idea when looking on Ebay.  A person had 1 big picture of Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater together and made 2 canvases by splitting the picture in half.  I loved the idea but did not want to pay the $50 sticker price.  By pure luck I found the exact picture created on fabric at Hobby Lobby!!!!  My husband made the frame and we attached something similar to a backer board to provide support for the fabric and we created one BIG canvas.  It turned out awesome and cost probably $6 in materials and supplies!

The colors of the canvas is so bright that no one can tell it's actually fabric until they actually touch it!  I loved how this turned out!  To finish off this wall, I then added "Tow Mater" and "Lightning McQueen" in vinyl.

In another corner of the room, I added another vinyl saying, in addition to some Disney Cars wall stickers and a Stop Sign.

Here's a better close-up of the new vinyl sign I made:

I could post quite a few more pictures to show every angle of his room but I will end it with one last picture of the main wall you see when walking into the room.  The letters were originally white and now are painted the same blue that is on the bottom half of the room.  The rest of the decorations are the Disney Cars wall stickers.  This room was desperately needing a paint job among several other things, I am so glad we finally finished the room and loved how the new decorations turned out!

Subway Art - Church Canvas Signs

Just recently I had the opportunity to create some signs for the church that I grew up in.  Several groups came together to makeover the Sunday School rooms and the hallway.  Many volunteers spent several weeks cleaning out years worth of clutter, painting the rooms and adding new decorations. 

I was asked to design 3 vinyl wall signs and 2 Subway Art signs.  Pictured below are my 2 Subway Art Signs that went into the hallway leading to the Sunday School rooms.  I painted the canvases in a mustard color with black vinyl and then coated with a high gloss acrylic paint to seal the letters and to provide a glossy finish.  The first canvas is of the 10 Commandments designed for kids and the 2nd canvas describes the church in the kids' eyes.  The picture doesn't reflect the deep rich mustard color but still shows how the canvas was created.

I also designed the "Jonah and the Whale" sign pictured below.  Another person graciously painted the mural below my sign.

The next two vinyl signs I made for a second Sunday School room.  Another person also came in and did an awesome job painting the mural!

From what I hear the kids loved the new rooms and I was very glad to be able to help out in their "makeover"!

Cindy

Subway Art - Outdoor Tile

I designed this tile awhile ago and just recently received a picture of it displayed outdoors.  I really like how the finished tile turned out so I thought I would share it.

I normally finish 12x12 tiles for indoor signs but was requested an 18x18 outdoor Welcome sign.  The person requested "welcome" and various other sayings in different languages to be randomly displayed on the tile in random fonts.  Having an 18x18 tile to work on gave me more room to play and I think it turned out quite well.  My finished product is below:

Cindy