Guest Posting at Get Silvered ... How to use Silhouette Stencil Material ... PLUS an Ad Space Giveaway!

What up, peeps? Today, I have the pleasure of hanging out at Get Silvered, where I am sharing my review of Silhouette Stencil Material. Spoiler alert: IT'S AWESOME! I use vinyl for stencils ALL the time - mainly for making the Maternity Countdown Shirts I sell online - and making a new vinyl stencil for each one takes up a lot of vinyl. I was intrigued when I saw that Silhouette sold a "stencil material" that was reusable! Head over to Get Silvered to see my full review and get a tutorial on how to use this kick A stuff. :)

My Review of Silhouette Stencil Material {and how to use it!} at Get Silvered

WAIT!

HANG ON!

DON'T GO!

I'll miss you.

To keep you HERE ... I have an exciting announcement!

Christmas Magic "Reindeer Food" Tradition

**Just hear those sleigh bells jingling ring ting ting a ling too...**

Oooooh, aren't you just SO excited for Christmas?!?! I know, I know. There are still some Scrooges out there that aren't on the Christmas sleigh yet -- but we'll get them. Oh, we'll get them.

If you are kind of bah-humbug, maybe this idea will help get you in the mood for some jolly holiday-ing.

Every year, my family has a tradition of putting "reindeer food" on the lawn on Christmas Eve, so Santa's reindeer know where your house is! It is really fun if you have small kids; but, even if it's just YOU, this is a fun tradition to start. I, at the age of 25, still love feeding the reindeer! We all have a little Christmas Magic inside us. You could even give these as classmate gifts, teacher gifts, church/Primary gifts, etc.

The reindeer food is a mixture of oats and glitter. Each person gets a bag of reindeer food, goes outside, and you read the poem while sprinkling reindeer food over your lawn! I've even been known to say, "Santa FIND ME! Santa FIND ME!" {hashtag I'm 25}.

*NOTE: You don't eat the reindeer food!!! It is full of glitter, after all. It is for sprinkling on your lawn on Christmas Eve for "Santa's reindeer to find our house!" It sparkles in the snow {or lawn!}. If you are concerned about the glitter -- you could use red & green sprinkles.**

Here is what you need:

For the Reindeer Food
Oats
Glitter {green, red, christmas tree sprinkles -- whatever you'd like}

That's it! Mix together!

For the packaging
Cellophane bags
Ribbon & other embellishments
Christmas Magic poem

Scoop your reindeer food into your bag. You could use a cute jar, if you like. OR, I think a mini plastic ziploc bag works perfect for small kids to hold. Add your ribbon/embellishments and reindeer poem.

Seriously -- how easy is that?! It's a perfect project for kids to help make. Put on your favorite Christmas Pandora station {might I recommend Michael Buble?!}, drink some hot cocoa and the whole family has a fun night IN.

My family had a VERY fun night IN making reindeer food. My mom, sister and her kids all got together to make ornaments for the Ornament Club my sister is a part of. Plenty of Bing Crosby {or is it Bing Christmas?!}, yummy treats and tons of SILLY were all present that night. I have some good blackmail photos too {mwah ha!}. My sister turned her reindeer food into {20!} ornaments for the Ornament Club she is a part of. She put the reindeer food in a square glass votive jar, then put that in the cellophane bag. My favorite part was that I got to teach my mom, sister and niece how to use VINYL!! I cut out a silver vinyl 'Christmas Magic' to go on each of the glass jars. It was sooo fun to show my family how awesome the Silhouette Cameo is and just one of the many things you can make with it. My mom was the crafting queen!! Or as we call her -- the Krazy Krafting Kraut! She may say she can't craft -- but I have the photos to prove otherwise! It was really easy and fun, and I promise you will all have a blast making your reindeer food {especially if someone awesome and cool puts Skittles up her nose!}.

I hope you found a little Christmas Magic in this family tradition!
 

 

 {Are you interested in the Studio File for my 'Christmas Magic' vinyl? Leave a comment with your email, and I'll send you a link to the file! Muah!}

And don't forget your Christmas Magic Reindeer Food Poem to attach to your bag!!

Click the link below.

CHRISTMAS MAGIC REINDEER FOOD POEM JPG

CHRISTMAS MAGIC REINDEER FOOD POEM PDF

**Like what you see? Stick around! Click "Join this Site" on the right toolbar and follow me on other social media. Best friends forever.**

Happy Father's Day Tie Wreath Tutorial {no cut!!}

Happy Father's Day!!

This year, I wanted to make a Father's Day tie wreath. I'd seen a few on Pinterest and LOVED the idea. All the tutorials were sort of the same:  get a foam wreath, cut 14 ties, hot glue to wreath. There was only one problem -- the CUTTING 14 TIES part! I don't know about you, but this girl hasn't figured out how to get her money tree to sprout in her backyard yet, so the idea of cutting TONS of my husband's precious ties was out of the question! I thought maybe - just maybe - if I could find ties at a thrift store for 50cents each, then just maybe I could spend $10 bucks on the wreath and use those ties. BUT NOPE! Apparently used ties are a hot commodity, because each store I checked, the cheapest tie was $3. One store even had a used Prada tie for $30. Again - out of the question! So I thought there has to be another way. But I couldn't find even one tutorial on making a tie wreath that didn't involve cutting the ties.

So I gave up.

On my tie wreath.

And moved on to other projects.

UNTIL -- (dun dun dun....) --

-- 

--

--

I found a 12" metal wreath form that I'd been meaning to make a mini burlap wreath with, and DING! it hit me that I could possibly use it to make a no-cut tie wreath. And it worked. Quite nicely! I threw in a gold vinyl DADS! in the middle for an extra su'm su'm (the husband's idea!), since we were hosting our family for dinner and celebrating several DADS! that night.

Father's Day Tie Wreath {no cut!}

I got my wreath and my husband got to keep his ties. Perfection.

TUTORIAL

The Goods:

1x -  12" metal wreath form

Several ties (I used 9)

Double sided tape

Ribbon or burlap for hanging

Organize your ties how you want them on your wreath. I went for blue, brown and gold tones.

With the tie facing you, as if it were on a person, wrap the small end of the tie through the wreath hole and tuck it up into the 2nd metal piece for stability.

Take the rest of the tie and continue wrapping around the metal wreath form, so the back of the tie is facing down and the front of the tie is always showing.

When you get to the end, the pointy part of the tie should be positioned so that you can place it last and have it showing on the front of the wreath. I had to tighten or loosen each tie to adjust the positioning. You may have to start over, if it isn't positioned right. After a couple, you get the hang of it. Once it is positioned correctly, place a piece of double sided tape on the back of the tie, as pictured. Then, you can flap it over and stick it to itself. Some ties may need a couple pieces of tape, depending on the material.

The finished tie should look like cute, little tie envelopes. Aww.

Continue wrapping ties until the wreath is complete!

It is seriously the easiest wreath I've ever made. AND, you get to keep all your ties.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I Love You Because

My sister has been seeing all those cute I Love You message boards all over and was about to buy one online, but instead asked me to make one for her. I was just flattered she thought of me and trusted her marital love expression in my piano-playing-turned-craft-making hands. I was EXCITED to tackle a crafty request - especially for my sister, but I was NERVOUS at the same time. It's easy enough to make something for yourself...if it looks bad, I can deal. But making something for someone ELSE makes me second guess every step! Hopefully we can still have our Thursday night Friends-watching-pizza-eating parties even if she doesn't like it.

Her only request was that it be big enough to write decent sized messages on and that it uses the colors BLUE & ORANGE (she's been straying from the normal 'black & red' fave...that color combo is out!). One stop at Michaels...a crafting Skype call with the BFF...and a whole lot of LOVE later...here is the final result:

Burlap and polka dots...and some inspiring words

My friend and I have this thing we do where we set goals together. Different for each of us, but we share them and talk about them. As of yesterday, we are on goal 106 {ok, slight exaggeration}.  Some are big {I will practice the piano every week}, some are small {I will have water with my lunch instead of that delicious dr pepper}, but they are meaningful to us. Some of my goals make me emotional...some come from regret...but they are there to keep me going, to keep me improving myself, and to remind me of the full potential within me. I found this quote by c.s.lewis, one of my favorite authors, and immediately fell in love with it. It is now proudly displayed in my kitchen, where I can see it every day and be reminded of the goals I've set and encourage me to keep trying {and it helps to have my latest loves burlap and polka dots, too!}.

DIY Message Board

My good friend got married almost one year ago, so I thought it's a good time to post the message board I gave her for a wedding present!  I had to go out and buy my first hot glue gun!!  It was also my first time attempting rolled fabric flowers.  Kind of gutsy to have all these FIRSTS be for a project I was giving to someone else, but hey, we're still friends, so it must not have been too awful.  All I needed was fabric scraps, glue gun, empty frame, cute piece of paper, vinyl letters, dry erase marker and velcro squares.

I asked my friend what her wedding song was, and it contained the line "You are my Shining Star."  I thought this was PERFECT for the beginning of an "I love you" message board, so every day they could share a reason why the other was their Shining Star.  I'm in love with the paper I put in the frame, as a background -- it had bubble flowers on it!  You can't see on the backside, but I purchased a small dry erase marker, attached one part of a velcro square to the marker cap, and attached the other half of the velcro square to the back of the frame.  That way, the marker is nearby and you're not going to lose it!

There are SO many message boards, dinner menus, calendars, etc. you can make with an inexpensive frame and a dry erase marker!

How to Antique Paper and make something special with it

Do you have a dad?

I have a dad.

And boy, is he the HARDEST person in the WORLD to shop for.  Birthdays, Christmas, Father's Day -- it's SO hard to come up with something unique to give him.  I usually end up getting the latest MoTab CD or a framed picture of him and me.  But there is only so much room for photos!  So I decided to get a little creative and make him something special.

Music is such a huge, important, special part of my life.  Not only is a part of my life, but it's a part of my dad and me's life.  Countless nights growing up I would play the piano and he would fall asleep in my grandma's rocking chair next to the piano (or was it me keeping him up with late night piano songs?? I forget!).  One of our favorite Hymns is I Believe in Christ.  I wanted to somehow frame this song and give it to him as his gift.  I found a way to "antique" paper and, using some vinyl and an inexpensive Walmart frame, made this:

This now lives on top of my dad's piano!  I love seeing it there...even when I'm not playing it...to remind me of the special moments we've shared together through music.

Want to antique your own paper?  It is super easy!  Here's how:

Materials

Paper you want to antique

1/3 cup of hot, black coffee
(I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't have this on hand.  I suggest just buying one cup of to go coffee -- voila!)

One cookie sheet

Basting brush (easy to use on hand in the kitchen, or a sponge brush will work, too)

Paper Towels

Oven

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Crumple up the piece of paper into a ball.  Semi-smooth it out and place on cookie sheet.

Pour coffee over paper. Use brush to cover evenly. Leave some heavier spots for a more unique look.

Let sit for a few minutes. Then, use paper towels to blot up all excess liquid.

"Bake" paper in oven for about 5 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on it, so you don't start the paper on fire!

Remove from oven and VOILA! Paper that looks like Ben Franklin himself wrote it.

Have fun aging!