Motocross tee

Have I said how much I love my Silhouette yet? I tried something new with her today, and love the results! I ordered some of their Heat Transfer Vinyl a couple weeks ago, but had yet to try it out. Yesterday I decided to play around with it, and check it out. I knew I wanted to make a motorcycle tee for Jackson, but that was about all the criteria I had. So I went looking on google images to find a black and white image I could use--under "motocross silhouette" I found an image that I liked, so I saved it, and then uploaded it to Silhouette Studio. With the awesome software, I traced the image, and upped the high pass filter so that it encompassed the whole design. I sent it to the machine, and in a few minutes I had an awesome design!

Then I needed something to put it on...so I dug through my fabric stash, and pulled out a couple solids, and grabbed a pattern--I used the Patrick Raglan from Fishsticks Designs, which you can find here. Bonnie's patterns are super easy to follow, and always fit great! She even has a big kid version of the pattern too!

Anyhoo, about an hour later, I ended up with, IMO, a super cool shirt for my little dude. He just woke up from his afternoon nap, so he was not into modeling shots--I was interupting Spongebob...lol!








Linking up to the Weekend Wrap Up at TT&J!

Laundry Room redo--progress so far...

For the last month, our laundry room makeover has consumed all of my hubby's time. It has been a huge undertaking. It was by far the worst room in this house when we moved in, and has been sitting untouched for the past 6 months. It was so bad, I never could bring myself to take a before pic..which I am kicking myself now for! So instead, I'll have to settle with posting a series of progress pics.

This has been my inspiration pic for the whole room:


Here's the first pic I took of the laundry room--this is looking inside the door:



The "original version" had a stand-up shower in the corner that was literally black. A nasty toilet and sink, a very old, dated mirror, faux wood vinyl flooring, and lots of track shelving. The walls were a pale yellow--painted at least 10 years ago, and wall paneling half way up each wall. It was ugly to say the least.

Our first step was to completely remove everything--the shower, the toilet, the shelves, the flooring, the sink, etc. It all went.

The floor beneath the toilet was completely rotted, so Dustin had to redo all the subflooring there, and there was also mold behind where the stand-up shower had been, so that sheetrock had to be replaced too. Then he had to lay down new underlayment to prep for the new floor. We painted--top is Key Lime Pie from Dutchboy, and put up real wood beadboard (painted Grey Whisper from Dutchboy). Then the new floor went in (Black and White VCT tile from Armstrong--same as in my kitchen--it now runs from the kitchen, to the entryway, and into the laundry room). This weekend he put up new baseboard trim, chair rail, and new outlets. Oh, and he also hung up a set of cabinets! The washer and dryer will go underneath the cabinets, and to the right he is putting in a countertop so I have a folding area! We also have plans of putting in a utility sink, and a new toilet. It is coming along so great! I want it too look sort of modern-vintage--I can't wait to find some fun pieces to decorate with!

So, here it is today:






I used my Silhouette SD to make the vinyl wall decor.



For these prints, I spray painted thrifted frames white, and got the vintage laundry tips from here. (I edited the colors in photoshop to fit my color scheme better).

Hopefully this next weekend we will get the floors waxed, and then we can move in the washer and dryer! I can't wait--right now they are in the basement--I am looking forward to having main floor laundry again.

Linking up to the Crafty Cutter party at Serenity Now

Coordinates Typograhpy

Well, we are snowed in, yet again. Another 16" fell this weekend, so there was no school, and no work for hubby today! I had a fairly unproductive day, but did manage to eek in some crafting. Hubs on the other hand has been super busy, working on our Laundry room remodel--which I plan on posting a few pics of in a new post.

So, today's craftiness involved my new BFF, my Silhouette SD--what else? I saw this really cool typography print online here...and knew I could create something similar with supplies I had on hand.

When we moved in to our new house, we had a lot of blank walls--I bought a few 'pieces' from Walmart, Target, etc--just to put something on the walls, with intentions of redoing them later. This little beauty's time had come...



This was $10 I think at walmart--nothing wrong with it at all--but just not my decor style. So it became the base for my sign. Then I grabbed some acrylic paints, Valspar spray primer, brushes, vinyl and of course my Silhouette. I wish I had taken more pictures along the way, but I got caught up in the project, and haven't quite gotten the hang of blog ettiquette yet. ;) I'll get better, I promise!

First, I primed the board with spray primer:


(Actually first, I had to google map my house, and find the coordinates!)

And gave it two coats of white acrylic paint. Then, using my Silhouette, laid out all the text in Silhouette Studio. I cut out the design in vinyl, and then weeded out the lettering, leaving behind a stencil I could use to paint. I found the center marks on my board, and on the vinyl piece, so that everything would be nice and centered. Then, using transfer paper, I applied the vinyl onto the board. Then using a spouncer and some acrylic paints, I painted in the lettering. Then I removed the vinyl, and let the paint dry. I then sanded it gently to give in an aged look (hint--let the paint try completely before sanding!!)

I ended up with this:



I happened to have another sign from Target that has been laying around since we moved--I took out the glass, and realized the frame fit perfectly for my new sign. So after a couple of coats of aqua spray paint, I ended up with:


I am thrilled with how it turned out. Wish I could say the idea was original, but I'm glad I'm crafty enough to create it myself anyways! ;)

Happy Monday!

Linking up to these parties!



I'm Crafty Party # 5 at SYTYC

More Silhouette fun

I can't even express how much I love my Silhouette SD. I have used it so much in the past month that I have had it--it's crazy.

I did a few quick projects with it today, and wanted to share.

The first one, I used a hurricane vase from Walmart, and teal vinyl.

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I'm not sure what I want to put in it-but I think it looks cute as is for now! :) I also used my Silhouette to cut out the flowers on the candle--I used scrapbook paper and mod podge--quick and effective. (You can also see my 2x4 craft I made last fall--the tutorial was from here.)

Second project was even easier. I spent a few minutes in Silhouette Studio laying out my words, and voila!



Now I'm off to sew this afternoon--working on McKenna's birthday dress, and hopefully a few things for an upcoming Hyena Cart stocking.

Happy Wednesday!

Coffee table, take 2

My newly painted coffee table got a makeover again yesterday--twice! The first time, Jackson, my 18 month old decided to redecorate the living room with a sharpie while I was in the shower. :( I was too upset to even take any pictures, but I kinda wish I had now. He got 1/2 the coffee table, and end table, and the runner I had made for the coffee table. To say I was upset was an understatement. I couldn't get the sharpie off the furniture--I tried, but ended up taking off paint. So I decided to just repaint the tops. I started with the coffee table first. And after painting it, I remembered a cute little nightstand I had just seen over at The Casabella Project. I really wanted to try stenciling--but with no craft stores within 30 + miles, I wasn't sure how to get a stencil. So I cheated. I really like the one in the tutorial, so after some googling found out it was made by Plaid. I found the stencil online--saved the image, and took it into photoshop. With a little tweaking, printing, tracing, scanning, etc, I had a stencil! I even had stencil plastic from an old project--so with an exacto knife I cut out my stencil and set to work. I originally intended on covering the entire table. But I happened to stand up to take a break from it--and realized it looked pretty neat as it was.



So after much debate, I decided to leave it. I still need to reglaze the top part, but I'm so happy with how it came out! And it make me feel a bit better about Jackson ruining my runner.

Here's a couple pics of it back in the living room: