For My SpongeB0b Loving Boys...

This years ornaments handmade by yours truly. Square, 3 1/2 inch, glass and hand-glittered and layered vinyl.

Graduation Water Bottles: New Take on an Old Favorite

We threw a 5th grade graduation party for my son with 3 of his closest friends.  We wanted to do a cute party favor and so I whipped out the old water bottles.  They are just so cute.  I cut a cute graduation logo from the internet and then customized with the kid's names.  I used the Baby Boston font for the boys and Janda Happy Day for the girls.  I put candy and a few individual drink mixes inside.  The kids really loved them.   

Baseball Tumblers

This was a custom request from a baseball team.  Each cup has both designs on it.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out.  We selected a 'boyish' font to use and added the baseball and date on the other side.  These were for boys around the 11- 12 year old age range.  My own son this age loved them so I hope the recipients are just as happy!

Mickey M0use Clipboard

My son's 2nd grade teacher loves all things Disney so when the room mom asked me to decorate a clipboard for her, I was inspired.  This is the back of the clipboard with the Mickey ears and the W@lt Disney font for her name (sorry for the glare - hard to balance a clipboard, poster board, and phone all at once, lol).  On the front, I also put her name at the very bottom so when papers are clipped on, you'll still see it.  It's going in the gift from the class that get's presented tomorrow. I haven't gotten in feedback yet and I'm excited to hear if she likes it.   

Pinewood Derby Awards & Wet Application

Lots of stuff going on lately.  I had another Cub Scout project.  It was time for our yearly Pinewood Derby and I made the chargers/plates again for the "Best of" categories.  I scored some great NEON yellow vinyl which rocked on the black chargers. It's Oracel 651 instead of the usual 631 I have used before.  I got completely frustrated with the application.  I had soooo many bubbles and I tried 5 times and it was a mess every.single.time.  Finally, I posted a question on a crafting blog and someone recommended using the "wet application" method.  From what I can tell, it's basically how vendors that install on cars and trailers do it.  It worked like a dream!  I was so surprised.  You just need a squeegee and a spray bottle with water and a few drops of dish soap.  A spritz on the application surface and the exposed adhesive of your design are all it took.  Best of all...NO bubbles!  I just can't give out items that don't look as good as I can make them.  I will definitely using that application method again!

Baby Silverware with Name

I would like to give a shout-out to my friend Mary who I borrowed this idea from.  THANK YOU Mary!  My boys are too old for this but I would have loved it for a baby.  It's two forks and spoons in a handy container that is perfect for a diaper bag.  You never have to worry about not having a clean spoon or fork when you need it. 

Personalized Storage Box

I have made several of these for a variety of requests.  This turned out particularly cute with the  black and white flowers and hearts.  It's for a young girl so I decorated it that way.  Although, I wouldn't mind this for myself.  Who can't use another storage box?  If you're like me, there are constantly small items that need a place to live.  I've also done something similar for teacher appreciation with the teachers name on top.  Usually, I just do polka dots for the teachers which is more adult but still cute.  These are $10 each and made to order.  I can decorate it lots of different ways to suit the recipient.  Inbox me if you are interested.

Water Bottles with Name

Check out his cool water bottle made by Thermos.  I put my boys names on them and they are awesome for school.  The black cap has a loop for clipping on to something and on the other side, a round button which makes the top pop open for drinking.  They especially love that...buttons are fun!  I also like that when you take the lid off, it has a nice opening that actually fits under my ice dispenser so ice doesn't fly everywhere.  They've been pretty practical for us.  I don't worry about them drinking out of anyone's bottle but their own.

Cute Thank You Card

I had an idea to do a fairly quick and easy thank you card for my son's birthday.  I took a picture of him holding a poster on my Iphone and emailed it to myself.  I printed the copies on photo paper from the Dollar Tree.  The most expensive part was the printer ink.  He's only 7 and so it was much easier for him to personalize the notes and sign them.  I think they turned out really cute!

Water Bottle Favors

My son turned 7 on Friday and we hosted a birthday party at the local skating rink.  I always struggle to come up with a party favor that is inexpensive and useful.  This year, I am so pleased with the idea.  I found these totally adorable water bottles at the Dollar Tree.  I decided to personalize each child's name on the bottle using the Janda Chunkygirl font.  It's my new favorite font.  It cuts pretty well using SCAL and the Cricut Expression.  The bottles were hand-wash so adding the vinyl was fine.  Inside, we stuffed an individual drink mix, a couple of candies, and one balloon (per the request of the birthday boy). 

Teacher Appreciation Gifts!

Teacher Appreciation gifts are done!  It's always a relief to send these to school.  I have two very experienced teachers so I tried to make the gifts practical and cute.  The box is about 6 inches deep so I think it has a lot of function.  On the right are a bottle of hand soap (clear) and a bottle of hand sanitizer (green).  I usually just get these items at the Dollar Tree but for some reason, I just could not get the adhesive off the hand sanitizer bottles.  I tried Goo Gone, finger nail polish remover, soap and water, and rubbing alcohol.  I finally decided that my time must be worth more than hours of scrubbing and went to Wally World and got a different brand.  The label came right off that one.  The bigger font is "Curlz" and the ruler has "Teen".  Our school color and symbol is the green shamrock (leprechauns) so I scored some excellent St. Patrick's Day ribbon on clearance to use.

Pinewood Derby Time!

We had our annual Pinewood Derby!   It's always a highlight of the Cub Scout year.  This was my younger son's first Pinewood Derby.  He was beyond thrilled.  He took home a 2nd place trophy for speed and a prize for the most futuristic car in the show category.  Talk about a happy little boy!

Sadly, his brother didn't place but he still had a good time.  

It was also a chance to show off my mad vinyl skills with the show category prizes which I vinyled white letters and flags onto shiny black chargers.  Bryson has been carrying the "plate" he won around everywhere.

Captain Nobody & the Cat in the Hat

Today was dress as your favorite character from a book day in school to promote literacy. The boys picked Captain Nobody and the Cat in the Hat (with only a little arm twisting from me). I used a piece of poster board for the hat, fabric scraps for the bow, and batting for the belly. Not bad for homemade in one evening!