Camping Sign

Well, I'm at it again.  There is nothing I love more than coming up with a new craft, especially with vinyl!  Our family bought a used pop-up camper at the end of May and we are loving it.  It's made our camping trips feel positively luxurious.  A lot of the camp sites have cute signs or flags out so I thought it was a perfect time to flex my creative muscles.  My great dad cut the wood out of scrap for me and gave me some old wire.  I wrapped it around a pencil to get that cute loopy look.  This particular sign was a gift to my girlfriend so I let her pick the designs she wanted.  I'm working on my own camping sign which will have a trailer graphic on it.  I'm super happy with how it turned out!

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). 

Spinach Salad with Craisins

I went to Costco last week to buy drinks for the office and stopped into the deli section for a salad for lunch.  I found the most amazing salad and have since recreated it twice for work lunches.  I didn't take a picture of it because it was in my ratty storage containers and didn't look all that pretty.  It was tasty and simple!  You start with a generous helping of spinach - luckily, this was buy one get one free last week and this week at Publix.  Add bacon bits, tomatoes (I had some fresh vine-ripened cherry tomatoes from my garden), and mozzarella cheese.  Their salad had red onion and at home I only had sweet vidalia so I used that - both were equally delicious.  Don't forget a generous handful of craisins and top the whole concoction with Poppyseed dressing.  Their tartness really sets off the Poppyseed dressing (Ken's dressing was BOGO last week too).  The salad I bought had hard-boiled eggs on the side which I didn't make again.  This will definitely stay in my recipe box for a fun change to sometimes boring salads!

Customized Cup for a Teacher

I customized this cup for a my niece's tutor.  It is hot pink and lime green vinyl using the "Janda ChunkyGirl" font.  I cut a big 3" G in hot pink and then overlaid "Mrs. Garcia" in the lime green.  Polka dots and rings of various sizes go all around the cup.  Usually I would put ribbon on the straw but this was a rush job and I'm out of it at the moment (Yay - a trip to Hobby Lobby! :)  I'm pleased with the result.

30th Birthday Basket

I love Pinterest.  I'd been searching all over the place and found several ideas to celebrate my friend's 30th birthday.  Thank you for all the inspiration!  This is a picture of the basket I created.

It started with the teal wineglasses I had etched below and grew from there.  In the back, is a bottle of wine with a tag that says "When all else fails, drink a glass of wine."  I decided a basket was required to hold it all and I scored this adorable black canvas basket at T@rget with a white floral design. 

In the back is a little pot with 30 lollipops and a tag that says "30 Doesn't Suck."  The front tag with "Give yourself a makeover" is attached to a bag with lip gloss and two finger nail polishes.  The tiara has a tag that says "Play dress up." 

Finally, in the back is a customized candle tagged with "take a bath by candlelight."

I wanted to give a thoughtful, personal gift.  What do you think?

Glass Etching

Last night, I etched glasses.  I found these adorable teal stems at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try out a new design I read about on Pinterest.  I used etching medium I bought at a local hobby store.  

First, with clean classes, I made my design.  For the polka dots, I used hole re-inforcers.  Do you remember those?  We used to put them on our notebook paper when the holes were torn.  They worked great!  They are the perfect size and much easier to work with than vinyl. You want to stick them down firmly so none of the etching medium gets under the edges.  I'm a random gal, so I put them all over with no specific pattern.  Next, fill in the centers with etching medium.  Put it on thick.  My experience is that if you don't use it generously, the etching can be mottled looking.  After letting it sit for a while (the directions say 5-7 minutes), I usually let it sit longer, rinse it under warm water.  The hole stickers come off at the same time so it's a quick process.   You are finished. 

For the line, I used a ruler and marked all the way around the glass.  Then I put painter's tape around the glass connecting the marks.  I did this twice to make either side of the stripe I was going to etch.  I had a really hard time getting it straight and it looks pretty good in the picture but the back is a little bit messier.  I don't know if I'll do the stripes again.  I really like the look but getting that straight edge and line is hard.  Again, layer on the etching creme THICK.  I think this is key to getting a consistent look.  After the requisite waiting, rinse with warm water and take off the tape. 

Overall, I'm really happy with the final result.  These are going in a gift basket for a friend turning 30 this weekend.  I'll post a picture of the gift basket too.

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.

Teacher Appreciation School Supply

A big shout-out to my friend Mary over at http://ifonlyihadtimeto.blogspot.com/ for the cutest ruler idea ever for Teacher Appreciation week.  Simple to make and turned out very sweet.  Used "Teen" font and black vinyl.  My boys are very excited to take these to school for their teachers!

Happy Easter!

What says Happy Easter more than dyeing eggs?   How about a new vinyl project?  I'm on it.  I found these charming egg-shaped platters at Target for $2.50 each in 3 different colors (lilac, teal, and pink).  Pink, of course, being the in-demand color.  I found this adorable peep svg out there and hijacked it for my purposes.  I gave one to my mom, sister, and mother-in-law.  They all loved them!

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.

Ryan's 10th Birthday Party!

It was a sports-theme but really, it was a Pinterest birthday!  All Pinterest ideas.  First, I made the ball cupcakes.  I only made footballs, basketballs, and baseballs.  The soccer ball I attempted looked like an eyeball so I stopped after one.  They turned out pretty cute and the boys were excited to pick the ones they liked.

Sorry, it's sideways...it keeps defaulting this way.

 I also made rainbow fruit skewers.  The boys absolutely loved those.  I used strawberries, oranges, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries, and purple grapes.  The recipe called for cantaloupe for the orange fruit and that would have been better.  The oranges were a  huge mess to cut but tasty!

Finally, we made the zip lock baggie soft-serve icecream.  It was hilarious.  The kids were a lot more impressed with this activity than I was expecting.  It was fun to have something active to do that actually accomplished something.  (In front of the boys in the picture, I didn't get a good close-up of it.)  I think they were as thrilled with the toppings as anything - gummy worms, chocolate chips, and sprinkles.  

Prizes for Dessert Contest at Cub Scout Banquet

We just had our Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet on Friday. It's a pot-luck celebration for all the Scouts and their families. As a part of it, we have Father/Son Dessert Contest. I made the prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for the contest.

It's hard to see but this is a shiny brown charger which I actually LOVE! I used khaki vinyl for the lettering. I mixed 3 fonts (Lucida Handwriting, Copperplate, and Papyrus). They actually all cut really well. I recommend cutting them in Bold just so they have a thickness to the letters and are easier to stick down.

Valentines

Thank you Pinterest! Inspired me to do homemade valentines for the boys this year. Ryan's turned out a little better but they are both still pretty cute. I hope the kids like them.

Cub Scout Tiki Torches

I've been working on a new project for Cub Scouts. Our annual Blue & Gold banquet is coming up so we needed decorations for the Survivor theme. We thought about candles and decided no, we didn't need open flame around 50ish Cub Scouts. Setting the church on fire would ensure we would never be invited back. Instead, we did these cute faux tiki torches. They were super simple. Step 1 - take a variety of clear, plastic bottles and remove the plastic ring around the neck (you will need plyers because that is harder than you would think). Step 2 - use uneven strips of masking tape and completely cover the bottle. Step 3 - daub with brown shoe polish (this part is messy). Finally, Step 4 - cut tissue paper into squares and stuff in the top of the bottle. Optional - we used a few rocks in the bottles to give them weight so they don't tip over.

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!

Clam Chowder

I've been searching for a clam chowder recipe for a while by special request of my 9 year old son. Both of my boys love soup! We had been making it from an envelope mix where you add water and clams but the company stopped making it so I was looking for something homemade. Most recipes have half and half or cream which I wanted to avoid to keep it a bit healthier. Luckily, my mom helped me convert an old tuna chowder recipe to this clam chowder. It turned out fabulous! Enjoy!

The recipe is:
3/4 cup green onions, diced
3/4 cup celery, sliced
4-6 cups raw, peeled, diced potatoes
Whole bottle clam juice
2 cans clams
3-5 Tbsp. flour
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Soften celery and green onions in butter. Add potatoes, all of clam juice, and water . Bring to a boil and cook over a medium heat until potatoes are cooked (be careful here, I cooked my potatoes to mush so I would say err on the side of firm). Put 1 1/2 Tbsp. of flour in 1/4 cup of milk and whisk. Add to soup. This is the thickener and it's important to mix the flour into the cold milk before adding it or it will be lumpy. (You might have to do this two or three times to get it to the thickness you like - I did.) Add the rest of milk. Add clams last. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Breathe Charger

My current obsession is putting vinyl on anything an everything. I cut this with my Cricut per the request of a friend. I think we can all related to the sentiment.