Personalizing Camp Chairs and a Cooler (another Silhouette project)

When we were helping out for an all day event last weekend, I brought our camp chairs and a cooler, as I knew we'd be there for the long haul.  I personalized our cooler with vinyl before we left, but it wasn't until we got to the park that I realized I could personalize the camp chairs with heat-transfer vinyl.

Personalized camp chairs...

Here is the cooler.

The vinyl makes it easy to see our cooler from across the park.

I just wanted a way to pick out our oh-so-unique Playmate cooler from all the other Playmate coolers.  Adding our name was quick and easy and quite visible. I used "outdoor" vinyl (Oracle 651) to make the vinyl more permanent.

Pretty clear who these chairs belong to, isn't it?

The camp chairs are backpack-type chairs, so they have these nifty (and easily accessible flaps) that lent themselves to iron-on vinyl.  I was worried that the man-made fabric would melt, but it was just fine.  I think they turned out so well, I'm quite pleased.  I wonder if I can personalize our other camp chairs?  Hmmm...

Finally, to make you smile, I thought I'd show you how Beans beats the heat:

Looked over one day last week and saw that Beans had planted
herself right in front of the air conditioner vent.  Smart kitty!

Pretty smart kitty, isn't she?

More yard work and some back-to-school shopping...it was a productive day in the neighborhood!

Our spider seems to know what is going on...

Our spider has grown on us since it joined our household at Halloween. 

Not content to be a Halloween spider, he's become sort of a mascot.

Firstly, it convinced me to leave it up when all the other Halloween decorations came down.  Then, it joined in on the holiday decorating.

Nice Santa hat...right in the spirit of the season.

Then, it convinced me that it had thoughts to share.  Simple holiday thoughts.



Thoughts of love filling the air...

Love at Valentine's...

Spreading the luck o' the Irish...

Shamrock's at St. Patrick's Day...

Spring is in the air...

Then, the thoughts became seasonal...tulips in spring.   Honestly, I was expecting a beach ball or sunglasses for summer.  I was wrong...

But the family spider surprised me again.  It must have used its "spidey senses" and it knew...

Even fewer days now...we're all so excited!

Handiest Tool Ever!

One of the best gifts I got this year (Superman's presence notwithstanding), was this amazing Black & Decker All-in-One Sure Grip Laser Level.  Seriously.  This thing is fabulous!  My friend Mrs. R picked it up after my beloved Buttercup was a good little elf and, noticing that I wanted one, passed that tip along.  I am so glad she did...it is awesome!

Perfectly aligned!

It comes in two parts...the "sticks on the wall" part with the suction cup and the actual level with the laser part that magnetically attaches to the suction cup part.  It really does stick on the wall, too.  In this example, this is a wall painted with flat paint that might possibly be dusty and that sucker stayed up the entire time I needed it to.  (Supposedly it can stay attached as long as two hours, but I can't vouch for that amount of time.)  The best part?  It is crazy-simple to use.  The light on the level turns green when the bubble is actually in the "level" position...no guess work, no eye-balling it.  It is either green or it is red.  Woot!

So, I stuck it on the wall and lined up the level so the light turned green...

The laser remains visible throughout!

Lined up my line of vinyl...

And, voila!, it is done!

The most difficult part was standing on the ladder to get the lettering up so high!

Seriously, if you find getting things level to be a hassle, this is the tool for you.   I can't believe how much use I've gotten out of it just in the first week of owning it.   After thinking it was going to be "stupid", Superman used it to install some corner shelving on the wall for Buttercup and the laser rounds the corner to make even corner shelves a snap.  He concedes that this tool is really handy...high praise, indeed!



Did I mention the laser goes around the corner?

How cool is that?  We've already hung more vinyl, pictures, a headboard and a mirror with this level.  It is just so handy.  This little tool is definitely worth the $25 purchase price and I'm so grateful to have it!



T-Shirt Project - Quick & Easy

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Ours was fabulous once Superman finally made it home.  I'm finally able to catch my breath and start to think beyond the holiday, however, and thought I'd share with you the t-shirt project I did to go with the Christmas pajamas I told you about last week.

Different personalities needed different sayings!

In addition to making each of us pajama pants, I also made each of the men personalized t-shirts.  Since they're all "talls", I ordered inexpensive tall-sized t-shirts from Old Navy a few weeks ago.  Then I ordered heat transfer ("iron-on) vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.  I gathered up a silly saying for each of them, got out my Silhouette SD and went to work.

The tutorial on the Expressions Vinyl site was really clear and I had no problems whatsoever. Honestly, the most difficult part was figuring out what to say on each shirt.


Superman's:

Really, he is!

Charming's:

Long-suffering Charming truly appreciated this one!

and Valiant's:

Have a 15-year old?  Then you know how appropriate this one is!

I think they turned out pretty well, don't you?  The entire project took me less than an hour for all three.  Best of all, they really matched nicely with the pajama pants.  The men liked the sayings I surprised them with and they liked the colors of the shirts...win/win all around.

I ordered extra t-shirts, so now I'm already looking to make more quirky t-shirts for the family.

(SewDucky:  No pictures of the men in their pants...they just weren't into pictures on Christmas!)

Yet Another Silhouette Project

I saw a picture of this plaque at Moore Minutes.  Honestly, I did the hop, skip, and click to get to her blog...I had never been there before, but this plaque grabbed me.  Lisa had hung her Barn Owl Primitives plaque as a way to motivate her to face her own personal challenge.  I liked the plaque and I liked the idea.  So, I pinned it and, eventually, copied it.  It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I certainly believe so and hope that Lisa will agree.

I can't think of anything more motivating than remembering that we can do "hard things". Crossfit teaches me that very thing day in and day out...I am reminded of it whenever I stall and look back to see how many things I can do now that I couldn't do even three months ago. Manning the home-front while Superman works overseas reminds me of that very thing every day. Plumbing problems, automobile problems, etc., don't get to wait for Superman to handle...I've got to step out of my comfort zone and deal.

As soon as I saw the plaque, I knew I needed one for myself.   Still, I challenged myself to make it for myself (rather than buying one), as I figured the sense of accomplishment I would derive from the project would imbue the plaque with even more significance.   (After being a follower of Gail at My Repurposed Life for quite some time, I was sure I could do it.  She's so good about explaining things she does, one step at a time.)  I was right and I am thrilled to show you what I've done.

Remember when I was painting the lollipops?  Well, I painted these two plaques, too.  Simply plywood rectangles with decoratively routered edges.  Easy peasy.

 After primer, I painted three coats of white paint on them. 

Then I added Silhouette-cut vinyl of quotes I wanted.  I painted over them once more with white to minimize seepage under the vinyl.  (It was much more successful under the vinyl I sourced from Expressions Vinyl than with the Silhouette-brand vinyl, I have to say.) 

After the white paint was dry, I painted two coats of black paint and let it get almost dry.  I decided to peel the vinyl off before the paint had fully dried, as I didn't want to bring paint up with the vinyl.  It was a good decision and I had very little grab from the vinyl.  (I did use an exacto knife to start each piece of vinyl...)

I still had some seepage, so I decided to embrace the distressed look.  Sanded them down with some fine-grit sandpaper and then added a coat of Johnson's paste wax.

This is how it looks in the room.  I love it!  And this one?

This one is a gift.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  (Sorry for the not-so-terrific photos...a photographer, I'll never be!)

So, have I mentioned how much I love my Silhouette machine?  I really, really love it and am finding more and more things to do with it.  This vinyl project was so much fun.  As for the vinyl itself, I'm still experimenting, but have had the best luck with the Oracal 631 I get from Expressions Vinyl.   Even better, I love the people at Expressions Vinyl.  My most recent order was for iron-on vinyl and they shipped it out the day they received the order because they knew their customers were trying to beat Christmas deadlines.  That, my friends, is customer service I am willing to brag about!

SUPERMAN TRACKER UPDATE:  Superman is scheduled to fly out of Seattle at 8:00 a.m. this morning after getting a good night's rest in a Seattle hotel last night, so hopefully we'll have him home in time for a late breakfast.  Keep your fingers crossed!