Mirror Makeover For Christmas

Wanted to dress up our mantel mirror for Christmas with a little vinyl.

Used a Silhouette file from the Silhouette store.  Added a few extra stars.  Super simple but in keeping with my desire to keep Christ as the center of  Christmas.

Diana

Dr. Who Tardis Ornament

Not easy to put a flat vinyl design on a rounded surface.  Enough said.

OK so not enough said.  So hard.  Never again.  Hated every minute of it.

Diana

Thanksgiving Place Cards for Silhouette

Want a free and easy printable set of place cards for your Thanksgiving table?

Here is a cutting file for your Silhouette that combines printing the card and overlaying a pretty fall leaf.  Or you can just print the entire thing.  (just be sure to select "No cut" on the leaf image)  You can also edit the name or stick with the "Be Grateful" sentiment.  The choice is yours.

The black lines do not appear in the download, I just added them to the image to make it easier to see so you could actually see the cutting lines.  The cards fold into a tent with the leaf sticking out the top.

Here is the silhouette download.

Diana

Free Kawaii Rice Bowl Silhouette File and SVG File

I have been having so much fun designing cutting files!  Today I have a rice bowl to share with you and the best part -- it is free!

If you want to download a silhouette file go here and for SVG go here.

Please let me know if anyone is having trouble with the downloads so I can fix it.

Diana

Free Haunted House Silhouette and SVG File

Here is my newest silhouette design!  A little more complicated than the last few.

You can download the silhouette file here.  I have also made an svg version for you here.

Diana

Free Vintage Camper Silhouette Design File

I have been having a lot of fun lately designing Silhouette files and learning how to use the designer studio.  Yesterday I found out it has a weld feature....duh!  Am I the only one how didn't know that....

Anyway, here is one of the designs I made a few days ago that I am sharing with all of you so enjoy!

Here is the link to download this silhouette file.

Diana

Lip Balm Holders

Need a quick and easy gift for a friend who loves lip balm?  Here is a silhouette file that will come together in a few minutes.

 I used cardstock and a little ink to destress the edges.

There are a number of other files for EOS lip balm too.

Diana

The Witch is Dead Bookmark

Have you seen this on Pinterest yet?  It seemed like a do-able polymer clay project and let's be serious ---it cracks me up just looking at it!

 I tracked it down to Oops, I Craft my Pants (another crack me up moment please).  I loooved the vintage witches she puts on her bookmarks.  I added just a pit of lacy petticoat too.  She painted on her stripes but I made mine out of clay, hence the wonky stripes.

 But if you just had a house fall on you, your stockings might be crooked too!

Now my only worry is.....does anyone read paper books anymore?

Diana

Easter Candy Wraps

Oh what to get my kids at church for Easter........chocolate of course!

I started with Hershey solid chocolate bunnies that come six in a package. 

 Once they were wrapped in some cute spring floral paper I attached a label I downloaded from the Silhouette store.

Another quick and easy treat for Easter!

Diana

Easy Push Up Easter Treats

 I needed a treat to take to church for Easter that was quick and easy, and did I mention it had to be yummy too!  I didn't want to bake cookies, cupcakes or make chocolate candies either.  Call me lazy but I had a lesson to prepare and a few other things to get done, so I didn't have a ton of time to devote to this.

 Thank goodness I had hoarded stocked up on push up containers......

 I used my Silhouette to cut out labels......

 Edible grass......

 Cadsbury eggs....

I mean who doesn't like chocolates?

Diana

Homemade Truffles....and Chocolate Covered Strawberries!!!

 Little Miss Abby and I spent the day together on Saturday making some delicious chocolates.

 We decided to make REAL truffles for the first time ever and we think they came out pretty lovely.

 We even made the boxes we packaged them in!  Love my Silhouette!

 The recipe we used can be found at Chocoley and it is also where I buy all my supplies.  Their chocolate is so easy to work with and they have great sales and offers regularly.  Plus they have free online classes and tons of recipes for wonderful candies.  We made one batch of the basic truffle recipe and divided it into four bowls so we could have four different flavors.  The truffles with the white chocolate stripe are flavored with peppermint oil,  The truffles with pink sprinkles are raspberry, and then we also made both lemon and hot chili truffles (yellow and red sprinkles!)  Important note: you must use special flavored oils made for chocolate.  Regular candy flavors will cause the chocolate to seize up and ruin your truffles.  the same goes for coloring chocolate---special coloring oils only!

So how did we like the recipe?

Not only did we enjoy making these truffles but we also learned a few tricks along the way.  First of all, the recipe stated that the truffle mixture had to set up in the fridge for 3 hours or in the freezer for 1 1/2 hour to firm up before you could shape it into small balls.  Way too long.  We choose the freezer method and it was sooo hard we had to leave the bowls on the counter for about 1/2 an hour to soften so we could scoop it out.  Another thing, each flavoring oil has different intensity so be careful not to add too much.  The mint and the chili were very strong!  But the lemon and raspberry were much less intense.  Go figure...... 

 Here is Abby putting finishing touches on her boxes.

 We had leftover chocolate so we dipped some strawberries.  Waste not, want not!

 Abby did all the decorating!

I'd say this was a pretty wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Diana

Easy Halloween Cards From Shutterfly.

Did any of you take advantage of the free offer Shutterfly had a few weeks ago?  I decided to have cards made up for Halloween using some images I had created.  The first is of one of my girls.....doesn't she look wicked?

 The next image was one I made of the legendary Hitchcock.

Feel free to use either image yourself or create your own!

Shutterfly walks you through the process of uploading the cards and adding sentiment.  Super easy!

This was so much faster than making cards myself and they are totally unique from any store bought ones.  Gotta love that.

Diana

Latest Roundup of Cards

 Here are a few cards I put together and sent out last week!  I used a vintage suitcase as a backdrop that I still haven't decided what to do with yet.  Any ideas?

Diana

Old Book Becomes Photo and Postcard Display

When I was a little girl my mother made Christmas trees from old Reader's Digest books.  Is anyone else old enough to remember those?  I think they were spray painted green and used as center pieces.  Lately I have been seeing a lot of  folded book projects that have been so cool.  I love the look of aged paper and bindings.  I saw a very simple one a few days ago that was practical as well as pretty.

All the pages were folded in half lengthwise causing the paper to make a pretty fan.  The pages will now hold photos and postcards upright.

 So pick up an inexpensive old book at the thrift shop and make a sweet vintage display for all your photos.

Diana

The Pot of Gold.......

As a child I was just a wee bit superstitious.  Always looking for 4 leaf clovers and wishing on stars......that's why this project really appealed to me.  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

I made it with my silhouette and stuffed them full of chocolate coins.  But not the icky ones from the drugstore.  No these came from Sees Candies.  Delicious!

 Diana

Quick Valentines

Need some last minute Valentines that print up quick?  These are good for boys or girls and even have a bit of chocolate to please every little kid.  I copied this idea from Under A Cherry Tree but simplified it into a print and cut project.  You have to check hers out for a WOW moment.  You could make these with any robot clip art.  I used the pdf file that is included in the file I purchase from her store so I wouldn't have to do layers.  I then used the print and cut feature on my silhouette but you could just print them out with your printer and hand cut them out.  Either way they are super cute and quick.  Diana

Two Gift Card Holders

Bad bad day.  First I find out my debit card is on it's own spending spree.  Apparently it is shopping in Germany and Portugal having a grand ol' time.  Since we had to cancel my card that means NO ONLINE SHOPPING  for me!  Then it is a level 2 snow emergency so once again it is icy and cold.  And I am still in my PJ's at 11:00 am.  Wait, I think I kind of like that part......  Any way, I had to do something fun so the Silhouette was calling my name.

 Our church is having an auction to raise money for Girl's Camp so hubby and I are rounding up items to donate.  We will be giving one of my quilts and a couple of gift cards.  I needed to make cute holders for the cards and this is what I did.

I hope they make a ton of money for the girls!

Diana

Down The Rabbit Hole

Look what you can do with the Silhouette Cameo!

 I found a great blog called Scherenschnitte that is all about paper cutting.....by hand.....which I can not do but some of her designs lend themselves to the Silhouette.  She provides patterns of her easier designs (this wasn't one).  I used the trace function and a bit of editing to get a clean cut.  Here is how it turned out.

If you want a copy of the cut file leave a comment and I will email it to you.

Diana