Personalized Card Seals {A Silhouette Project}

Ever since I added a quick little embellishment to a card I sent a follower awhile back, I started thinking about using my Silhouette SD to make personalized Card Seals for the holidays. While I need to get a little better at gluing the words/ embellishments in a cleaner way, I think the idea of a little personal element to an otherwise standard envelope might just be too much fun!

I haven't decided what I am going to add to my holiday cards yet, but here is the one I did for an LTC follower that got the thinking process started.

What do you think? Is there a way you could make this work for you, and jazz up your holiday cards too? I'd love to see if you come up with anything too!

Happy Wednesday,

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Embroidered Bird {Silhouette Project}

This is a Silhouette project that can be done even if you DON'T own a machine.  All you have to do is download the Silhouette Studio software and purchase a .99 cent image online.  You can use the images in your library for anything and they can be printed from your computer.  

I have used this bird on a branch image before because I just really love it.  I put it on a blank page in my Silhouette Studio.  I sized it down a little in order to fit into a 5x7 frame.  

I used spray adhesive to adhere a piece of white fabric to cardstock and sent it through my printer.  Erin was the one to first show us the fabric printing trick.  I used it in this post and here I go again.

Now I had my image outline on my fabric.  I used my embroidery needle and black embroidery floss and began stitching away on the line.

Hand stitching takes awhile, of course but it is so worth it.  By the time I was finished, it was dark and late so I didn't get any super great pictures of the finished product.

I stuck my little birdie in a black frame and added it to the wall.

It was super fun to do and I love the look.  This will most likely become my new obsession so friends and family beware.  You could see something similiar under your Christmas tree.

I want to do a pumpkin now for fall and a tree for Christmas.  I also need to get some colorful thread and have all kinds of fun with this little craft.

If you haven't already, give it a try.  Anyone can do it and the possibilities are endless!  : )

Thanks for stopping by!  

Happy Tuesday!

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A Simple Thank You {Silhouette Project}

About a month ago my sister-in-law and mother-in-law threw me the sweetest baby shower. I knew before we even had the shower how much time and effort they were putting in to make it perfect for me and the soon to be baby, so I needed the perfect simple way to thank them and this is what I came up with.

I love how the Silhouette can cut out simple messages to make such professional looking cards, so I turned to my Silhouette SD and its design studio to find just the right thing.

  

After I found the sweetest phrase, I combined it with the tag options I already had in my gallery to create quick thank you tags. 

 

I quickly glued the messages onto the tags I had cut out in varying scrapbook papers and tied them off with a ribbon. The result looked so 'finished' and I loved it! 

Using the Silhouette to make these tags was so quick and easy. I guess it's the job of the machine working at it's simplest? It got me thinking about how I need to start working ahead for personalized Christmas gift tags, how sweet would that be? Have you used your Silhouette to make any tags or cards recently? We'd love to have you link them to our Flickr sight!

Here are a couple of other simple thank you ideas I've used recently too. (I've been blessed with some sweet showers for baby Abbott, so I've gotten to make quite a few fun thank you's this year!)

These were created just using Microsoft word and an inkjet printer, though I did use the Silhouette to cut out one of my favorite scalloped circles too!

Happy Wednesday!

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Documenting a New Arrival {Pinterest Style}

On September 20th my little family grew by 19.5 inches, and we were thrilled!

We were blessed with a beautiful baby boy named Abbott. He is perfect in every single way.

I have always regretted not documenting my daughter Laurelei's growth in an obvious way, and knew that this time around I didn't want to miss out on those monthly shots. Luckily, my baby pinboard on Pinterest came to the rescue in the perfect way...

via {melange photography blog}

Someone had pinned the perfect idea found on melange photography, by Mary Schannen. I loved the idea of the blocks and knew that I could create my own fairly easily. After finding a set of blocks at Marshalls for $0.70 I knew it was meant to be!

There were only 5 blocks in the set, so I had to get creative. In order to have all the numbers, I needed two of the blocks just for them. That only left 3 blocks for the word 'months.' I decided just to abbreviate and go with it. It wasn't ideal, but did I mention that it was only $0.70? :) The blocks were already the perfect distressed milky white, so all I had to do was cut out the numbers on my Silhouette machine and use the outline as a stencil.

I let the paint dry, peeled off the Silhouette stencil and voila, instant block set!

I am so in love with my newest little sweetie. I cannot wait to watch him grow over the next 12 months, documenting it along the way. We are over the moon!

You can read more about little Abbott's journey here, on little burlew our family blog.

Happy Wednesday!

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Eek! Wreath {A Silhouette Project}

Halloween is just about a month away now, practically right around the corner! It's no surprise that I love to make a  fun wreath to help celebrate the holidays. I still love my wreath from last year for outside, but wanted something new to hang inside the door this year too! Since the wreath was going to be away from 'the elements,' I decided to put my Silhouette SD to work to help create a ribbon and paper wreath.

Here is what I came up with:

 

I won't bore you with the obvious details since I pretty much just combined a myriad of different wreath styles we've all seen before, but I will highlight the different parts of the wreath and give you a quick run down of what I used to create it. 

I grabbed a bunch of supplies to start with, not knowing what I would use and not use. I used the wire ring as the base of the wreath, and began by tying ribbon in varying colors and sizes in knots around about a third of the wire base.

 

 Next,  I used my Silhouette SD to cut out scalloped circles in varying sizes and two different colors. I found a layout I liked and covered the remaining two-thirds of the wire base. I used hot glue to keep the circles in place.

 

I decided I needed some more volume on the paper side of the wreath, so I created some scalloped paper flowers to sort of mimic clouds. Then, I used my Silhouette SD to cut out bats in varying sizes. I created a crease down the center to create death and give them the fling illusion, then glued them in an ascending  fashion 'flying' us the side of the wreath.

 

 As a finishing touch, I added one of my favorite spooky words, eek! (I used this last year in my pumpkin display too.) I picked a fun font from my computer and cut it out from a thick orange cardstock using the Silhouette as well.

And that was is! I tied a big orange bow on the top to hang it with because, come on, who doesn't love a GIANT bow? What do you think?

Have a fun holiday wreath you've been working on? I would LOVE to see it. Upload your version of the paper wreath to our Flickr sight, or leave a comment with your latest and greatest wreath here.

{I'll be linking to the CSI Fall Projects.}

 

And just in case you are interested...

{Last year's wreath, the shoes wreath}

Happy Wednesday!

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Silhouette Project - Ballerina Shirt

My daughter had a plain white shirt that was older and mainly used to wear under sweaters so I thought it would be fun to spruce it up.  

I started playing around in the Silhouette Studio and found a ballerina silhouette image that I loved.  I had pink heat transfer from Silhouette in the closet waiting to be used for something.

The image came out perfectly even with those little dainty ballerina hands.  I peeled away the extra pink leaving only my image and then ironed it in place on the white shirt.

Next I cut out a rough shape of the skirt from cardstock to use as a pattern.

I used the pattern to cut out several layers of pink tulle that I had in my scrap basket.

I cut a piece of pink ribbon just the size to fit the top of the tulle layers.  I put craft glue on the ribbon and placed my tulle pieces on one by one.

After I layered the tulle pieces, I folded the ribbon over and held it down for a minute.  Now I had a little tutu for the ballerina.  I trimmed up the sides and roughly scalloped the edges of the tutu to give it more life and make it fit better.

To attach the tutu on the shirt, I used three small buttons and pink thread.

Now the ballerina has a "real" tutu.

I wanted the tutu silhouette to still show on the sides a little.  I was so excited about the results!

A plain white tee transformed into a fun pink ballerina shirt...

Can't wait to surprise my daughter with her new ballerina shirt when she gets home from school.  I just know she will love it!  

I'll be partying at these blogs this week.  Won't you join me?

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