Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Show & Tell: More Silhouette Fun

Hello There!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. We had tons of fun first going to my husband's family then going to my family. Our daughter was a trooper for all the traveling.

While at my parents, I used my Silhouette to do some projects for her. Two years ago just two days before Christmas, my parents had a house fire. My husband and I were the only ones home at the time. It was quite the ordeal that ended in over $60,000 in damage. My parents had a complete remodel of their home as a result of the fire. They are still getting moved back in. I decided to jazz up my mom's new bathroom with a wall vinyl. We also did a vinyl on her new front door.

It was the first time I cut the vinyl without loading it on the cutting mat. It was pretty simple. You just use the Load Media function. Make sure you do a test cut. I had to raise my blade even though it was the same exact vinyl.

I'm pretty excited with the results!



I did a little vinyl for my laundry soap container with some scraps I had left.



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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Show & Tell: First Silhouette Project!

Hello Everyone!

I have been wanting a paper cutting machine for years now. Once I heard about the Silhouette machine, I didn't even think about the Cricut again. You can create images and use the fonts already on your computer...no need to buy cartridges!

My husband surprised me with a Silhouette for this year's Christmas present. We opened our gifts early because his gift (Satellite radio) had to be opened before we went on our various Christmas vacations. I can only imagine his reaction after driving 12 hours across no radio land South Dakota having him open the gift he could have been using the entire time. Since he got to open his, I got to open mine.

I've been wanting to put something above the maternity pictures we have above our daughter's crib since we moved in.

This is the "Before"



And this is the "After" 





I didn't make the words bigger because I didn't have that much vinyl on hand. I need to make an order online soon. I also didn't have any transfer paper so I used some Contact paper I already had. It worked out alright, but I'll make sure I dirty the Contact paper up a bit before I use it again (the vinyl stuck too much to it. It was a pain to put on the wall). Over-all I'm pretty excited with the way it turned out! Vinyl is great since it's removable, and we're in a rental at the moment.


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DIY Sunday: Roller Shade Curtains

Hi Everyone!
If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been talking about the dining room curtains for a while. Most of the time the post goes something like this, "Look at this cool project, please ignore the Hawaiian like fabric haphazardly hung on the windows."

I got the idea for my curtains from this tutorial by Cottage and Vine. I posted it as an idea thief a few months ago. Ever since then, I have been obsessed with the idea, but I was waiting for the right time to purchase the Amy Butler fabric I was in love with.

Cyber Monday was the perfect opportunity to buy this Wallflowers fabric from Hawthorn Threads. They were offering cheap shipping, and the price was a little less than normal.

So, I figured, I'll get some cheap roller shades from Lowes, have them cut to size, mount them and then put the fabric on. Easy project. Done in one Saturday.

Uh. No. Lets just say the score after this weekend was Blinds: 5 Me: 0.

I measured my windows several times. I went into the store. I explained my measurements, got the brackets to hold the blinds and went to hang them. Every single one was too big. (I had even had them cut on the small side for this reason!)

So, I got out my scissors and utility knife and cut them to the right size myself. Of course, this makes one side all hacked up and wonky. But I was covering it with fabric and didn't care. (although they all kinda hang crooked for this reason)

So, I try to put the brackets in. First, I use nails. However, the space is so small, I can't get a hammer into it. (and I was using a rather small hammer even)
I move on to screws. Of course, as is the case with the drill every single time I use it, I can't get enough pressure behind it, and I strip out the screws.
Enter husband. He just laughs at me and attempts to attach brackets. He starts cussing immediately because he also can not hang brackets.
We get brackets hung, but the newly cut shades are too short for placement of these brackets. And they are the wrong kind of brackets to move. Go to store to buy new brackets.

I'm too lazy to venture into the snow to get the ladder, so of course, I'm balancing on a folding chair. And course I fall down with a screw driver in my hand almost poking an eye out.
At this point I finally get all of the main shades hung. I'm one shade short, so I decided to skip Lowes for this round and head to Wal-Mart.

This is important. GO TO WAL-MART FIRST! They have the wonderful adjustable shades that you can just tear to the right size. You know how much easier those shades were? And they were half the price of the Lowes ones!

So, I am pretty excited about my easy Wal-mart shade. I get the brackets hung pretty easily, and I put up the shade. I realize that I have put the brackets on backwards. They work the way they are, but the shade will now roll under the top rather than over the top like the other shades in the room. Is this a big deal? To a normal person: probably not. To me, I knew if I looked at that shade I would be irritated for all time.

I decide to remove the brackets and switch them around to fix this problem. Except after I have them moved and drilled in, I notice that the way the brackets are, they can't be hung this way. So I have to move them back to the way they were. But now the holes aren't working with the screws (the holes are too big) So, I have to move to a new location. Which means the shade I already tore to the right width is now too narrow. I have to leave part of the pole sticking out without any shade. Whatever. I go to drill the brackets in the new location. However, now the stupid things won't drill in, and I've stripped two sets of screws. Husband comes in trying to help but leaves cussing about stupid cheap shades. I decide to grab a hammer and just use nails. That finally works.

After many many hours of this project, I'm ready to be done. I just have to attach the fabric with hot glue (very easy especially if you use some clamps to keep the fabric from shifting). I get all done with the fabric, I go to hang the final shade and......
I attached the fabric to the wrong side.
I just start laughing hysterically. Are you kidding me? Husband comes in to ask what is the matter (I'm sure he's figured shades have given me a nervous breakdown). I show him how I attached to the wrong side. He tells me to just attach more fabric to the opposite side. Except I only have a 5 x 10 inch patch of fabric left. He decides we're going to make it work. He jimmy rigs it up and hot glues it in place. So, for now, it's staying. Just enter our home cautiously if you use the door with the shade hot glued on.

So, here's the "Before"
See those cool Hawaiian-ish fabric remnants hanging on the window?


This is the "After"
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