University of Floirda Gator Silhouette File

We are HUGE University of Florida Gator fans!! All four of us nearly bleed orange and blue. My youngest could wear a Gator shirt every day of every week and be very happy about it! So of course I needed to make them more!

I took the football helmet from the Silhouette store, and the Gator script down below (that I traced and cleaned up) and put them together as one file. I then cut it out of heat transfer vinyl (I like the Sisser Easy Weed brand) and ironed it on a shirt. Needless to say my kids were THRILLED! I hope your Gator fans will be too!

Download the Silhouette .studio file HERE

Ballerina Silhouette Studio File

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Gymnastics Shirts Using Heat Transfer Vinyl

My kids love it when I make them stuff. But between being a busy mom, a shop owner, and trying to run a household, I don't exactly have time. So I am LOVING my new Silhouette Cameo and heat transfer vinyl.

I used blank t-shirts I picked up at JoAnn's craft store (on sale of course) and some Silhouette brand heat transfer vinyl. I used images I bought from the Silhouette online store and put the kids names on them before cutting out the vinyl.

I am not a big fan of this brand of vinyl so I will be trying others (it was a pain to iron on and while the directions said 45 seconds it took way longer than that).



However the kids LOVED them!!!! Like OMG loved them! They now have personalized gymnastics shirts to wear for each of their classes. My son is already requesting more .... a boy on the rings.... on the p-bars... on the floor.... on the rope... etc

UPDATE: these were such a big hit at gymnastics that the mom of a little girl in my daughter's class requested one... how could I say no?! ;-)

Alligator Silhouette Studio File

Download the Silhouette .studio file of the Alligator HERE

Tutorial: Chanukah Paintings - A Craft Kids Can Help With

Continuing with my theme to jazz up my home for the holiday but still make something I could use year after year, something that the kids could help with, and something that could be a keepsake as the kids grow up......

Chanukah Paintings. Simple, easy, fun and most of all, fairly cheap! For this craft we used:

• Two 8x8 Stretched Canvas (found at JoAnn's for 50% off)
• Various shades of blue acrylic craft paint
• Various shades of pink acrylic craft paint
• Various shades of purple acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of white acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of black acrylic craft paint
• Removable Vinyl (you can also use contact paper) and transfer paper
  
• Silhouette Cameo Die Cut Machine (you can use an exacto knife)
  
• And a few paint brushes of various sizes

You'll want to lay out the colors by family.... all the blues in one box, all the pinks in another, etc. For this project I choose blues/pinks/purples/white as they will blend together nicely and not get all muddy brown looking.

Step 1: Cut your design from vinyl or contact paper using the Silhouette Die Cut Machine (or a die cutting machine of your choice. Or you can use a scissor and exact knife instead (tracing your picture onto the contact paper).

For the two pictures above, I used shapes that I purchased at the Silhouette online store and resized them in Silhouette Studio to make sure they fit my canvas.

Step 2: Using the transfer paper (or a wing and a prayer if you don't have any) transfer your vinyl on to the unpainted canvas. It won't stick great but it's enough for what you need to do. Remove your transfer paper so the design in vinyl is all that you see on the canvas.

Step 3: Assemble kids and make sure they are geared up with smocks, brushes, etc.

Now painting with kids isn't for the faint of heart and it can make your heart race if you are not fast enough to catch them as they run off through your house with paint still on their hands as they touch everything in site. So I highly suggest laying our a large sheet of plastic (I like the tacky and cheap table cloths that you find that has plastic on one side and fabric on the other).

Step 4: Give each child some of each paint and let them know their goal is to cover the ENTIRE canvas in paint... making sure they paint over the vinyl design.

Once it is completely covered, let the canvas dry and clean everything up.

Step 5: When the picture is dry, you can now peel off the vinyl design leaving the negative spaced unpainted. This will now show your design. You can use the black paint to write in the child's name/date and maybe even a title.

Step 6: Display on a table top easel or use some pretty craft ribbon to hang!

Happy Holidays!

Tutorial: Alphabet Block Menorah

For the past few years I have been on the hunt for a new Chanukah menorah. I want it to be simple, pretty, and fairly inexpensive. But year after year I come up short. Now I have two kids and while we have a few menorahs, none really thrill me. So this year I gave up my hunt for a simple and pretty one and decided to make one for each of us.

We have dear friends who have a menorah for each person in their house and regardless of age, they get to each light their own. I thought that sounded like a great idea but knowing my kids that would turn into eight nights of fights over who gets to light which menorah. So what better way to make sure there is no fighting than to make everyone and identical name menorah.

This was an easy craft that was just the slightest bit time consuming. But it was worth it in the end!



To make this I used:

• Chanukah Menorah Candle Cups (you need 9 for each menorah) and you can buy them HERE
• Alphabet Blocks by Melissa and Doug found HERE
• Nine 1/2" screws to screw the Candle Cups to the Blocks (I just took a block and a candle cup onto a local hardware store and asked one of the employees for the correct size)
• Craft or Wood Glue (to glue the blocks together and to glue them down to the board)
• A wooden board at least 11" long (I think mine was 12")
• OPTIONAL: a clear varnish, sandpaper, mineral spirits, a brush, cheese cloth - if you want the block and wood to have a clear coating on them
  

Now some nice person on Amazon reviewed the alphabet blocks and was a dear to tell which block had which letter on each side. Of the 50 in the set, 38 are letter blocks. There is a different letter on both sides: the "A" block has "N" on the bottom, etc. Of the 38 there are:

5 A/N blocks
4 B/O blocks
2 C/P blocks
2 D/Q blocks
5 E/R blocks
3 F/S blocks
3 G/T blocks
2 H/U blocks
4 I/V blocks
2 J/W blocks
2 K/X blocks
2 L/Y blocks
and 2 M/Z blocks.

Step 1: Lay out your blocks to make the letters of the person's name. If the name is less than 9 letters, you can use the picture blocks to fill in as shown below. Since a menorah has a shamash candle, the helper, that has to be higher than the rest, you'll want to make sure to put a block on a second row to raise the shamash up. Using your craft glue, glue the letter together and let it dry.



OPTIONAL STEP: if you decided, as I did, that you want your wood and blocks to be protected, you'll want to paint them with a clear coat of varnish. To do this you'll want to sand your wood base a bit with some fine sandpaper. Then dust it with a clean rag that is damp with mineral spirits. Using some cheese cloth and moving in one direction, you'll want to apply the varnish by placing some on the cheese cloth and rubbing it over the wood board (in the same direction). You can do this all over the name blocks too. Let them dry. Then sand the board again (lightly) dust and reapply. Repeat this over and over again until you get just the right amount of varnish. If I did this all over again I'm not sure I'd go through all this trouble to varnish it as it didn't really make any difference.

Step 2: Glue your name blocks to the wood board and let dry.

Step 3: Screw your candle cups to the wooden name blocks (you could glue them of course but I liked the security of wood).

And that's it! You're done! Grab yourself some candles and have a wonderful holiday (and we got our candles from HERE when we ordered the candle cups)

Mens Gymnasitcs Set # 1 Silhouette Studio File

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Male Gymnast on Bars Silhouette Studio File

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Gymnasitcs Set # 3 Silhouette Studio File

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Gymnasitcs Set # 2 Silhouette Studio File

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Gymnasitcs Set # 1 Silhouette Studio File

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Guitar Silhouette Studio File

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26.2 Marathon Sticker Silhouette Studio File

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Tutorial: Thanksgiving Turkeys - A Keepsake Craft with Kids

Continuing with my theme to jazz up my home for the holiday but still make something I could use year after year, something that the kids could help with, and something that could be a keepsake as the kids grow up......

Hand Turkeys. Simple, easy, fun and most of all, fairly cheap! For this craft we used:

• One 11x14 Stretched Canvas (found at JoAnn's for 50% off)
• One bottle of tan acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of brown acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of green acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of blue acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of red acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of yellow acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of black acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of orange acrylic craft paint
• And a few paint brushes of various sizes

Step 1: Paint the Canvas with the tan paint. I used a wide brush and did three coats, waiting for each coat of paint to dry in between

Step 2: Assemble kids and make sure their hands are clean.

Now painting with kids isn't for the faint of heart and painting their hands can make your heart race if you are not fast enough to catch them as they run off through your house with paint still on their hands as they touch everything in site. So I highly suggest laying our a large sheet of plastic (I like the tacky and cheap table cloths that you find that has plastic on one side and fabric on the other).

Step 3: One child at a time -- paint their palm brown using a very thick brush. Then paint each finger using one color (blue, orange, red, green, yellow) on each finger. You'll need to work fast as it dries fast.

Step 4: Press their painted palm down on the canvas and make sure to "roll" the palm around (roll meaning pressing all of the edges) so the painted print comes off on the canvas.

Since the canvas is stretched there is no backing to the middle of the canvas, so if you press on it, it will not hold it's shape. So I found a book the size of the opening and sat the canvas over it... making a hard area for the child to press their hands on.

Repeat steps 3 & 4 for each child.

Let dry and wash those little hands.

Step 5: When the picture is dry, you can use the red paint to create the red thing under the turkey's neck, black paint to create legs, feet, eyes and a smile, and black paint to write in a title and name labels!

Step 6: Display on a table top easel or use some pretty craft ribbon to hang!

Enjoy your Turkeys!!

13.1 Half Marathon Sticker Silhouette Studio File

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70.3 Half Ironman Sticker Silhouette Studio File

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Mets Silhouette Studio File

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Hiker Silhouette Studio File

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Mean People Suck Silhouette Studio File

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Mickey Mouse Silhouette Studio File

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Taz # 2 Silhouette Studio File

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Taz # 1 Silhouette Studio File

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Tutorial: A Halloween Keepsake Craft with Kids

I am always envious of the parents who have time to decorate their houses for each holiday. Around here in the South, they must store boxes and boxes of decorations because there are some homes that change their decor for each holiday. Well we don't have the space nor the time to do that BUT I wanted to do a little more than the nothing I usually do.

So I decided to make something for Halloween but I wanted to make it something I could use year after year, something that the kids could help with, and something that could be a keepsake as the kids grow up.

Enter Feet Ghosts. Simple, easy, fun and most of all, fairly cheap! For this craft we used:

• One 11x14 Stretched Canvas (found at JoAnn's for 50% off)
• One bottle of black acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of white acrylic craft paint
• One bottle of orange acrylic craft paint
• And a few paint brushes of various sizes

Step 1: Paint the Canvas with the black paint. I used a wide brush and did three coats, waiting for each coat of paint to dry in between

Step 2: Assemble kids and make sure their feet are clean.

Now painting with kids isn't for the faint of heart and painting their feet can make your heart race if you are not fast enough to catch them as they run off through your house with paint still at the bottom of their feet. So I highly suggest laying our a large sheet of plastic (I like the tacky and cheap table cloths that you find that has plastic on one side and fabric on the other).

Step 3: One child at a time -- paint their feet with white using a very thick brush. OR they can paint their feet -but warning... it tickles.

Step 4: Press their painted foot down on the canvas and make sure to "roll" the foot around (roll meaning pressing all of the edges) so the painted print comes off on the canvas.

Since the canvas is stretched there is no backing to the middle of the canvas, so if you step on it, it will not hold it's shape. So I found a book the size of the opening and sat the canvas over it... making a hard area for the child to step on.

Repeat steps 3 & 4 for each child.

Let dry and wash those little feet.

Step 5: When the picture is dry, you can use the orange paint to create a hair bow and bow tie and the white paint to write in a title and name labels!

Step 6: Display on a table top easel or use some pretty craft ribbon to hang!

Enjoy your scary ghosts!

Halloween Cat Silhouette Studio File

Download the Silhouette .studio file HERE

Mommy Pumpkin

So I bought these Funkin Pumpkins (fake pumpkins) thinking I'd do some amazing carvings this year and then store them to use in coming years. I am pretty good with carving a real pumpkin so I figured these would be easy!

HAHAHAHA - Let me tell you I suck at carving Funkins. Like royally SUCK. So I bought a Dremel and you know what - I still suck! Now I was just $80 poorer (but had a really cool crafting tool to play with).

SO instead I bought some cheese cloth ;-) And now we have a Mummy Pumpkin!