Showing posts with label Silhouette Portrait. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silhouette Portrait. Show all posts

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Tipsy Tuesday Flag


Another Tipsy Tuesday flag is in the mail! This one is en route to Buena Vista, Colorado. It will join flags in Montana, North Carolina and Kentucky in bringing friends and neighbors together, one glass at a time.



Stenciled with craft paint on burlap. Stencil  was made with Silhouette Portrait.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

It's Cheap, Sturdy and Charming

Have we talked about using drop cloths for crafting? I like the Everbilt brand from Home Depot because it doesn't have a seam. It is study and cost $11-$12 for a 6 X 9 ft. cloth. I'd say that is a pretty good bargain. I have found it is best to wash before using, especially if you plan to stencil on it. This is my most recent drop cloth creation,

Stencil cut with Silhouette Portrait


Perfect for the popular farmhouse look. In addition to pillows I have used drop cloth to make banners, garden flags and tablecloths. My next dc project is curtains for The Wanderer which I need to do soon as she will be taking us to warmer places for the winter.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

So, what does one do when they wait too long to register for the for the Barn Quilt Paint workshop at Ephemera Paducah during the Fall Quilt Show? (Yep, the workshop filled up :(

What could we do but coerce Handy Randy into constructing a square,  head to The Underground, download a template from the Silhouette store, get out the craft paint and go to work.


Good job, Carol! Great fun having you hang out with me in the studio. 

Friday, January 20, 2017

Today I hung a prayer flag in my garden with hopes a gentle breeze will carry my wishes for peace throughout our country.


Monday, January 16, 2017

Yeah! You got a Silhouette for Christmas!

Looking at my Facebook feed it seems as though a lot of Silhouettes showed up under the Christmas tree this year. If you are one of the lucky recipients, I know just how excited you are (because that is how excited I was 3 years ago when I received my Portrait.) Two of my great nieces are a couple of the lucky ones, (they both got the Cameo 3, I am so jealous!) so I want to share with them a few tips and photos to help them get off to a great start. The rest of you can read along if you want and certainly share some of your tips in the comments below. So here we go.

The best advice I can give, if you have not already done so check out Silhouette School blog; my go to place for finding information quickly (Melissa and her crew know everything about Silhouette.) This is where I learned about using freezer paper for stencils on fabric

I was looking into the sun when photographing (I know, that is a no, no.) The colors are a lot more saturated than it looks. 


and contact paper for stencils on wood. (A tip from me, buy that ugly contact paper you often see at yard sales for about 50-cents a roll.)



After a frustrating experience with craft store vinyl tearing, curling and not sticking well, I discovered, via Silhouette School, Oracal Vinyl. Last summer I used the 651 on an outside door as well as a coffee mug that is washed every day; it looks as good as the day I did it.
(I have successfully used blue painters tape instead of transfer paper on small projects.)

Speaking of painter’s tape, when your mat needs to be replaced but you just haven’t gotten around to it, you can use the painter’s tape to hold vinyl, fabric, contact paper or whatever in place. (Painter tape is a must have in my studio.)

My nieces each have a daughter (yep, I have great-great nieces) so I know they will be putting cute little appliques on little girls clothing. I have had great success using Heat’n Bond (available at craft stores and Amazon) for appliques. Fuse cutouts with Lite for stitching, Ultrahold if not stitching.
I used Hean'n Bond Ultra Hold and did not stitch on this flag.

Oh there is so much more you will do with your new Silhouettes! Print and Cut, Heat Transfer Vinyl, Etch, Set Rhinestones, and the list goes on. I am looking forward to seeing the projects of my nieces. (Confession time; I am hoping my Portrait will soon die so I can justify upgrading to a Cameo 3!)

Don’t forget, freezer paper, contact paper, painter’s tape, Hean’n Bond, and Oracal Vinyl. 

Bonus tip, Silhouette School blog is celebrating their 3-year anniversary with chances to win some awesome Silhouette related gifts. Information on their blog, Facebook page and Instagram.

No, I have no affiliation with Melissa or Silhouette School blog; I just stumbled onto her site and became a groupie.  

Monday, January 9, 2017

What were we thinking???

We could be soaking up sunshine in a warm place like Arizona. But here we are in Paducah enjoying tolerating single digit temperatures. But there is an upside; the cold gives us incentive to get that upstairs bedroom renovation (started about 10-years ago) completed 

so we can head to the northwest when the heat and humidity hits this summer. And I am quite cozy here in The Underground.

Our Christmas and Epiphany is organized, (with the help of my Silhouette Portrait) and stowed away.

I have registered fo a drawing class at the PaducahSchool of Art and Design. Having taken classes from instructor, Randy Simmons, I know the first part of the class will be about understanding perspective. (I hate perspective drawing!) Hoping to avoid a lot of classroom frustration I am practicing drawing boxes. 


(Yes, it is pretty boring.)

It hasn’t been all work and no play in the studio. I made a prayer flag for the garden,
Yep, that is My One Word for 2017

and finished HR’s stocking stuffer (Don’t judge me.)

Want to know how to print on fabric? I happened upon an excellent post on TheSewing Loft blog.

For those of you in the deep freeze, stay warm; the rest of you, enjoy your sunshine.


Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Organization in The Wanderer

I am back in The Underground! The Wanderer has been unloaded and cleaned; I am ready for serious crafting! We had a wonderful Fall Adventure but I am happy to return to my studio. It didn't take me long to find a project.

Using my Silhouette Portrait, I cut vinyl letters to keep me organized when on the road. I had vinyl that I had purchased from a hobby store when I first attempted to play with this product. (Remember my frustrations with it tearing and not adhering?) It did okay on this project except where the text needed to curve, it really didn't want to curve.

My guess is I will be replacing the vinyl with my fav, Oracal 651. But for now, I'll see what happens.

I am happy to report the Oracal 651 bohemian design on the garden shop door looks as good as it did when applied 3 months ago. I am really loving this product!

The Wanderer is on her way to winter storage and I am hunkering down for winter in The Underground.


Monday, October 31, 2016

The other shop door

makes it clear as to whom the shop belongs.


Using pieces of the left over pickets from the plant deck Handy Randy built last summer, I created these signs for the side door of his shop.

I used the Paint and Peel method for this sign. I don’t have photos of the process but it is pretty simple.

Most often I use whatever paint I have on hand for making signs; it may be latex, craft paint, acrylic, chalk, indoor or outdoor. If I want to preserve it for a while, I will give it a couple coats of polyurethane. Since I have AADD, I don’t go for longevity in signs. They are easy to repaint or do-over when a whim hits.

First I sanded the wood; of course this wood doesn’t actually get smooth, but for this project that is okay.

I painted the base white and let it dry.

While it was drying I created the words in the Silhouette Portrait  program and cut them from the ugly contact paper I picked up at a yard sale.

I placed the letters on the base board and painted over the letters with the same white paint (this kind of seals the edges to prevent the paint from bleeding.)

After the white paint is totally dry, I painted the Handy Randy sign gray and the shop sign red, not bothering to cover it completely as I wanted a rustic look.

With the help of tweezers, I pulled the contact paper letters from the wood, revealing the words.

After the paint dried, I attached heavy duty magnets to the back and hung them on the shop door.

And that is all there was to it.

Justa Girl and her Blog has very detailed instructions for the paint and peel method on her blog which is very helpful if you are not experienced in using the Silhouette. Note, she used vinyl where I used the cheap contact paper. Of course you can Google “paint and peel using a Silhouette."



Monday, October 24, 2016

A little Bohemian in the garden? Why not?


One of the doors leading from HR’s shop into my garden looked pretty blah, all white and industrial. Before leaving on our fall travel adventure, I decided to have a little fun with it.

Amazon offers 6”X6” pieces of various colors of Oracal 651 craft vinyl for around $8 for a package of 12 pieces. I ordered two packages. This was a really easy project since it was pretty much random placement. I cut the flowers with my Silhouette Portrait, using the Silhouette Nature Flower designs.


Love it! The Oracal 651 is weatherproof so I am sure I will find other ways to use it in the garden (probably will add more flowers, maybe some leaves and who knows what else to this door.) 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Missed me?

Yep, I have been wandering around above ground for the past couple of months.
In late August we loaded The Wanderer

with a few craft supplies, my easel  and my little Singer Featherweight,

along with gifts for our niece and her husband’s mountain home which is currently under construction.

Handy Randy made the sign in his shop
Freezer paper stencil cut with Silhouette Portrait ironed onto burlap and painted with craft paint

We traveled to Texas via Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. We plan to stay in Texas through the football season.

The Featherweight is set up at my mother-in-law’s home where I have stitched a couple of bags including a phone sleeve to carry to football games. 

Pocket for phone
Pocket for ticket


























It complies with the SECrequirements for bags that can be brought into the stadium; depending on the person taking the tickets, it might have to go through the line to be searched. So I stick it in Handy Randy’s pocket until we get in the stadium (wonder why pockets aren’t searched?) The pattern is one I frequently use from  Sher’s Creative Space. (I no longer see the pattern on the web site, but there are a ton of other free patterns listed.)

On the flap of this wristlet is a photo from our visit in Cortona, Italy.




How did I do that? I ironed a piece of heavy cotton fabric onto a piece of freezer paper and printed it on my home printer. I think the image would be brighter had I treated the fabric with digital ground before printing.

Currently I am working on a surprise for the folks with whom we traveled to Italy last May. I would tell you about it, but it is a secret. Perhaps I will share photos after our get together next month.  


Even though I am not in The Underground, I continue to feed my soul with crafting. 

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Silhouette and Drop Cloths

Last weekend we hosted our annual Texas Barbecue. We were excited to have Blue Bell Ice Cream back on the menu as it is the official ice cream of Texas. (It was missed last year as production had stopped due to listeria.)  To celebrate its return I thought we should give it some star attention (actually I was looking for an excuse to play with my Silhouette Portrait.) I had seen all the chatter on Pinterest about the use of canvas drop cloths; it was a no-brainer.  


If you have been following my blog, you know about freezer paper stencils for fabric. It worked so very well on the drop cloths! For these projects I used inexpensive craft paint.

Our tablecloths were also made from canvas drop cloths.  I think I paid $11 or $12 for a 15 by 4 ft. drop cloth which I cut in half to have two 71/2 by 4 ft. table cloths. That isn’t much more than the plastic cloths I have bought in the past. They washed and ironed beautifully, looked so much better and can be used again and again. I may even stencil on them!

The party was a success even though I could not find the Howdy banner I made a few years ago.


Sunday, July 24, 2016

Seizing an Opportunity

Our house is pretty old, I think about 80 years. Eleven years ago we bought it from a fixer-up kind of guy who had purchased it in a foreclosure sale to flip. He did the minimum so it would look good enough to sell; cheap paint, cheap cabinet doors, etc. Fortunately he did install good double-pane windows downstairs. It is a very sturdy double brick house in a great neighborhood and we love it. Over the years it has been our canvas as we have added a bath, a garage, a carport, a screened porch, a garden and a studio. We have painted the entire downstairs and replaced the windows upstairs. I so want Handy Randy to make new farmhouse style cabinet doors, but first we must finish the upstairs and rebuild a fence that was damaged in an ice storm a few years ago.

All of this to say, the paint on the doors beneath the kitchen sink was peeling and looked pretty tacky. I saw an opportunity to be creative! Off the doors came and down to the studio where I copied Alisa Burke’s style.

After painting the doors with chalk paint, I used a Sharpie to draw on the panels. I sealed them with two coats of wax. The knobs were painted with enamel paint (because I had some in my stash) and multi-purpose paint.

Using the Silhouette Portrait, I cut the words from Oracal 651 Matte Black Vinyl. I learned that all vinyl is not the same. My first attempt I tried an inexpensive vinyl; it tore easily and did not adhere to the wood (So frustrating!) Then I did some research (I know, I would have saved time if I did this first) and learned Oralcal 651 is highly recommended. I can understand why! It cut smoothly, didn't tear and adhered beautifully.

I like it even if it doesn’t look as polished as Alisa’s work. If you are not familiar with her, you should hop on over to her blog and see what I am talking about!





Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Our Creative Statement

For someone who is not a “beach” person, I do spend a lot of time in Florida. (Grandchildren have a lot to do with determining one's travel destinations.) I do like the beach colors and the casual style. When I saw this at an RV park in Florida, I couldn't wait to give it a try. I had no idea where I could use it.
Hiding an ugly area while creating a way to access the roof, Hand Randy created the perfect spot, right outside my studio door.

From the ends of the pickets used to face the plant deck, he cut the bases for the letters. Using white paint, I gave each base a coat.
Then the fun started! From my stash of multi-surface craft paint, I chose beachy colors to brush over the white.  With my Silhouette Portrait, I cut the stencils for the letters. For stencils to use on wood, I use ugly contact paper that I can find really cheap at yard sales. (Okay, maybe this one isn’t so ugly, but it was cheap, 50 cents for the roll.)

I found the heavy acrylic paint and a stencil brush (instead of a sponge dauber) worked really well on the rough wood. I hand painted the shadows to give the letters more definition.

So, here you have it, our creative statement. It truly states how we feel about our 80 year old cottage.




Thursday, March 17, 2016

Have Featherweight, Will Travel

And oh how I love this travel companion!





She allows me to continue to make these handy dandy phone sleeves which I carry much more often than a purse. Following Sher Hastings directions, I increased the size to accommodate a larger phone. I can slip a small coin purse, shopping list, coupons, etc. in the pocket. Note the prairie points, my first. I continue to be amazed at all the free online instructions! I found these at PatchworkPosse.







For a friend, my Featherweight and I made this flag. After helping launch Tipsy Tuesday on our patio, my friend is now living in Montana. She wanted a flag with cows and mountains so she could continue the tradition out west. The cows and mountains were created with stencils using freezer paper, my Silhouette Portrait and craft paint.


I think my granddaughter also likes the little Featherweight and the Silhouette. 






She made a purse tissue cover for her friend who, like Camille, is a ballerina. The image is a silhouette of her friend which I created in Photoshop Elements (yes, I am exploring the PSE 14 and I like it! The magic eraser is really great for removing backgrounds.) With assistance Camille created a freezer paper stencil using my Silhouette Portrait. Since both girls had the role of a dragonfly in the recent production of Cinderella, she added a little dragonfly.







Wanting to add a Cinderella photo to my digital picture frame and knowing photos from the Northwest Florida Ballet Company were copyrighted, I got creative.
Camille’s mom took some good photos at the dress rehearsal, but they had an unflattering background.


















Once again, PSE 14 to the rescue! Using that marvelous magic eraser I got rid of the background. Using the gradient tool, I created another background on to which I moved both photos.
 Viola!


You can take the crafter out of the studio, but that doesn’t stop her creativity! I will be back in the studio in a couple of weeks.



Thursday, January 14, 2016

Feeding my Soul

This week, my friend Kathy joined me in The Underground. She wants to adopt our Tipsy Tuesday tradition and needed a flag. We used the Silhouette Portrait to cut a stencil from freezer paper which we ironed to a burlap flag.

Craft paint was used for the stenciling.


HR agreed to come down to take some photos while we were working. He waited a good 30-40 minutes so we would be in the thick of things. Guess what, we had been so busy talking, we hadn’t even started! Nothing feeds my soul more than spending time with the ones I love!

What, you may ask, is Tipsy Tuesday? Head on over to our Living Richly in Retirement blog to find out.

You can see more of my stencil projects on a previous post here.

For more information on making freezer paper stencil, check out Silhouette School blog.


Monday, May 4, 2015

New Prayer Flags

This week I added new prayer flags to my garden.

This one is for my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day. It will replace the one I made when she became a widow three years ago. Her daughters are now teenagers. One has her driver's permit and the other one will be entering high school in the fall. I will send her a card with a photo of the flag along with my wishes for courage and wisdom as she prepares the girls to leave the nest. (Hope she doesn't have time to read my blog before Mother's Day!)
The text and photo were printed on muslin with my Epson WF-3520. I like the DurBrite ink for fabric because it is waterproof. The birds are fabric that was ironed to Pellon Wonder-Under and cut with the Silhouette Portrait. After they were cut, they were ironed to the flag.



This was made for a young lady as she was recently Confirmed. She was a delight in my 4 & 5 year old Sunday School class several years ago. The text is from her Faith Statement. I sent her a card with a photo of the flag and a personal note.

The photo is one I took years ago. It was printed on Muslin. The text was printed on Transfer Artist Paper; I had to do the text twice as I forgot to flip the image before printing!


This was made for a former Sunday School student for his recent Confirmation. He is an avid outdoors man. The text is from his Faith Statement. A card with the photo and a personal note was sent to let the young man know a prayer flag is hanging in my garden.

If you are interested, you can learn about the Prayer Flag Project by visiting the web site http://theprayerflagproject.blogspot.com/ You can see more of the prayer flags hanging in my garden by clicking here.