Archive for the ‘crafts’ Category

Cutting my Own Stamps & Silhouette Promo

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You know I’m obsessed with making custom stamps. I’ve made countless business card stamps, return address stamps for others (and finally myself). They’re fun and satisfying to reprint the same thing over and over with just a small gesture.

Silhouette just came out with a stamp material you can cut with their machines (or X-acto knives – low-tech is okay, too!).

Unfortunately the material isn’t optimized for the small details needed in return address stamps (narrowest recommended line is 1/16th inch), but that’s no matter. It’s still incredibly fun to play with. Think of it as your own lineocut material you don’t have to cut by hand.

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I cut out about 15 miniature hearts and arranged them as a repeat on the stamp block for a fun detail for a thank you note. It took me under 5 minutes to design cut and stamp. Love the instant gratification here!

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Miriam made a little tag for her daughter’s outerwear. Can we all collectively Oooh! and Aaah! over the amazing blazer and name tag she just made? Come on Miriam. You’ve out-done yourself.

Penelope needs her name on the inside of her outerwear, too. So in true Melissa fashion, I’m copying. I would hate for this 12 hour sewing project to get lost!

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Penelope was over the moon about her new stamp. She’s been chomping at the bit to use it. Finally I affixed it semi-permanently to a block. What did she do? She stamped up business cards for herself. She’s been handing them out all morning. Like mother, like daughter.

I know I’ll be using this material a lot in the future, so look out. Silhouette is showcasing this material for the month’s promotion. Get it for 20% off or with a cutter at a steeper discount. Use code MELISSA at checkout to redeem the offer.

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I’ve had a few people ask about my candid thoughts about the product, so here’s more information:

  • It didn’t cut all the way through the material at first. But I forgot to ratchet up the blade to the correct depth (duh moment for me), but customer service was incredibly helpful.
  • There’s no need to reverse designs. The material is reversible.
  • The ink pad that comes with the kit is really tacky. Not my favorite, but it seems to print alright. I was pleased with the results with my dye ink pads.
  • The blocks don’t curve up on the corners so it’s pretty easy to mis-print. Simply wipe excess ink from the corners before stamping.
  • Overall: I’m a huge fan.
I am a Silhouette affiliate. I wouldn’t blog about their products unless I really loved them. And I do. I receive a portion of sales made with the promotional code MELISSA, so thank you for your support!!

 

Making Handmade Buttons from Polymer Clay

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Polymer clay buttons are so much fun to make. I’m thinking a three-buttoned henley is in order for these little buttons.

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Wait, wait, wait. . .

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Or what about using them as the detail on some shoulder epaulets? I better have coordinating fabric in my stash, it’s ridiculous how much fabric I’ve accumulated in the last 6 months!

What would you do with three hot pink buttons?

Zero Budget Project: Hand Cut Fish Plants

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Meet Goldie Cruise in the Dooms. She’s Penelope’s goldfish – we LOVE Penelope’s creativity with that.

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This sort of satisfied her desire for a dog, but not really. We’ve had her for about 6 months (a record for a family goldfish?). We bought her as part of some cheap kit from the grocery store. And that kit came with some really ugly rocks and foliage. It was really disappointing that I couldn’t find anything that had more of a modern vibe to it.

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Remembering that my sister-in-law had given me some white plastic sheeting (used for Industrial Design projects). I cut some foliage for Goldie.

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I used the previous base from the kit to keep the plant upright. This way more tolerable than hot pink and muddy green fake foliage.

Baby’s Firsts Book with Lifestyle Crafts

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I’m over on the Lifestyle Crafts blog sharing a couple of tips: how to make a stub book and how to make a leather enclosure!

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I made the above stub book, and I’m so excited to gift it to a new mom. I designed custom plates for this project, but the artwork could be used for any number of things. I definitely plan on using my new plates for cards and envelopes, which I’ll be sure to share.

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That being said, I’m offering the above artwork (graphics ganged up for a custom plate and separated for other projects) to you for free, well sort of. The artwork is free for personal use, if you simply follow my blog. You can follow this blog’s RSS (google reader is dying so choose something else), email, facebook, twitter, etc. See the left sidebar, then you can click the button below to download the artwork. If you’d like to license the artwork commercially, email me through the contact form above.

Yes, I’m bribing you to stick around.

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Click here to read more about how to make your own Baby’s Firsts book.

Tutorial: How to Make Chalk Paint

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Last weekend I participated in the very first Salt Lake hosted Vintage Whites Market. I participated in the event by teaching a calligraphy workshop. We had a blast. I had so much fun hanging out with some incredibly inspiring women (VWM, Shop Ruche and Gather & Hunt).

I was asked to do some chalk art for the entry way for admission and pricing, much like the one I did for Alt Summit. I didn’t have much time to do the lettering and unfortunately for me, it was a retro chalkboard with a sheen to it; impossible for actually chalking up.

I tried to prime the surface by rubbing chalk all over it, but nothing would stick. My chalk marker wouldn’t even make a mark, so I had to get creative. It was midnight and I needed to use what I had on hand. So I thought I would see how chalky paint would do. Here’s what it ended up looking like.

The paint worked well and I’m really excited about this new method – I couldn’t wait to share it with you. So here we go:

Make Paint out of Chalk

Soaking chalk was not about to work in the amount of time I had. So I researched. I realized I needed to phrase my query, “How to make paint out of chalk” as to try to avoid how to make your own colored paint that could be used for making chalkboards. Confusing, I know.

I found this tutorial, but I thought the technique lacking. I’m not going to rub chalk on my brush until I get enough chalk dust so I busted out the micro planer instead. Much faster.

I bet if you had a fine cheese grater or some sand paper, that would do, too.

I didn’t need a ton of chalk dust – I think for the large project I did for VWM, I used less than a stick and a half.

I mixed chalk and water a little bit at a time until I got the consistency of heavy cream and grabbed a brush I no longer cared for.

I’m sure you could do some really fun things with sponges and even food coloring. I haven’t tried yet.

I noticed the chalk doesn’t show up at first, but there was no need to run over each line twice. See below!

See how vibrantly the white chalk shows up after it’s dry? Again, no need to run over your lines twice.

It shows up so vividly on the chalkboard, but it’s just like regular chalk and erases with little to no effort. I don’t have a legit chalk eraser, but it came off just fine with a microfiber cloth. Bonus, right?

Now there’s a whole new way to participate in the chalking trend! We have the above chalk board in front of our house. It’s been since December that I’ve written a message on there (I would letter out different phrases each month). I think now that our front porch is clear of snow, I might start the monthly phrases up again.

Got any suggestions on greetings I should write on this baby?

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