Posts Tagged ‘freebies’

Alternative Valentines: Cutie Tag Freebie

February 1st, 2019
2 Comments

Last year I had this darling idea (I’ll share next week), ordered a bunch of things 3 months in advance and they never came. So, day before Valentine’s I was scrambling to do something a little out-of-the-box that didn’t involve candy. 

I drew the design in Procreate on my iPad Pro and then exported it to Silhouette where I printed and cut all of the tags. I had Penelope put her name on all of hers, but Felix needed a little bit of help. It was easy, and the kids absolutely LOVED it! I didn’t know if fruit would be an acceptable offering for grade school kids, but apparently it was just perfect. PHEW!! 

I didn’t realize I forgot to share the printable here until a few weeks ago, so here you go. And hopefully this year’s 2019 printable won’t take me a year to post. ;)

I kept the shape simple enough that if you don’t have a Silhouette cutter at home, you can easily just cut around the outside with scissors. You don’t have to get a perfect cut in order for them to look darling, either. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE (SANS SILHOUETTE MACHINE)

Now if you’d like to use a Silhouette machine to cut them out for you (because why would you not) see the link below to download. 

SILHOUETTE STUDIO FREE PRINTABLE

MATERIALS USED

Did you print it out? What did you think? Tag me @melissapher if you do! I’d love to see how they turned out. 

This freebie and the artwork associated with this freebie are yours to use for personal use only. Any alteration, redistribution or selling this work without my permission is prohibited. Thank you! Affiliate links used help support this website. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or email me directly melissaATmelissaesplinDOTcom

Printer-Friendly Christmas Winter Holiday Kids Craft PRINTABLE

January 2nd, 2019
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Last month I was assigned the task of treat for my kids’ respective class parties. The treat is a tricky thing. Thankfully there were no gluten allergies in the class so I really only had to steer clear of nuts. I, however, wasn’t too thrilled about the printable options I saw on Pinterest. Clever ideas, but All of them used up SO. MUCH. DAMN. PRINTER INK!!! What the heck guys? I don’t want to spend $45 on printer ink for some dumb treat that’s totally going to be tossed aside. But I also didn’t want to go so minimalist that it wasn’t going to be cute. Because cute is everything. 

I came across this Do You Wanna Build A Snowman treat idea and decided I would do my own, printer-ink pocketbook friendly version. I have to hand it to whomever thought up this particular idea in the first place. Brilliant! The kids in my daughter’s 4th grade class and the kids in my son’s life skills class LOVED IT. The fact that it not only held the attention of wiggly 10 year olds, but it wasn’t frustrating for kids with special needs to enjoy too. 

I share this with you now. In January. Because building snowmen doesn’t need to just happen in December. We even get snow the end of may, so this is an easy anytime craft when kids are bored. And they can get clever with it and do so much more than just a snowman. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

It’s pretty easy to pull together too. Here’s what you need: 

  • Printable (prints 6 per page)
  • Card stock (this is my fave!)
  • Large marshmallows
  • Mini pretzel sticks
  • Craisins or chocolate chips
  • Snack bags
  • Scissors
  • Stapler

Print out the printable. It’s black and white and fits 6 to a page. Easy peasy, doesn’t use up tons of ink and has plenty of margin on the sides for your at-home printer. I used this paper to make it look nice. 

Cut out the printable, leaving white space around the pencil line. You don’t have to do this, but I think it looks nice. Don’t worry about perfect lines. Organic lines will match nicely with the style. 

Fold over the tags, not quite in half. Just so you don’t have the other side’s design peeking over on the front.

Fill each bag with 3 large marshmallows 4-5 pretzels and a small handful of craisins or small chocolate chips. Close. 

Staple the tags to the snack bags. I personally prefer the look of the tags on the top left, but that’s just me and my OCD. ;) ENJOY!! 

This freebie is free for personal use only. Alteration and redestribution of this is prohibited. 

FREEBIE: Silhouette Mint Designs & Valentines

February 5th, 2016
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Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! I swear it was just Thanksgiving. This time of year just flies right on by. I’m teaming up with Silhouette (my favorite, as you know) to provide you with some fun printables in time for Valentine’s Day!

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The Silhouette Mint is one of my favorite new gadgets of all time. I can create a stamp in minutes. Literally. If you haven’t seen my youtube video on the process check it out here. It’s super slick, which makes card making, gift giving and label making so much more fun and customized. I wrote out a few little sayings and drew up a little banner. All these things are available to download free at the bottom of this post. If you don’t have a Mint, no problems. Feel free to use the graphics for personal use.

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This Wednesday, we had an intimate gathering to learn calligraphy and make Valentines. I wanted to allow these awesome people to use their freshly gained calligraphy skills, but also give them the opportunity to put calligraphy on something if they didn’t feel comfortable writing something out. Each guest got a calligraphy kit and a card making kit with card stock (Thanks to my favorite My Mind’s Eye peeps! We used the dark grey from this line.) and piles and piles of stickers, washi tape and stamps for everyone to deck out their cards to the gills. Because a gaudy valentine is an awesome valentine. Totally channeling my inner Schin Loong.

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These little stamps are so fun to use. See below for what size stamps I used for each design.

  • banner: 90×45 mm
  • Be Mine: 30×30 mm (on the diagonal)
  • You’re Hot: 30×30 mm
  • I Freaking Love You: 15×60 mm

If you’re interested in purchasing the Mint. Use code: MELISSA for $20 off a Mint machine! Wouldn’t it be so darling to have your kid design their own Valentine’s card? So adorable. Click the link to read more about the workshop and download the free artwork.

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DIY and Printable: Fabric Painting with Words

June 25th, 2014
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Tune into KSL’s Studio 5 today to watch a fun and easy project for all ages.

The ’90s are back in full swing. Remember the hand-painted tees you could buy at mall kiosks back in the day? Well we’re going to make some today. It’s the perfect project for folks of all ages (if my 6 year old can do it, so can you!) and all artistic abilities. It’s an easy project. Last week at Alt Summit I was asked to host a DIY project for conference attendees. We were able to make great tees in the spare minutes between sessions.

Alt Summit - Justin Hackworth Photography

This was literally my favorite part of the conference. Seeing everyone’s creativity come out and inhibitions diminish as they made cards and tees was such a thrill. Also, can we all collectively swoon over the live succulent Bing wall? Simply stunning. The above photo is by Justin Hackworth. 

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Even Felix has gotten in the game.

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Feel a little intimidated by the whole process? I’m including three templates that you can download at the end of the post. Perfect for putting underneath your tee and tracing.

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I also went abstract with this tutorial and created a little ‘x’ repeat pattern on the above tee. I plan on using the same technique on a dress sometime soon. If I ever get time to work on my sewing machine. We’re hoping time opens up soon now that obligations for Alt Summit are over.

Jazz up your tees for the next family reunion or youth activity with the tutorial below.

DIY Painted Tees

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Supplies

  • various round brushes
  • fabric paint
  • small dishes or paper cups
  • tee
  • iron
  • press cloth
  • cardboard insert

Click through for the full tutorial!

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5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Handwriting

February 17th, 2014
70 Comments

learn-calligraphy-pen

Learn calligraphy online at calligraphy.org. You’ll learn the basics of pointed pen, flourishing, addressing envelopes and developing your own style. The course comes complete with a beginner kit of supplies and personal coaching from calligraphy experts Melissa Esplin and Erika Paulsen. Click here to find out more.

 

I was on Studio 5 last week! It’s hard to convey everything I want in a short segment, so in addition to the little video (below), I have great tips on how to improve your handwriting.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s International Correspondence Month. I’ve made a dent with my box of envelopes, but I still have about 15 letters to go before the end of the month (totally doable, if you ask me!). I make goals like this for myself quite frequently, and I’m excited that this one is sticking! Ideally, I’d love to write this many letters all the time, but it’s a matter of carving out the time. It’s not as quick or convenient as sending an email, but it certainly means more to get something hand-written than a quick 2-liner in your inbox. At least, that’s how I feel.

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With the rise of the digital age, good penmanship has gone down the crapper. If I had a quarter for every time I heard the whine “I wish my handwriting looked better”, I’d be living it up in my multi-million dollar dream home. It’s an epidemic of bad handwriting! Most schools aren’t teaching cursive, either! I’m glad to be in a state that still requires cursive as part of the third grade curriculum. Not only does it teach kids a slice of history, but it promotes better literacy (often times kids that don’t learn how to write cursive have issues reading script fonts), better fine-motor skills and concentration. It may be impractical to hand-write everything in this modern age. However, we should shift our perception of handwriting from an archaic means of communication to something meditative, meaningful and personal.

Calligraphy and penmanship have very similar foundations. So let’s talk about 5 ways to make your everyday handwriting better.

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