Silhouettes

I’m so excited to share the silhouettes I made our moms for Christmas. They turned out so cute and I can’t wait to make myself some.

All-in-all they were pretty easy…time consuming, yes a bit, but pretty easy.

I basically followed a tutorial on the Silhouette SD website. Here we go…

I took profile pictures of my kids before bed one night.

When I uploaded them on the Silhouette program I had to resize them a bit to the size I wanted.

I traced the outline of their head, but with their hair the outline was a little off.

The Silhouette site said all I had to do was pick the “end points”, delete them, and make the lines straight.

{I’ve tried several ways to put all these steps from my Silhouette program on here, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to do that…again, not that computer savvy.}

The Silhouette directions made it seem very simple. Well, it wasn’t hard, it was just very time consuming. There were hundreds of little grey boxes – end points – around the outline. Some were unwanted specs, and hairs, and such…all had to go.

Let’s just say I got real friendly with the left mouse button and the “delete end point” button.

After a while I finally had the outline I wanted…they were perfect.

I installed some vinyl into my Silhouette machine and cut.

Dallas helped me a lot with this project. I made the actual vinyl silhouettes, but she helped with the wood frames.

I had some left over wood from art boards I made a while back. I had Eric cut me four 10x10 boards.

I sanded them real good with the electric sander.

Dallas and I made up a white wash paint by watering down some paint we already had and she went to work.

But once dry I wasn’t completely happy with them.

I painted two with some bronze glaze I bought for some Christmas crafts. It had a little green tint to it. I put it on real thin and when it dried you could see some of the white wash through the bronze.

I mixed up a couple of brown craft paints and added a bit of the bronze glaze and painted the other two real thin as well.

I purchased some 12x12 scrapbook paper and cut them to 8x8. I then used Modge Podge and put them on the boards. When they were dry I took some fine sandpaper and sanded the edges of the paper a bit to make it look a little worn.

After cutting the vinyl silhouettes I placed them in the middle of the paper. Of course Dallas always wears a hair bow so I cut a couple of bows out on vinyl as well and placed it on hers.

They were finished!

They are so sweet and I can’t get enough of them.

I love how the Silhouette picked up every detail of their nose, mouth, hair line, and even eyelashes.

For a more detailed with picture tutorial, see this site: http://blog.silhouetteamerica.com/2011/04/spring-into-silhouette-tutorial-week_20.html

It’s a Wonderful Christmas

Hey there, y’all. I hope this finds that all of you had a wonderful and bright Christmas.

We sure did. I have to say that once I got over the funk I was in, the last week has been fabulous. We have had family in for a week and it was great.

We were so blessed to have Eric’s parents here for Christmas and then mine came in on Monday. We’ve had lots of laughs, good food, and made a ton of memories.

Christmas Eve church service was phenomenal as it always is. We were late to come in and had to sit in the back, but we didn’t miss a thing. I was a crying mess the whole time. Don’t worry, they were happy tears, but there’s something about Christmas songs that just pulls at my heart strings and makes me turn into waterworks girl.

Anyway, that was definitely what I needed to complete my Christmas spirit.

The kids were so jacked up all day that we put them to bed super early. They were exhausted and were just bouncing off the walls. Off to bed they went, but not before snapping a quick picture. And of course we had to leave the reindeer food outside and cookies and milk for Santa.

I could go on and on about Christmas morning, afternoon, night, and the day after, but I won’t give all details, but I will say that Santa {or someone} must’ve thought we were good because we got everything we wanted. When I say everything, I mean everything…check it out.

Hunter’s corner from Santa including the Lego Black Pearl pirate ship and Jack Sparrow dress up set.

Dallas’ corner from Santa including the American Girl, Emily, a pair of PJs for her and a make the faces pad.

If Santa didn’t bring enough for them they each got lots of more gifts…so much for cutting back this year.

Can I just tell you I must have done something really good this year because I got E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G I wanted. I’m still in disbelief. Want to know what it is?

Well, I’ve been wanting these for quite some time now…

Yes, that would be the Canon Rebel!!! I am so excited, I can’t stand it.

Rain boots from my sweet little girl.

I didn’t get a picture but my wonderful in-laws finished out my Christmas dishes I’ve been collecting for a couple of years now. They are simply elegant which is perfectly my style.

When my parents came with a carload of more presents I just couldn’t believe it.

We all received lots of more fun gifts, but I got the last toy I was really hoping for…

A sewing machine!!!

Hooray!!!

I’m so excited. I’ve been wanting to learn to sew for some time now, and now I can.

So needless to say I have been super busy since Christmas taking pictures, finding places for all these new toys, a little shopping, and also sewing!

Today Mama, Dallas and I started and finished my first project, a pillow for Dallas’ bed. We saw the fabric on clearance at JoAnn’s and I just had to have it.

Dallas was a great help, and we had a lot of fun doing this together.

Mama is a very patient and wonderful teacher, and I think I was a pretty good student.

I had little helpers, and we had a great time.

Yes, I even made a ruffle on my first try.

And the end result…

Isn’t it super cute??? I just love it, and so does Dallas. Tomorrow I have to make Emily, her doll, a matching pillow…good thing I got lots of material.

Like I said, I hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas. I just love this time of year…time with family.

I’ll be back the next couple of days to share some craft projects I worked on for presents.

Y’all have a good night.

Christmas mantel

I decided this year that I wanted to change up my mantel for Christmas.

I have to tell you that I was going to show you what my mantel has looked like the past 4 years, but looking back through all my pictures, I never took a picture of my mantel at Christmas. So, I guess I’m going to have to explain it to you and you’ll have to use your imagination…

Here’s a picture after I put up the garland this year…

Remember my wonderful coffee filter wreath??? I just couldn’t take it down. Usually the mirror comes down a big Christmasy wreath goes up. The garland is lit with white lights, and Max sometimes likes to hide there. I also use to put black chunky candle sticks with red candles – two on either side.

It was pretty simple but I liked it that way. This year I decided to change it up and I wanted to make some decorations, so off to Michael’s I went.

And, this is what I bought…

You can’t see, but the angel has sparkly wings and the deer is a little sparkly too. Can’t be too fancy, right???

The first thing I did was paint the J O Y letters.

I found this green glitter spray paint and just had to have it. I painted the letters, but quickly found that the paint was not sticking well. I let it dry and then sanded it a bit. I found some light green paint in the garage and spray painted the letters again…take two.

Once the green paint dried, I lightly re-sprayed with the glitter. They dried and I hot glued them stacking on top of each other.

Cute, huh?

Next I took the small canvas and got an idea from a fellow blogger.

http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-canvas.html

I gathered my things and got busy. I painted the canvas with kaki color first and let it dry. Next, I lightly painted on the bronze glaze and wiped some off with a paper towel.

Once all that was dry I taped off the bottom to make the stripes.

I didn’t want to copy totally the one canvas so I decided to come up with a different saying. I search the Silhouette website and found an adorable way to say “jolly”; and, that’s what I went with….

I hadn’t received my vinyl in the mail yet so I had to go to plan B. I printed out on cardstock and pulled out some Modge Podge.

I had not used it before and was a little nervous, but it worked great. I love the stuff!

And here’s the finished product…

The last thing I made was a felt Styrofoam tree.

First I cut out two different sized circles in cardstock….2 and 3 inches.

I traced the circles on the felt and started cutting.

I heated up the glue gun and once heated I started placing in overlapping pattern.

It didn’t take but a few minutes and it was finished.

And there you have it…three easy peasy craft projects to make for Christmas décor.

Once finished, I added a couple other things to the mantel and it was finished. I’m very pleased with it…and it just makes me happy.

It’s about Christmas spirit

Well…

It’s been since the 11th that I last wrote. I can and can’t believe it. I’ve wanted to write everyday, but my crazy schedule just hasn’t allowed me.

I’ve caught myself, especially this week, thinking that I am just ready for Christmas to be over.

I know what you’re thinking…

What?! How can she think that???? It’s the best time of the year.

Exactly, and I had to pretty much slap myself silly on Monday to remind myself of the fact that this IS the best time of the year. I shouldn’t be so stressed about shopping for the perfect gift {for everyone}, baking the perfect goodies, rushing to all the activities, and making sure the house is clean and straight. That’s not what the season is about.

Yes, it’s about giving and being jolly, but it’s the season to be with family and friends and rejoice in each other and the birth of our Lord and Savior.

I got so bogged down in the “to-do” list and the hustle and bustle of the crazy calendar that I forgot to enjoy this time. I was putting my children and playing with them on the back-burner so I could make the perfect craft and snack for their classes.

On Monday evening after complaining to our Pastors at the gym about how overwhelmed I was I realized what I had just said aloud….and that was pretty much the slap in my face.

I should enjoy this time no matter how crazy my schedule is and how much I’m shopping for the perfect gifts. This is the time to really enjoy being with my family, making special memories with my children, and enjoy the magic of Christmas through their eyes.

So here I am, I’m not overwhelmed anymore. Maybe it’s because the shopping and wrapping is complete. Maybe it’s because my husband is home for the next week and a half for vacation. Maybe it’s because I had the “slap in the face”. Whatever it is, I am in the Christmas spirit and I am J-O-L-L-Y!

And really how can you not be jolly when we actually sit back and enjoy the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child? Attending Christmas programs at preschool will put anyone in the mood.

Or visiting your daughters dance class’s rendition of The Nutcracker and having her daddy {aka favorite man on Earth} join her.

{And yes, she stands just like me… }

Even seeing pictures of my adorable nephews and God son helped put me in the mood.

And if none of those work for ya, check this guy out…

He has to be my favorite decoration in all my house. He is so real-looking with wrinkles and all. But, the most special part of all is the black fur you see was actual fur from Eric’s grandmother’s fur coat. My mother-in-law had him made for me a few years ago and he brings our house to life every year.

During this crazy time I did make a few crafts for decorations and gifts and I’m becoming good friends with my Silhouette, and I can’t wait to share those with you. But for now I leave you with this….

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Tis the Season to be Jolly and Merry and Bright!