Tag: crafts

Easy Sign Making with vinyl and PVPP

That's What Shell Said

I know everyone is bored in the house and looking for DIY projects, so I thought I’d share one of my favorites. I love to use vinyl as a stencil to make signs. I use what is called the paint, vinyl, paint, peel method. (PVPP)

I start off by painting a piece of wood the color that I want my lettering to be. This sign was burgundy with white lettering so I painted the board white first and let it dry.

While it dried I cut out the letters with some permanent grade vinyl that I wanted for my sign. Next I laid them out to make sure they fit. After I made sure they fit and I measured I attached the vinyl to the wood using transfer tape.

And then I painted over the vinyl letters with white paint. You want to use the same color paint first on the board so it will create a good deal. This helps prevent leaking.

After that coat of paint dries, paint over everything with your board color. This took a few coats.

Once the paint has a little bit of time to get tacky I peel off the letters using a wedding tool. I did have a small amount of leaking under the vinyl due to the amount of coats I needed, so I used a small brush to touch up those spots.

And ta da! I let it dry for a few hours and then it was ready to go to it’s new home.

Christmas Stocking Tags

That's What Shell Said

Christmas is less than two weeks away, so naturally I am STILL working on Christmas projects… including my decor.

I am changing all of my Christmas decorations this year, and I bought these super cute buffalo plaid and fur stockings from Hobby Lobby. I don’t really want to put names on them, in case we don’t keep them forever… (check with me again if I ever learn to embroider). So I thought I’d make something to hang from the stocking holders to identify whose is whose.

I found some unfinished wood tags at Dollar General last week and knew they would be perfect! Also, here are some similar ones from Amazon that would be just as great! AND you wouldn’t have to leave your house!

I started with staining the tags. I did this last night so I could let them dry over night.

Today I cut our names out with white HTV. (I’m obsessed with putting HTV on wood these days.) I pressed at 250 degrees for 10 seconds. Make sure to put something like a towel between the heat press and your tag so you don’t get stain on your machine. The font I used is called Shania.

Once these were done I used a 9 inch piece of twine and attached it to the tag.

I love the way they look hanging on the mantle!

Fabric buffalo plaid ornaments

That's What Shell Said

This year I got a wild idea to change all of my Christmas decorations and go with buffalo plaid. This meant I needed everything, right down to ornaments for my tree.

I put my tree up in early November because I have no patience, but my ornaments just went on my tree this week.

I started with these plain wooden ornaments from Hobby Lobby. I painted them black on both sides. Once the paint dried I traced the ornaments onto some fabric using chalk and cut them out. (I used bandanas from Hobby Lobby. Cheap fabric!)

I put a thick layer on mod podge on the wood and attached the fabric, being sure to smooth them out as i went. After allowing them to try for about an hour I used an exacto blade and a pair of scissors to trim off the excess fabric.

Once that was done I painted the little toppers green and worked on cutting out some vinyl. There is something I love about glitter ornaments so I used glitter heat transfer vinyl. After I had it cut and lined up I put my heat press on 250 degrees and pressed the vinyl for about 7 seconds. After the vinyl was applied I added some twine and hung them on my tree! I love the finished product!

Cheap and easy porch gnome

That's What Shell Said

Ever since I jumped headfirst into the gnome trend, I have been tagged in pictures of gnomes over and over again on facebook. Especially the posts with the porch gnomes!

I think they are freaking adorable, but since its in the thick of Christmas crafting season, I rarely have time to make things for myself. 

The other day I was on a mission to finally getting a few ornaments made for my naked Christmas tree and I stumbled upon some garland I had bought and forgot about. I decided to see if I could make a gnome for my porch using things that I already had at home and I made it happen!

Here’s what I used:

Empty coffee can. (This was one of the all ones from Sam’s club)

Sand to fill the tub with. You could use anything heavy.. rocks, etc. I just don’t want him to blow away.

2 Strands of Dollar Tree Garland 

2 bandanas 

A jingle bell

Hot glue

Twine

First I started by filling the can with sand to keep him from blowing off my porch. Next I took the first strand and garland and wrapped it around the can. I secured it into place with some hot glue. The second strand of garland I folded in about 15 inch sections so it could imitate a beard coming down the front of the can. I tied twine around the can, over the top of the 2nd layer garland to secure it.

Next I drew a long skinny triangle on of the bandanas and cut out two of them. I just tried to make sure it was a little bigger that the width of the coffee can. I sewed them together to make a hat. This isn’t necessary and could have been done with hot glue, but my sewing machine was out so why not.

I turned the hat right side out and hot glued a Pom Pom to the tip. Next I slid the hat over his “head” and attached the bell to his beard using hot glue. I put it just under the brim of his hat so I old scrunch his hat up just a bit over the nose. I put a few dots of glue all around him under the bottom of his hat so it’ll stay in place.

I love him. ❤️❤️