It's a sad announcement but I must tell you that Sam & Hailey Designs is retiring. With the VDBC store closing, and my life having taken an entirely different direction, I've decided that it's time. If there's something you've been meaning to pick up in the store, now's the time to do it. Everything is 60% off through the end of August or when the store closes.
To let you know what I'm doing now, I'm currently enrolled back in college to get my teaching certificate. I'm also teaching Special Education as an intern teacher full time. It's pretty great and a ton of work at the same time. I wish I still had time for design fun, but it's just not in the cards right now. Maybe some day I'll be back. Who knows?
Thank you for all the support and love I've received from you all over the last 6 years. It's been amazing!
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Friday, July 6, 2012
Re-Post from 7.09 - Freezer Paper Stencils Tutorial
I while ago on the old blog I wrote a tutorial for making freezer paper stencils on your die-cut machine. I thought now would be a great time to bring it back out and show it to you again.
This is one of my all time favorite projects. We did a Girls Camp craft that year using freezer paper stencils to put the girls names on their camp t-shirts. I've used them quite a few times and every time I just love it!
This is a great project for kids to help out with. You'll need to do the preparation and the ironing. They can do the painting and even the removing of the stencil. I imagine you'll need to do the cleaning up, too, if your kids are anything like mine.
1. Create your design.
Method A: If you want your letters to be the part that is painted, create a border around the letters of some kind. In this example, the word Samantha will be painted and anything outside the scalloped border. The white parts will be the paper stencil. For this method, you may want to choose either a stencil font or create bridges to connect the centers of your letters to the outside. Otherwise, you’ll have to save the centers of your letters and iron them on in place.
2. Place your freezer paper shiny side up on your cutting mat. Cutter shown is the KNK Maxx, but any cutter will cut this material. It’s important that the shiny side is up because the shiny side won’t stick to your cutting mat very well and may shift during cutting.
3. Open your design in your software and “mirror” it so that it is backwards on your screen. This is so that when you cut it out it will be forwards when you iron the shiny side down on your material.
4. Cut your design.
5. Remove the paper from the cutting mats, saving the parts you plan to iron down to your material.
Method A: If you didn’t use a stencil font, be sure you save the centers of your letters so you can iron them down in place.
Method B: Be sure to save the dots of for each “i” or “j” and any punctuation so you can iron them down in place.
6. Iron all the relevant parts for your stencil down to your material. Grown-ups should do this part! Be sure you have the shiny side of the stencil down or you’ll iron it to your iron! Use an iron set to medium-high and press down for a few seconds without moving or rubbing.
7. Paint all the areas you want painted with fabric or other appropriate paint.
8. Kids will want to decorate the rest of their project, too!
9. Allow the paint to dry completely. If you try to remove the stencil before the paint is dry, you may blur your edges and they won’t be clean and crisp.
10. Carefully peel the freezer paper off your material. A pin or tweezers will help get any little bits left behind.
We loved these shirts so much that the girls wore them all the time. We recently passed them down to some friends with little girls about the same distance apart in age. They wore them to Disneyland and got so many comments on how cute their shirts were! I'm thinking I need to make a new batch!
Time to get crafty, people!
This is one of my all time favorite projects. We did a Girls Camp craft that year using freezer paper stencils to put the girls names on their camp t-shirts. I've used them quite a few times and every time I just love it!
This is a great project for kids to help out with. You'll need to do the preparation and the ironing. They can do the painting and even the removing of the stencil. I imagine you'll need to do the cleaning up, too, if your kids are anything like mine.
Cutting and Using
Freezer Paper Stencils
Freezer paper stencils are so fun and easy to use
you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it sooner!
1. Create your design.
Method B: If you want the letters to be unpainted with a field of color, create a decorative border around the letters and a second border around the decorative one. In this example, the letters will not be painted, but the scalloped rectangle around it will. Optionally, anything outside the plain rectangle can also be painted. The white parts will be the freezer paper stencil.
4. Cut your design.
5. Remove the paper from the cutting mats, saving the parts you plan to iron down to your material.
Method A: If you didn’t use a stencil font, be sure you save the centers of your letters so you can iron them down in place.
Method B: Be sure to save the dots of for each “i” or “j” and any punctuation so you can iron them down in place.
9. Allow the paint to dry completely. If you try to remove the stencil before the paint is dry, you may blur your edges and they won’t be clean and crisp.
11. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions on both your garment and the paint for laundering.
12. Enjoy your new wearable art project!!!
Here is an compact and easily downloadable version of this tutorial. Just click on the image to open it larger to read and/or save it. It's slightly abbreviated but the essentials are there. You can pin this, too, for later!
12. Enjoy your new wearable art project!!!
Try combining these two methods in one project like the shirts below!
We loved these shirts so much that the girls wore them all the time. We recently passed them down to some friends with little girls about the same distance apart in age. They wore them to Disneyland and got so many comments on how cute their shirts were! I'm thinking I need to make a new batch!
Time to get crafty, people!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Summer Fun plus a Freebie!
It's been a very busy summer around here. That's what I get with two busy girls and being busy myself by nature. I'll give you a little personal update and then some crafty fun, too!
We had a wonderful trip to visit my parents at the end of May and beginning of June. My mom is doing about was well as can be expected as she enters hosipce care. She continues to have such a wonderful attitude about live and the trials that have come her way. We are hoping to get back up to see them very soon. As we were getting ready to leave to return home, Mom, Samantha and I were sitting on the sofa together getting a last minute snuggle in. I snapped this picture of our hands with the camera on my phone.
After that, we only had a week at home before I was off to a week of Girls Camp. What was my assignment at Camp? Crafts, of course! My favorite project was the felt hair bows we made.
What else have we been up to? Hmm... Here are a few pictures:
Samantha helped me can for the first time. We made lots of pints of apricot Jam. She was thrilled to be trusted with a knife!
We went to the zoo presentation at the library. It's been fun to find free things to do there this summer!
Their favorite animal was the hedgehog. Good thing they aren't legal to own as pets in AZ or we'd probably have one now. He was so cute!
Honestly, could you say no to that face?
Today's fun was the girls deciding to take over one of the tables in my studio for their own purposes. I didn't mind since it meant they had to clean everything off of it and put it away for me. I'm the worst at cleaning up from my own projects!
So, those are the highlights! How about some crafty stuff, now?
I just finished uploading a new 6 for $6 Grab Bag to the store! Yippee!! This one is titled Summer Road Trip! Guess that's been on my mind in more ways than one. Since we are all trying to save money by driving instead of flying, why not save a few bucks and get a great collection of designs to scrapbook all about your trip? This grab bag includes two Itty Bitty collections, a set of Journal Spots, two Background Cuts and a Road Trip Flag Banner! That's a whole lotta cuts for just six bucks.
Here's a bonus for you... until the end of August, you can get my design Background Cuts - Road Sign 2 for free when you buy the Summer Road Trip 6 for $6 Grab Bag. Cha-ching! I love saving money!
Make sure you put both of these designs in your cart before your check out in order to get the Road Sign 2 design!
Click to download your favorite file format:
SORRY! This freebie has expired. Look for it in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store soon!
Time to get crafty, people!
We had a wonderful trip to visit my parents at the end of May and beginning of June. My mom is doing about was well as can be expected as she enters hosipce care. She continues to have such a wonderful attitude about live and the trials that have come her way. We are hoping to get back up to see them very soon. As we were getting ready to leave to return home, Mom, Samantha and I were sitting on the sofa together getting a last minute snuggle in. I snapped this picture of our hands with the camera on my phone.
After that, we only had a week at home before I was off to a week of Girls Camp. What was my assignment at Camp? Crafts, of course! My favorite project was the felt hair bows we made.
What else have we been up to? Hmm... Here are a few pictures:
So, those are the highlights! How about some crafty stuff, now?
I just finished uploading a new 6 for $6 Grab Bag to the store! Yippee!! This one is titled Summer Road Trip! Guess that's been on my mind in more ways than one. Since we are all trying to save money by driving instead of flying, why not save a few bucks and get a great collection of designs to scrapbook all about your trip? This grab bag includes two Itty Bitty collections, a set of Journal Spots, two Background Cuts and a Road Trip Flag Banner! That's a whole lotta cuts for just six bucks.
Here's a bonus for you... until the end of August, you can get my design Background Cuts - Road Sign 2 for free when you buy the Summer Road Trip 6 for $6 Grab Bag. Cha-ching! I love saving money!
Make sure you put both of these designs in your cart before your check out in order to get the Road Sign 2 design!
That's not all I have for you today! I've got a fun freebie for you since you managed to read all the way down here. Independence Day is on it's way. Here are a set of cupcake wrappers you can use for all those cook outs you know are coming up! This design will be available for free this week only. Then it will go up into the store.
Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!
SORRY! This freebie has expired. Look for it in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store soon!
Time to get crafty, people!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Spring Fever
Now don't pass out, people.... Yes, I'm blogging. It's a festivus miracle!
Before I get to an update on life and such, I thought I'd let you know that the last few days of the Splendidly Spring 6 for $6 Grab Bag are upon us! Don't forget you can pick up a great deal and an extra free file to go with it. Check it out by clicking on the image below!
Okay, let's see, what have I been up to lately? General craziness, mixed with lots of piano lessons, school projects, parenting (or the lack thereof), and gardening. That's pretty much it. Notice, cleaning my house was not on that list. :-/
We had a nice visit with my sister last month. We did lots of science stuff with the girls. They loved having someone who really came just to see them and spend time with them. We wen't lots of places including the Tucson Children's Museum and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The Desert Museum was our favorite for sure. Here are some cute pictures I took of the girls with their Aunt Sue.
At the Children's Museum and their creepy new health exhibit.
At the Desert Museum, getting to meet an owl.
So, I've also been enjoying getting my vegetable garden planted again this year. I'm more determined this year to keep the weeds out. Unfortunately, the bugs seem more determined this year, too! Despite the bugs and the hot weather we've been having, everything seems to be mostly flourishing so far. I've planted tomatoes, peppers, squash in various forms, watermelon, cantaloupe, onions, potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, artichokes, and tomatillos. I got my first harvest from the peas today and gobbled them up for lunch. Yummy!
In the spirit of gardening, I wanted to share a new garden themed die-cut design with you! Here is my new Itty Bitty Gardening design. I hope you enjoy it!
Sorry! This download has expired. Click here to purchase it from the Sam & Hailey Designs store!
Have a wonderful spring (or Summer here in AZ) weekend!!!
Time to get crafty, people!
Before I get to an update on life and such, I thought I'd let you know that the last few days of the Splendidly Spring 6 for $6 Grab Bag are upon us! Don't forget you can pick up a great deal and an extra free file to go with it. Check it out by clicking on the image below!
Okay, let's see, what have I been up to lately? General craziness, mixed with lots of piano lessons, school projects, parenting (or the lack thereof), and gardening. That's pretty much it. Notice, cleaning my house was not on that list. :-/
We had a nice visit with my sister last month. We did lots of science stuff with the girls. They loved having someone who really came just to see them and spend time with them. We wen't lots of places including the Tucson Children's Museum and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The Desert Museum was our favorite for sure. Here are some cute pictures I took of the girls with their Aunt Sue.
At the Children's Museum and their creepy new health exhibit.
Cuteness!
Hailey getting up close and personal with a Prairie Dog at the Desert Museum.
So, I've also been enjoying getting my vegetable garden planted again this year. I'm more determined this year to keep the weeds out. Unfortunately, the bugs seem more determined this year, too! Despite the bugs and the hot weather we've been having, everything seems to be mostly flourishing so far. I've planted tomatoes, peppers, squash in various forms, watermelon, cantaloupe, onions, potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, artichokes, and tomatillos. I got my first harvest from the peas today and gobbled them up for lunch. Yummy!
In the spirit of gardening, I wanted to share a new garden themed die-cut design with you! Here is my new Itty Bitty Gardening design. I hope you enjoy it!
Sorry! This download has expired. Click here to purchase it from the Sam & Hailey Designs store!
Have a wonderful spring (or Summer here in AZ) weekend!!!
Time to get crafty, people!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Valentines Day 6 for $6 Grab Bag is here!
It's here! After much tribulation and wrestling with my mouse, I've managed to come up with a little Valentine's Day treat for you! I collected up six of my newest Valentine's Day designs and bundled them up into a Grab Bag for you. Just $6 for 6 awesome cutting files!
The Grab Bag includes a Love Memory Book, a Love Word Book, two Card Shapers, a new set of Valentine's Cupcake Wrappers, and a new set of pretty heart motif Rosettes!
AND, I've got a little extra bonus for you! Buy it now and get my Lollipop Lips & Staches design for free!
I'm going to use these for my kids valentine's this year. Won't it look cute to have a whole class of Kindergartners wearing lips and mustaches while they eat their lollipops! Love it!
I hope to get creative again soon. I've got to replace my Wacom pen so I don't have to use the mouse on my computer. I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both of my hands and the mouse just aggravates it so much! Once I get that, I should be able to blog regularly again, too. I'm seeing a TON of cool stuff coming out of this years CHA Winter Trade Show!!!
Time to get crafty, people!
The Grab Bag includes a Love Memory Book, a Love Word Book, two Card Shapers, a new set of Valentine's Cupcake Wrappers, and a new set of pretty heart motif Rosettes!
AND, I've got a little extra bonus for you! Buy it now and get my Lollipop Lips & Staches design for free!
I hope to get creative again soon. I've got to replace my Wacom pen so I don't have to use the mouse on my computer. I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both of my hands and the mouse just aggravates it so much! Once I get that, I should be able to blog regularly again, too. I'm seeing a TON of cool stuff coming out of this years CHA Winter Trade Show!!!
Time to get crafty, people!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Cards to have in your stash
Does this ever happen to you? You are going about your life, humming along a mile-a-minute as usual and then... BANG! An occasion arises that requires a card. You don't have time to make one. There's no time to stop at the store for one. What do you do?
I added a rub-on and a bit of ribbon to dress it up on the front.
Another rub-on on the inside. I like that when this card is unfolded, whatever was on the sides of the card on the front is still visible! Plus there is lots of room to write a little something.
If you throw a few basics in your stash like these, you can quickly dress them up for any occasion!
Looking for this cutting file? Here's a link:
This happened to me today as I realized it was my turn to post a card over on the Card-A-Day blog! What do I do? I run to my stash, pull out a blank card, put a sentiment on it and GO!
I came up with a simple card. It may not be flashy, but it's not boring either. And in just a couple of minutes I was ready to post it. I'd already done the work of cutting and assembling the card a long time ago. The hardest part was picking which sentiment to put on it!
I started out with one of the cards from my Flip-Flop cards cutting file set. I used a masculine color scheme for the ones in my stash. It's nice to have a few masculine cards ready to go, don't you think?
I added a rub-on and a bit of ribbon to dress it up on the front.
Another rub-on on the inside. I like that when this card is unfolded, whatever was on the sides of the card on the front is still visible! Plus there is lots of room to write a little something.
If you throw a few basics in your stash like these, you can quickly dress them up for any occasion!
Looking for this cutting file? Here's a link:
Here are a few suggestions for more fun cards to put in your stash:
Time to get crafty, people!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Happy New Year!
It's a new year alright. I checked to be sure. We are back from visiting the Grandparents. The kids are back in school. I'm still in my jammies at 11:00. Yup, things are business as usual here at Sam & Hailey Designs.
Our Christmas was so nice. It wasn't too crazy, just family, a few friends, and some fun. We decided to throw a last minute trip in to see the folks one last time this year. As usual, we played games until our hands were to sore to shuffle cards one more time. The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins and even met some second cousins they didn't know before. Lots of fun. Sure hoping we left my parents without any cold germs. I'm thinking we probably won't be able to visit again until cold and flu season is over.
I know there are a few of you out there who got new digi cutters this year for Christmas. The hot new models being the Silhouette Cameo and the KNK Zing. A big old "Welcome" to you if this is your first time visiting us. Next week we will be back to posting our normal routine. That means I have to get busy and come up with a new batch of stuff to write about.
Before I go, I wanted to let you know about this month's product specials! Everything Itty Bitty is 25% off. These are big collections of little designs especially for cutting out small for cards, tags, ATCs or other tiny projects. Fun fun fun!
Time to get crafty, people!
Our Christmas was so nice. It wasn't too crazy, just family, a few friends, and some fun. We decided to throw a last minute trip in to see the folks one last time this year. As usual, we played games until our hands were to sore to shuffle cards one more time. The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins and even met some second cousins they didn't know before. Lots of fun. Sure hoping we left my parents without any cold germs. I'm thinking we probably won't be able to visit again until cold and flu season is over.
I know there are a few of you out there who got new digi cutters this year for Christmas. The hot new models being the Silhouette Cameo and the KNK Zing. A big old "Welcome" to you if this is your first time visiting us. Next week we will be back to posting our normal routine. That means I have to get busy and come up with a new batch of stuff to write about.
Before I go, I wanted to let you know about this month's product specials! Everything Itty Bitty is 25% off. These are big collections of little designs especially for cutting out small for cards, tags, ATCs or other tiny projects. Fun fun fun!
~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~
Get 25% off everything Itty Bitty
from Sam & Hailey Designs
through the end of January!
~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~STOCK UP SALE!~
Time to get crafty, people!
Friday, December 23, 2011
On the 12th Day of Christmas Creativity...
Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!!! It's Chris's turn to host the very last day of the 12 Days of Christmas Creativity!
Hailey asked me if we were going to open presents tomorrow morning. She was so bummed she would have to wait another day. I fear this will finally be the year that my kidlets will have a hard time sleeping. They are sooooo ridiculously excited!
I still have tons to do, so I'm attempting to keep this short. I've had all kinds of preparations for this blog post this morning and I'm hoping to go have lunch with hubby!
First up! The 12 Days of Christmas Tags Collection is up in the store! Before you run off to buy it, make sure you check to see if you won it, below!
Buy this:
Get this free:
Coupon Code: JB12DAYS for 50% savings!
The Winners!
Okay, are you ready for some drawing winners???
I still have tons to do, so I'm attempting to keep this short. I've had all kinds of preparations for this blog post this morning and I'm hoping to go have lunch with hubby!
First up! The 12 Days of Christmas Tags Collection is up in the store! Before you run off to buy it, make sure you check to see if you won it, below!
I've got something special for you if you do want to purchase the set. It's a fantastically special price!
First, the regular price of the whole giant set is over 30% off the individual file price. I know, you already got 4 of the twelve, so you don't want to buy the whole set. Let's see, you have 1/3 of the set, so I should give you 1/3 off, right? I think you need more though, how about 50% off the set! That's a massive savings over the individual file price!
And really, it wouldn't be Christmas without presents, right? So, I have another present for you! Buy the set, and get my newest card design, Super Quick Card - Peace Dove absolutely FREE! Just in time to make some for you last minute Christmas letters!
Here's what you'll need to do. First put both items in your cart. You'll notice that the card design will show up for free! Yippee! Then scroll down and put this coupon code JB12DAYS in the coupon code box (you need to be logged into the store for this to work). You'll see a discount of $12.50 just above your total! Sweet!
This special deal is good through December 31st. Party on!
Here are some quick links for you:
Buy this:
Get this free:
Coupon Code: JB12DAYS for 50% savings!
The Winners!
Okay, are you ready for some drawing winners???
Prize: the 12 Days of Christmas Tag Set
Winners: Kelly S, Denise Foor, Esther W-B
Prize: $10 Sam & Hailey Designs Gift Code
Winner: Sandra from NC
Prize: $10 Michaels Gift Card
Winner: Anna Dowdy
Prize: the December VDBC Grab Bag
Pam in SD
I don't have the coupon codes quite ready for you all yet, but I will this afternoon. Anna, I'll need your mailing address. Congratulations to all the winners!
I hope you all have a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy and especially Prosperous New Year!!!! Thanks for joining us on this fun 12 Days of Christmas Creativity blog-fest!
Time to get crafty, people!
I hope you all have a very very Merry Christmas and a Happy and especially Prosperous New Year!!!! Thanks for joining us on this fun 12 Days of Christmas Creativity blog-fest!
Time to get crafty, people!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
On the 11th Day of Christmas Creativity...
Phew!!! Are we almost there yet? It's been a fun two weeks counting down the 12 Days of Christmas Creativity with you. Today is Ileana's turn to host, so be sure to head over there and give her some love!
Today I'm thinking about stockings. When I was a kid I had this cute felt stocking my Aunt Shelba made for me. It had santa on it and my name. I still have it! We always got an orange in the toe of our stocking, then it was filled part way up with nuts, then some candy. I recall we always had that hard ribbon candy. I wonder if you can even get that anymore? I haven't looked because it wasn't really my favorite. I doubt that it was in our stockings... too sticky! When I got married, I picked up my hubby's family stocking traditions. Among those are to always get a new toothbrush in your stocking. That still strikes me as a little funny, but I go with it! Gotta have the marshmallow santa in there, too. As long as there are Reese's Peanut Butter Trees in there, hubby will be happy, so we're always good.
Speaking of stockings, this year I had this great idea {usually words that cause hubby alarm}. I wanted to make new stockings for my girls. My idea was to use my KNK Maxx to cut fabric for appliques. Sounds great, right? It actually was great!
They aren't quite done, but I have high hopes for getting them completed by Christmas Eve. It's the hand stitching that's taking me so long. Once I get that completed, I can sew them up!
The girls are excited about their new stockings. I had a hard time deciding what to put on them. They both wanted something like a princess on it. Christmas Princesses? What is this, A Very Disney Christmas? I was trying to convince them that they wanted birds instead of princesses. After all, there are a lot of bird related themes... think 12 Days of Christmas! Tons of birds there! So, we were looking through my new 12 Days of Christmas Tags and of course, they both wanted the Nine Ladies Dancing design. I decided that nine was a lot of ladies to be trouping around on a stocking and settled on three. I think they have turned out very cute so far. Here's what I did to cut the fabric.
Cutting Fabric Appliques on the KNK Maxx with the Fabric Blade
Materials:
Cotton quilting weight fabric
Wonder Under
Very sticky cutting mat
Fabric Blade
1. Iron your fabric nice and smooth.
2. Iron Wonder Under or other transfer material to the back side of your fabric. Do not peel off the paper backing.
3. Place fabric, paper side down, on a very sticky mat. {I used a brand new Cricut Mat}
4. Cut on a slow speed {100-200} with a pressure of 110-120.
5. Peel paper backing off and iron according to manufacturers instructions.
If you are cutting quite a few different materials, as you go along, your mat will begin to get less sticky. I found I was able to successfully cut with the fabric side down and mirrored my image. I'm really impressed with the fine details I was able to cut!
Only one more day to enter my drawings!!!!! Here are all the details:
Here are the prizes:
1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)
How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that'sfour six drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!
Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!
Oh, before you go, here are the last two 12 Days of Christmas Tags! They'll be up in the store later today, and I'll have a great deal on them for you this weekend!!!
And here's the whole collection together!
Time to get crafty, people!
Today I'm thinking about stockings. When I was a kid I had this cute felt stocking my Aunt Shelba made for me. It had santa on it and my name. I still have it! We always got an orange in the toe of our stocking, then it was filled part way up with nuts, then some candy. I recall we always had that hard ribbon candy. I wonder if you can even get that anymore? I haven't looked because it wasn't really my favorite. I doubt that it was in our stockings... too sticky! When I got married, I picked up my hubby's family stocking traditions. Among those are to always get a new toothbrush in your stocking. That still strikes me as a little funny, but I go with it! Gotta have the marshmallow santa in there, too. As long as there are Reese's Peanut Butter Trees in there, hubby will be happy, so we're always good.
Speaking of stockings, this year I had this great idea {usually words that cause hubby alarm}. I wanted to make new stockings for my girls. My idea was to use my KNK Maxx to cut fabric for appliques. Sounds great, right? It actually was great!
They aren't quite done, but I have high hopes for getting them completed by Christmas Eve. It's the hand stitching that's taking me so long. Once I get that completed, I can sew them up!
The girls are excited about their new stockings. I had a hard time deciding what to put on them. They both wanted something like a princess on it. Christmas Princesses? What is this, A Very Disney Christmas? I was trying to convince them that they wanted birds instead of princesses. After all, there are a lot of bird related themes... think 12 Days of Christmas! Tons of birds there! So, we were looking through my new 12 Days of Christmas Tags and of course, they both wanted the Nine Ladies Dancing design. I decided that nine was a lot of ladies to be trouping around on a stocking and settled on three. I think they have turned out very cute so far. Here's what I did to cut the fabric.
Cutting Fabric Appliques on the KNK Maxx with the Fabric Blade
Materials:
Cotton quilting weight fabric
Wonder Under
Very sticky cutting mat
Fabric Blade
1. Iron your fabric nice and smooth.
2. Iron Wonder Under or other transfer material to the back side of your fabric. Do not peel off the paper backing.
3. Place fabric, paper side down, on a very sticky mat. {I used a brand new Cricut Mat}
4. Cut on a slow speed {100-200} with a pressure of 110-120.
5. Peel paper backing off and iron according to manufacturers instructions.
If you are cutting quite a few different materials, as you go along, your mat will begin to get less sticky. I found I was able to successfully cut with the fabric side down and mirrored my image. I'm really impressed with the fine details I was able to cut!
Only one more day to enter my drawings!!!!! Here are all the details:
Here are the prizes:
1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)
How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's
Today's comment requirement:
Leave a comment with your family stocking traditions! What goes in them, where do you hang them, etc.?
Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!
Oh, before you go, here are the last two 12 Days of Christmas Tags! They'll be up in the store later today, and I'll have a great deal on them for you this weekend!!!
And here's the whole collection together!
Time to get crafty, people!
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