Thainie Craft: Spooky Haunted House Fill and Color Cut-It-Out

Another cute Halloween craft for the kiddies.  I got this creative idea from Sarah Jane's blog.  I tried to find a print and cut or any cuts from the Silhouette shop but couldn't find any so I used Sarah's cute template as a template for cutting on the Cameo.  Here's the outline and all you need to do is:
- Click this image and then it will give you the full size image

- Right click and save to your computer
- Open your Silhouette Studio
- Drag or open the image in your new file and according to your paper choice (i.e. A4, letter...)
- "Image trace" the entire house
- Select "Trace"
- Either resize now or you could resize when you first drag to the mat

OR if you don't have a cutting machine, it's easy to cut out with a cutter or exacto knife.

And you'll have a super spooky haunted house for your kids or you to decorate for Halloween.

Stickers for the Stinkies

 I saw this just recently on my FB feed and knew I had to do this since we just swapped out my little stinkies' (my two younger kids) chest of drawers with my older stinkie's (my eldest daughter) ones.  The kids' loved it and were excited to get things organized (starting them young!) and even asked for a few more clothes silhouettes that weren't represented!

I also experimented with painting vinyl stickers with Mod Podge.  I tried one with just Mod Podge Extreme Glitter painted on but I thought it was a bit still tacky and it turned out that when you use transfer tape/masking tape to transfer your sticker and peel it off, the glue came off too.  And so I painted another vinyl sticker sheet with Mod Podge Extreme Glitter and a top coat of Mod Podge Matte and it turned out nicely. 

I have also posted these silhouettes if you would like to make them for your stinkies.  Just click to bring up the image and you can right click and save to your computer to use with the Silhouette software.  Once you're on Silhouette software, just use the Image Trace button and highlight the image and there should be no need to do anything since it's a simple image.

I also tried coating paper stickers and photographs with the Mod Podge and they turned out really nice and thinking to use it in an upcoming Christmas craft.  Stay tuned!

Happy Crafting!

Masking Tape

Did you know you can use masking tape for sticker transferring?  Here are some pictures showing how easy it is and a cheaper solution.

I also found wider masking tape at B2S, and it's come in real handy. And while we're talking masking tape, check out these from Scotch.  They have them at most B2S.  A cheaper option to washi tape too.

 ***Unfortunately, I'm not sponsored by Scotch and this post are just my random finds.

Sew What?: Pillow Talk

 Lately, I've been crazy about pillows/throw pillows for the couch.  I had just finish doing a big red heart pillow case (you can see a small glimpse in the pic above--will try to post a better pic) after seeing a pin on Pinterest and then I saw another one with the word "hello" and it was so cutie chic that I had to add it to our couch collection!  Also they're cheaper, super easy and fast to make.

You'll need:

• Freezer paper 
• Pillow fabric or buy a ready made pillow case from IKEA (I'm using a thick cotton fabric from IKEA and stitching my own pillow case here--for a great tutorial on how to make your own pillow cases, check out MADE's for simple cases and for zippered cases check out Design Sponge's) 
• Pillow cushion, I got mine at INDEX Mall, 16"x16" for 99 baht---these pillows make great presents (another upcoming post)
• Craft paint for fabric, I'm using Martha Stewarts CRAFT Paint/Multi-Surface Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint in GOLD
• Sponge and bowl for paint
• Iron
• Hidden Zipper (if you're making a pillow case from scratch)
• Freezer paper (I'm using Reynold's)
• Cutting machine (I'm using my invaluable Cameo)

 When you have all your materials, it's time to design the stencil.  Since I was making a 16"x16" pillow and my Cameo can only cut up to 12"x12", I had to factor the pillow size by making a square box that was 16"x16" to get an idea how big the stencil will be.  

Once you have an idea how big you want your stencil to be on the pillow case then you choose the circle shape and then your font.  I'm using "Xiomara" (you can download free at dafont.com) font and then once I fixed the look of the word I used "weld".  When you're happy with your design, cut on Reynold's freezer paper or your stencil media of choice.

 

Now you're ready to iron and paint.

It has taken me lots of practice and fails (a lot) when it comes to stenciling and painting.  

 I have these tips:

• Iron with medium heat, not low or high but medium, just enough to stick the freezer paper onto the fabric but not hot enough to wrinkle and cause little creases that paint can escape and bleed out.
• Careful with edges, anytime you're ironing over/around edges, don't drag the iron, lift, wiggle and press.  Don't drag!
• Sponge paint on instead of brushing.  First put your paint into a bowl and dip your sponge in flat, then squeeze excess on the side of the bowl.  Then press and blot paint on stencil being extra careful around edges.
• Patience....I am soooo guilty of trying to remove the stencil even when the paint is still not dry.  Don't do this, be patient and let paint dry completely before removing stencil.  You will get crisper lines and hopefully no smudges.

Once you're done with painting and removing the stencil, take a scrap piece of fabric and place over the design and iron over to set the paint.

Finish sewing pillow.....REMEMBER!!!!!  Put the zipper on the bottom of your design so that it will not be visible when you have it adorned on your couch!!!!

Happy crafting!!!

The Princess Tea Party Birthday

Of course this idea was from Pinterest, I did this the night before her birthday morning.  Only thing different was I hung the balloons outside in the living room since they always get up in the middle of the night so her room door was not going to work

Okay this is going to be the longest post ever since it's about my daughter's recent birthday party.  My now 4 year old daughter wanted to have a princess themed birthday party and so I played with the idea and thought of a Princess Tea Party theme.  This way the girls would be able to be all princessy and enjoy a nice tea party with tea cups and everything.  I secretly was delighted at the idea of throwing one too!  Although, this year I decided to do a more cozy and small party since it would be more controllable enjoyable to do crafts and activities with a small group of girls, 6 little girls to be exact (T's 3 very best girlfriends, her godmother's daughter and her friend).  Luckily, my 2 year old boy went down perfectly for his nap during the party and my 13 year old daughter was home to help!  Lastly, I set a budget of about 5,000 baht ($150+) for the party since I believe you don't have to waste money when you can diy or find it cheaper!

So here's the rundown!

The Invite...

 

First, you have to have an invite!  I found this perfect scroll online and put the details of the party as well as found a cute seal with her initial.

The font I used was Edwardian Script but after checking for the link, I found that you have to pay for it now and so I would recommend going to any free font site like dafont.com and downloading a font style you like from there. 

I then printed the artwork on A4 premium drawing paper and cut the shape out with the Silhouette.  The invites were then put into an envelope and sealed with our family's letter seal to add that royal touch!!! 

Here they are, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to the lucky princesses:

The Birthday Banner & Streamers...

I used the Silhouette machine and cut her name and the background shapes then used 3M repositioning spray adhesive (the link actually goes to the widely used Krylon one -- in the states-- but I am using 3M since it's the only kind I can find here in Bangkok) to attach them together.  I really recommend this repositioning spray adhesive for any paper craft you are working on.  It's so easy to use, you can spray several pieces at the same time, goes on clear and you can reposition it (it's like the stickiness on the back of post its!).  After all pieces are cut and glued together, I strung them together with ribbon and then attached with some masking tape at the back so that it would position just the right way on the wall. 

The streamers were made of scrap fabric streams that were cut and then tied onto a plain old white string (the string that is used for packages).  Also great project for just decorating a room too and the perfect way to use all those scraps!!! 

The Pom-Poms

I have a confession to make, I'm a tissue paper hoarder--in addition to a hoarder of mostly all craft-related items.  I love my tissue paper collection and I couldn't bear using tons of them on the pom-poms.  And so trusty ol' IKEA came to the rescue!  I bought the colored paper napkin packs and they had the perfect colors for the party.

1) IKEA Fantastisk (don't they name their items so cool?) paper napkins, I also bought the paper plates and cups for the party there too.  

2-3) You take about 6-8 paper napkins and lay them on top of each other and then follow these directions!  But instead of the wire I used a plain rubber band (it was also great since you can stretch the rubber bands onto whatever you are decorating).    

4) Now the tricky part!  You want your pom-poms to be fluffy and airy but they just don't look like that, you have to spread the sheets since each paper napkin is 3-ply.  So carefully spread your napkins apart and fluff!  It's a learning curve but it gets easier! 

And hopefully you will get these:

The Goodie Bags and Activities Goodies...

As mentioned, I was working with a budget, luckily I found some great goodies that were perfect!  

1) The custom made royal invites.

2) All the goodies on show.  Books were from Kinokuniya (100+ baht/book), some princess pencils from The Emporium (they came is a 6 pack), notepads I had hoarded through the years, fruit chews, bracelets (also hoarded, bought them from Sampeng years ago) and a custom skirt I made with my fabric stash.

3) Princess tiaras, these were for the craft activity, I got the idea from here at Lu Bird Baby. 

4) These were also for the craft activity, they were little zipper pouches that the kids would paint in their names with metallic gold or silver acrylic paints.  You can see my tute for the stencils here.

5) This frame was a light bulb moment at IKEA!  It's the Tolsby frame and was 49 baht for each of them.  I used artwork from Lettering Delights and my trusty Silhouette to cut a hole out so that a photo could be inserted, the other side just had a message saying thank you for joining the party.

 All these goodies then went into a paper bag decorated with a doily and their name written on it.

The Activities & Crafts...

A smaller amount of kids turned out to be perfect since each one had the chance to do their own crafts.  In addition to the princess headpiece and zipper pouch, I also had the following:

-  A bracelet kit that I got at the mall (The Emporium) and it was perfect since it came with plastic bangles and gem stickers.  

-  A bunch of plastic beads and elastic to make our own royal jewels (Central B2S).

-  A wand craft made from foam clay, which dries light and airy (Central B2S) and attached to balloon sticks. *** Sadly, this craft turned out to be more of a art piece than a wand.  But the kids had so much fun making them, so did the moms!

-  "Kiss the Frog" (aka pin the tail on the donkey), I took green construction paper and cut out a frog and cut out lips and sprayed the repositioning adhesive spray so that the girls could kiss the frog while blindfolded with these cute panda eye covers I got from Cotton On (Mega Bangna).  It was a hit!  The girls had so much fun and a lot of giggles, their prize were IKEA markers!

-  Well this was a last minute activity craft that my daughter requested.  She wanted a pinata (she calls it a "pee-a-tah") and how could I say no right?  Well I was very lazy to do the whole paper mache pinata and on a budget to buy one and so I MomGyvered it.  Looked around the house and found paper plates, stapled plates together into a shape, covered it with crepe paper and liquid glue.....then thought about what that shape would be...it turned out to be a teapot for the tea party!  The lid, spout and handle were just cut out shapes, again from the Silhouette and decorated with a bit of frayed crepe paper and presto.....PEE-AH-TAH completed!

The Princess Tea Party Decor...

Paper napkin pom-poms, goodies, pee-ah-ta, streamers and everything else was ready to decorate!  I picked up some helium balloons at Pinata Party Place while out that morning picking up the birthday cake.

Threw everything together and it looked like this:

I had bought these adorable little tea cup sets from the 60 baht shop and you can see the IKEA paper cups, plates and napkins.  I also used paper napkins that I ironed out the night before for table mats.  Bought some fresh (well almost fresh day old cheaper flowers at Villa-I didn't need pre-bloom ones)  and each place setting had a place card cut from the Silhouette with each of the princess' name.

For the cake stand, I just took an over-sized cup we had and a plate and use UHU putty to hold it together.  Perfect again for the teacup/tea party theme!

The Princess Birthday Cake...

How cool did this cake turn out?  This 3D cake was ordered from S&P and was 790 baht ($26)!  You need to order about 2-3 days ahead and pick it up yourself but it was so worth it, the kids all loved it!  I then added a small decorative pom-pom, candle and tiny frog!  Can you guess the on-going theme here other than the princess theme?  Yes, Princess Tiana!!!

Last but Not Least...

My birthday princess and her Princess Tiana costume I had made for her. 

  

Well, that's it....  I'm happy to report that the party was a success but will have to decide whether I'm up for another themed party next year!  I hope you enjoyed sharing this special day with me and it will help you with your princess or prince!  Happy crafting!

Do the hooky pokey...

Did you ever wonder how they do those vinyl stickers so nicely, especially the ones with cut out letters in them?  I finally got a chance to use the hooky thingy (aka Universal Hook) that I bought to use with my Silhouette machine on a labeling project that I've been also wanting to do for a long time....there's a lot I've been wanting to do for a long time....  Anyhoo, so I thought I would do a short tute on how they do it.

Image from Thainie

 - To begin, cut out your stickers with your cutting machine.

- Take some masking tape and gently apply it on top of your vinyl sticker. You don't want the masking tape to completely cover your label.  Make sure you can still see the top and bottom so that you can align it easily to what you are labeling.

- Position your sticker on and rub the sticker until that sucker sticker is on there for good. 

- Gently peel from top to bottom/side to side, depends on your cut out but always take it slow since you don't want to tear the insides.  

- Now get your hooky thingy and start picking at the letters to peel them off.  Be careful if you're peeling against plastic or anything that can be scratched easily.  

- And there you have it!  Wasn't that easy?

 

Here's some repurposed mayo containers for your cooking necessities...

Image from Thainie

  
IKEA plastic boxes for art supplies labelled...

Image from Thainie

*** I'm thinking you can probably use a toothpick or those dentist thingys?  Will have to try it out and let you know how it goes...

 

Thainie DIY: Wall Reminder

Okay, I'm not a morning person, my mind totally does not function so early and just getting out the door is horrendous.  I'm always forgetting something (thank goodness my younger daughter is still too young to notice that her mom is a total ditz), if not her water bottle, it's an outfit for that day of the week or the show & tell item, sometimes even my daughter!  And so I thought of this wall reminder project, also I just got my Silhouette about a couple weeks ago (thank you T&L Mommy!!!) and have been itching to do projects with vinyl stickers.  If you don't have the Silhouette, you can easily just create paper labels to post on the wall or if you're more venturous you can paint directly on your wall.   

I probably could have been more creative with my fonts but I didn't want to push my luck since it was my first time cutting vinyl.  I'm actually happy it worked out perfectly and it serves its purpose.  I have a hook (you can get those 3M plastic hooks but make sure they can take the weight of whatever you want to hang on it) for each day of the week and so I can just hang the corresponding bag that I have labeled using freezer paper stenciling, presto neato -- easy wall reminder!  Also if you don't have a bag and just want to put up a reminder, you can just stick a post it under the day.  Happy crafting!!!!