Silhouettes

Happy belated Mothers' Day, friends!  I know I'm super late on this post, but I had to share what I did!  First let me say that my first Mothers' Day was so wonderful, I hope yours was too. I know that it's notoriously a day in which the mommy gets pampered (which I definitely was) but really I loved it because it caused me to reflect on all that Liam has accomplished in just 9 short months.  I'm so proud of how he has grown and the little boy he is becoming.  He's at the age where his personality is really developing and he's so much fun!  Sometimes we just laugh and laugh.  It's a joy that can never be topped. 

So here's what I made for my moms!  It's a silhouette of the grandbabies.

 

I'm working on a tutorial on how to accomplish this using photoshop, but for now I'll just tell you what I did.  After uploading a picture of a profile into Photoshop I used the pen tool to create an outline. (The pen tool is better in this case than the lasso tool because the pen allows you to create a vector image - one that can be re sized whereas the lasso keeps the image pixilated).  

Here's my cute nephew.

 

 After cutting out the outline, I traced it onto a piece of black card stock and then cut that out.  From there all you have to do is tape or glue it onto a piece of white or cream card stock and then frame it.  So easy!

I refinished the frames too.  I wish I would have taken a before picture.  I found the matching frames at Good Will.  They were an ugly brown and gold, but I painted them black and added a thin coat of silver pearl to give them a more distressed look.  I stapled  cream ribbon bows to the back for hanging.

I'm really happy with how they turned out, and this really is an easy project that anyone can do.  I'm working on silhouettes of my husband and I for our living room!  I've never liked my profile, but I'm embracing it for the sake of sentimentality.  Make any yourself?  I'd love to see!

my homage to Will and Kate

With all of the hullabaloo surrounding Will and Kate's wedding, I thought it would be fun to craft something up relating to their big event.  The most obvious image I could think of was the British flag, and although it's a great flag and all, I didn't really want one as a home decoration.  So I came up with my "I do." pillow.  I'd never made a pillow before, but I am very pleased with how simple and rewarding it was to make! 


First thing I did after cutting the fabric (it's a sort of linen look a like that I cut to 17 1/2 x 10 1/2), was freezer paper stencil my lettering on.  

I drew my letters with a black sharpie on the dull side of a piece of freezer paper.

 

Then I used an exacto knife to cut out the black parts being sure to keep the insides of the letters for later!

Next I ironed the stencil and extra pieces shiny side down on my fabric and painted on my brown.  I tried not to paint it super thick or thorough because I wanted a more aged look.

Once it dried, I peeled off my stencil (it comes off really easily with no residue!) and made my pillow!  I'm not even going to pretend like I knew what I was doing.  I just used the few simple sewing techniques I know:  pin right sides together, sew a straight line, clip corners, turn inside out, stuff with poly-fil and hand stitch closed. 
And voila!  I'm so proud!

This literally took me maybe an hour all told.  I know I set out to create an homage to Will and Kate, but in the end it's more for my hubby so that he never forgets that I still "do"!  


Hope you liked it, and I really think you should make one because believe me, if I can do it - you definitely can!

Lucia's To-Do List

I have many to-do lists.  In fact, one would think I was organized.  Well the joke's on you.   You see, a real organizer would have a single, tidy list made up of manageable projects.  I, however, have a gazillion separate lists - half of which I either can't find or can't remember.  So maybe I don't have quite a gazillion - I can't remember.  Well, at any rate here's one of them.  A list of oh, so cute tutorials I've found floating around the blogosphere. 

this adorable bunting covered lantern from You Had me at Bonjour

an awesome puff container repurpose from Nice Girl Notes

 

this amazing cardigan from Elle Apparel

Itty bitty boxer briefs from Sew a Straight Line

Well this should keep me busy for a while.  Hope I was able to add something to your list!

Yudu + Bling

= Fabulous!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a musical family.  Some of my fondest memories are of my dad singing and playing Beatles and the The Lettermen songs on the guitar, and of my mom letting me tag along with her to her barbershop quartet rehearsals.  She still sings barbershop in fact, so when her birthday rolled around I thought I'd dust off my Yudu machine and put it to good use!  I made her a shirt with the name of her quartet, "Live Out Loud."  She was gracious enough to pose for some pictures pictures (as if she had a choice)...

I glued on some purple rhinestones to bling it up a bit because, well, if you know any female barbershoppers you know that's how they roll!  


As a side note, if you own or are thinking of purchasing a Yudu, I hacked it a bit to make it more affordable.   Instead of their outrageously priced sheets, I used liquid emulsion.  I also printed the image on vellum as opposed to a transparency.  Much cheaper!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

My sweet hubby's birthday was this month and I really wanted to make him something that would make him laugh (preferably because it was funny, not because it was a joke of a gift).  He LOVES Conan, we even named our dog after him.  So when I found this tutorial of freezer paper stenciling Conando's face I knew I had hit the mother load!  This was my first time freezer paper stenciling and, because of the great directions given by Dana over at Made, it was a breeze!  Here's how it turned out...

The shirt I bought for him was a bit too small for him.  Of course I didn't find this out until after I went through all of the trouble of making it...bummer.  He's such a trooper though and wears it for me anyway.  Although it is more time consuming than screen printing, it's a great technique to learn and use in a pinch.  It's always fun to learn something new!  Have you freezer paper stenciled before?  I'd like to hear about your experiences and tips!