Gettin' Frosted

I have struggled with what to do with this back window since I moved in two and a half years ago.  The metal door kept me from attaching a real curtain rod.  I have been using this magnetic one, but it falls off with the slightest touch and, if it's not put in the perfect place, it slides down the door.  I saw this pin and thought that I would give the contact paper a try.  It is only $8 so if it looked horrible, there isn't too much at stake.  I could pull it off and put the curtains back up until I come up with a better option.  

Clearly privacy is an issue with nothing covering the window, especially with four houses around me currently mid-renovation.  

 After some very careful measuring and google converting I used my Silhouette to cut nine rectangles.  I subtracted 1/2 an inch from the width and height to leave a little outline around the contact paper.  I decided to go with a simple rectangle, mostly due to my laziness and inability to find a pattern that didn't look segmented in the 5 inch sections.

The trickiest part was pulling the contact paper off the backing without any creasing.  Even the smallest creases are visible.  Maybe I ruined five different cuts doing this whole project.  I carefully lined the contact paper up and used a credit card to smooth out any bubbles.  There were still some small bubbles even with my careful application, but they have already magically disappeared.

I love how it lets a ton of light in without putting us on stage for any passersby.  It looks very naked without the curtains, so I have some ideas in the works for that.  

Vinyl Er'thang

I can't believe it has been over 6 months since I last posted!  It was a busy summer full of best friends' weddings and has been an even busier back-to-school season.  The first few weeks of Pre-K never gets any easier.  I finally have my classroom under control, running and have some time to get back to blogging a little bit.

I have been putting my Silhouette to good use.  Don't sit still too long in my house or you will have a vinyl label or monogram on your forehead.

Exhibit A-E:

I have been updating our Etsy store like crazy and we are even setting up a booth in two different craft bazaars in the Atlanta area in December!

Getting all these things ready has been getting me into the Christmas spirit!  I may be one of those people who sets up their Christmas tree before Thanksgiving (again) this year.

Here is a preview of some of our Holiday Etsy listings:

Tumblers:

Cookie Tins:

Teachers' Gifts:

I'll be back soon (in less than 6 months for sure to share some of the other ways I have been using vinyl around the house and even in my classroom!

Plants and Arrows

So I have been wanting house plants everyone recently.  I went to Home Depot and picked up some plants but wasn't in love with any of the pots that I was seeing.  I had this plain plastic green pot from my failed attempt at growing cilantro this summer and thought that I could give it a little boost with all of the vinyl I ordered from the Tuesday sale at Craftvinyl.com.  (It is a really great deal and now I have more vinyl than I know what to do with.)

So anyway, I took this plain green pot and added some black outdoor vinyl so I don't have to worry about it coming off I get a little overzealous with the watering can.   

I printed the arrow pattern twice and carefully applied it to try to keep the arrows as straight as possible. (ha.)

I love that it gives the boring green pot a little bit of unexpected detail.  

What do you think?  

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

We got really into Halloween this year.  We helped host a Halloween party with J's roommates.  We had a REALLY hard time deciding on our costume, but in the end Mary Poppins and Burt the Chimney sweep.  My costume was super simple.  I had almost everything but the hat and the bow tie.

With one failed hat attempt (always read the description when you buy from Etsy) I panicked and ran to Forever 21.  Luckily, Mary Poppins is back in style this year so I found the perfect hat right away!

Everyone's costumes were so great.  From cone-heads, flappers, nerds, and Little Red, everyone went all out!

Some costumes didn't last very long, it is apparently hard to play beer pong in a tunnel.

We may have spent a large portion of the night in the photo-booth.  It didn't hurt that it was right next to all of the delicious food!

Props to Deanna for hand sewing this amazing wolf mask!

He's so special.  

The best costume prize goes to J's roommate:  I don't know what this this is called, but it is amazing.

South Africa Photo Dump (10 months later)

I spent two of the best weeks ever exploring South Africa with some lovely friends last March.  Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  The views just don't quit.

Visiting the Hector Peterson Museum which honors the students who took a stand against apartheid.  

Meet Zoe, the newest member of the Lion Park.  She was only born in October.  

The cubs at the Lion Park were one of our favorite things!  They were so cute, but very naughty.  You see this precious baby eating Cate's scarf.

The people sold just about everything on the side of the road, including fresh grapes!

In Cape Town, we got to go to Holi One, a mix between a rave and the Color Run.  The people watching was first class.  

It was so good to see this beautiful lady.  We have been friends since the awkward, nerdy middle school days.  She was a wonderful host and tour guide!

Remember when I told you about the views?  You're welcome.  

The sunsets were like none I've ever seen.  

The wine farms were AMAZING.  We may have spent a huge percentage of our time there.  

My New Toy

I have a new addiction.  I recently got a Silhouette Cameo and I LOVE IT.  I have been spending WAY too much time looking through the Silhouette Online store as well as figuring out how to make my own designs with the Silhouette studio program.  My sister has a Cricut and Sir Cuts a Lot, so I some idea how to work the program since the two programs are very similar.

I ordered my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl.  It was inexpensive and had a quick delivery time.  It is so much cheaper than buying it at Hobby Lobby, especially since you can't usually use the 40% off coupons for Cricut products, which all their vinyl happens to be.  Bummer.  

I went a little crazy on Pinterest making my inspiration board.  Here are some of the things that I'm sure I will be making in the next few weeks.  

from here

 from here

 from here- this woman's excitement when it works makes this worth reading

 from here

I have already made a few things too!  The bottles are part of my end of the year gift for my students.  I love the way they turned out.  These boxes add a little bit of organization to my closet.  I need all the help I can get!

These are just a few of the many projects in the works.  Vinyl is not the easiest to work with and takes some getting used to.  The best trick I have learned so far is to use contact paper as the transfer paper.  I tried using painters tape first, but it was too sticky and made it very difficult to get it where it needs to go.  I can't wait to show you all of the things I create with it!