Lumos Nox Switchplates

Today's project is a quick and easy one.  I've always enjoyed Harry Potter, but the more I visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter the more enchanted I become with it myself.  I've started reading the books and diving into various crafting groups even.  That's where I came across the idea for the switchplates - in one of my FB groups.

 

If you have friends or family members that love Harry Potter this is such an easy and inexpensive gift giving idea.  All you need is an unbreakable nylon switchplate from Home Depot (or any other hardware store). 

 

For the verbiage I used the Harry P font from dafont.com.  Then you can use any wand or stars for the images. 

 

Put it all together and you have an easy but oh so fun gift any Harry Potter fan will love.

Hello Friend Treat Bag

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to another Anything Goes Challenge with the Cardz TV design team.

 

For this week's challenge I created the last of the treat bags I needed for everyone who's playing in our secret pal exchange at work.  In case you missed the other ones that I've created you can find them here, here, and here.

 

To create this week's treat bag I used a cute little ghost from the Boo file by Marjorie Ann Designs.  I then used one of my Martha Stewart punches to punch out the scalloped circle on which I stamped the sentiment Hello Friend from the recently released Favorite Phrases stamp set from Cardz TV Stamps.  The purse form is from Jaded Blossom.

 

Now that you've seen my Anything Goes project be sure to check out the other wonderful projects our design team created for you this week.  Then after you've been amply inspired, create your own project, link up and play along with us for your chance to win a free stamp set.  You have until November 10th.

 

I can't wait to see what you create.

Fork It

While on my quest to create fun cutting boards I came across this Fork It file in the Silhouette Design store.  I thought it was funny and would be a great addition to the various designs I'm doing for my upcoming craft show.

 

Only this time I decided to do something a bit different and I made two of the same design.  I did one in all black and the other one I decided to do in color. 

 

 

 

My cutting boards are from the Dollar Tree and yes, they are glass.  They're smaller boards, about 7 3/4" round or square.  So they're perfect for cheese trays and whatnot.

 

After cleaning the back of the board with rubbing alcohol I applied my design (mirrored of course) using 651 Oracle vinyl.  This is a more permanent vinyl; however, as I sell these I provide the customer with a care card that says:

 

–      Hand wash only with mild dish soap

–      Do NOT soak

–      Do NOT use a rough sponge on design

– Do NOT use in microwave

Spider Pumpkin

Yesterday was pumpkin decorating contest day at work.  Now I'm not pumpkin carver, let alone decorator.  Heck I can't even remember the last time we bought a pumpkin for Halloween.  Nonetheless, I thought it would be fun to play along.

 

Using a pumpkin provided by work I decided to turn it into a spider using the Party on Elm Street file from SVG Cuts. 

 

I spray painted the pumpkin black using Rustoleum spray paint.  Then for a couple of days I allowed it to just sit and cure.  After that I cut the legs and eyes out from the SVG Cuts file.  The eyes were cut from vinyl for easy placement and the legs from a sturdy cardstock.

  

After getting the spider put together I created his web using black and white webbing stacked on top of each other.  I was hoping I had some plastic spiders in my 'minis' stash but there were none.  However, I had some little mice so I used those to place in the webbing to add a little extra touch.

Now I'm off to enter this into the Halloween challenge over at Die Cuttin' Divas.

Me Love Lint

Remember a while back when I shared the Oscar the Grouch trash cans I made?  (You can visit that post here.)

 

Well, I found some of the blue trash cans at the Dollar Tree, and you know what that means.  Yep, Cookie Monster cans!  Using a file from one of my FB groups I cut and layered the face with vinyl.  Of course his face could be made with a simple trace from a google search, but I was too lazy to do that - especially since someone else had already saved me the trouble.  LOL

 

The verbiage I cut using one of the fonts installed on my computer called Snap ITC.

 

Now I have a fun, whimsical trash can for my dryer lint.

Star Wars Light Switch Plate

I have a fun, quick project to share with  you today.  I had a few projects to get caught up on and so I spent a little bit of time over the weekend doing so.

 

A couple weeks back I joined a Star Wars crafting group on FB.  Not because I'm a fan, (I've only seen one of the newer movies.)  But because I know some people who are.  So why not join and get some wonderful crafting ideas that I can turn around and use as gifts?  That's just what I did.

 

I purchased a 'contractor's box' of unbreakable nylon switchplates from Home Depot and start vinyling.  Since I had already made a few of the ones with Darth Vader at the bottom and a Jedi with his saber at the top I decided to go with a new design that I found in the Star Wars group.  I admit I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not but seeing it on the plate I have decided that I do like the way they turned out.

 

What do you think?

Grinch Candle Holder

A while back I shared some Bumble candle holders I had made.  Today I'm sharing some Grinch holders.  The Grinch is my all time favorite Christmas cartoon.  So much so that whenever we visit Universal Studios I have to go to Seuss Land so that I can find the Grinch and have my picture taken.  It's tradition!

 

To create these I bought wine glasses from the Dollar Tree and turned them upside down.  I applied my vinyl and then came back and sprayed the glasses with Krylon Glitter Blast in Citrus Green.  After that dried I sprayed with the Krylon sealer spray.

 

The Grinch faces are from a file shared in one of my FB groups.  The "fur" at the top for his tuft of hair is Lion Brand Fun Fur in lime green.  I thought the jingle bells would be a nice little finishing touch.

Sea Themed Applique

Much to my surprise my hubby upgraded my embroidery machine last week.  I mean I knew it was going to happen but I didn't expect to walk home with one in hand last week. 

 

After letting it sit for several days because I was too intimidated to even play with it I finally got brave and he and I sat down together one night and played.  We decided to start with something that if we messed up, we messed up - no big deal.  So we purchased a pack of receiving blankets from Walmart and chose a couple of appliques we wanted to use and got down to business.

 

 

 

My hubby chose the Whale Boy Big Eyes and I chose the crawfish which is a freebie that comes with the Big Eyes Sea Creature set from Applique Corner.  I was amazed at how easy it was to applique.  Okay, not "easy" but it was not as difficult as I imagined either.  Now that we've played and have a feel for the process we need to work on sizing and placement.

 

 

And then there's the having to pay attention and make sure that the fabric is 'square' and/or centered in the frame so that our projects don't come out crooked.  That's what happened when I did this Anchor Banner applique.  I thought I had it straight but something happened because it's slightly off.

 

Needless to say, we'll also be taking classes - yes, my hubby is doing this crafting venture with me every step of the way.  This weekend we'll be attending one to learn more about what stabilizers to use and when and all that sort of stuff.  I'm really excited to delve more into this side of crafting.....

Monstrous Treat Bags

I made a few more treat bags for the folks participating in our secret pal swap at work.  For these I used the different monsters from the recently released Monster Under the Bed file from Marjorie Ann Designs.

These little guys were so much fun to piece together. I loved playing with different prints on some of these guys.  On one of them you can see where I decided to even use a skittle for the eye in place of the black dot.  But then that's all part of the beauty of paper crafting isn't it?  Being able to have fun and create the final product to be what we envision.

The purse forms are from Jaded Blossom and the skittle is from DoubleClick Connections.

Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween Tree

Okay, now before I begin today's post I have a confession to make.  I belong to a couple of Dollar Tree craft groups on Facebook.  There I said it, but I'm not ashamed.  LOL

 

Last week a lady in one of the groups posted a picture of a Halloween tree she made using a mini Christmas tree she found in her local Dollar Tree.  Of course I had to find one of those trees because I was so inspired that I needed to create one for my husband.  After all Halloween is his favorite holiday.  Three Dollar Trees later I finally found one.  ONE.  That's it.  ONE tree and it was the 'display'.   I didn't know it was the 'display'.  Not until I got to the register.  I was scared that they weren't going to sell it to me, but they did and I thanked them profusely for doing so.

 

 

After coming home with my single Dollar Tree purchase I immediately set it outside on my trusty spool where I spray paint all my craft items in need of painting.  I ran in the house, found my black spray paint and sprayed every nook and cranny until my green tree was now black.  Once painted I allowed it to cure for several days before proceeding with creating ornaments to hang on it.

 

Originally I was going to use some of the flat disc ornaments from Hobby Lobby but they were too big.  And since I was not planning to run to a craft store this weekend I thought about the ornaments I'd made years ago using glow in the dark glitter.  I went to the shed, found them and brought them in.  After stripping away the vinyl I'd put on them so long ago I created new designs to take their place.  This time, I'd decorate with Nightmare Before Christmas designs.  I selected pictures from Google, traced them in Silhouette Design Studio, cut and applied.

 

A little fuzzy but they still glow in the dark

Now all I needed was a tree skirt.  So remembering that I had purchased some Nightmare Before Christmas fabric last season I pulled it out of my stash, drew a couple circles, cut them out and stitched the pieces together.  I wished I'd cut it a bit bigger but this one still works well.

 

 

 

With my tree skirt made I was ready to decorate my tree.  Thankfully I had one set of purple lights left from the several I'd purchased at the Dollar Tree a month ago.  The picture doesn't show the lights very well but the lights really help to pull it all together.  And hubby really liked his new piece of Halloween décor.

H-Owl-oween Treat Bag

Who doesn't love a surprise goodie bag full of sweets?  Every Halloween I love making treat bags for people at the office and this year is no exception. 

 

Today I'm sharing one that I made using one of the Halloween Owl Cuttables from Apex Cuttable Designs.  These spooky hoots sure make up easily and look at how cute this one is decorating my treat bag.  And those bats you see circling around my owl are part of this fun Halloween file.

 

My treat "bags" are really purses from Jaded Blossom.  After piecing together my owl all I had to do was use my Scotch adhesive glue and adhere him to the bag.  Now I have a great, fun gift to give to a co-worker.

Halloween Jack-O-Lantern

Happy Friday everyone!  I don't know about you but I am more than excited about the fact that today is Friday.  It has been a very busy, crazy, exhausting week and I am ready for some down town.  You see in my "other life" I play the role of a Community Association Manager and this week kicked off Annual Meetings with two of my five Associations.  

 

Thank goodness for crafting.  If I didn't have all these crafty hobbies I might go insane.  And - well - now you know a bit about why my blog is named My Spot of Sanity.  LOL

 

So today begins another fun and exciting Anything Goes challenge at Cardz TV.  And let me tell you, our design team has created some wonderful projects to share with you today.  So after you've finished checking out mine be sure to hop over to Cardz TV and check out all the other projects.

 

Today I decided to have fun creating a fun Jack-O-Lantern.  Now if you've been following me for a while you may remember that I created some of these a year or so back.  One of them gets displayed at work and this year it's received a lot of compliments from co-workers, homeowners and vendors that have come in to see us.  So I thought I'd create another one just for you. 

 

The pumpkin is from the Haunted Forest kit by SVG Cuts and the stamped sentiment is from the Cardz TV Stamps set Frankly Frightful.

 

And now that you've seen my take on this week's challenge be sure to check out all the other designs.  Then create your own, link up and play along with us.  You have two weeks (October 27th) to do so.

BB8 Beanie

I thought I'd try something a bit different with my character hats and go for a Star Wars one.  Usually I like to sit back with the Minions, Ninja Turtles or a cute little mouse.  But I thought I'd give this one a whirl. 

 

Now before we go too far, just remember I'm still a newbie with my crocheting so yes, there are some mistakes.  When I decided to go for trying to make this hat in an infant's size I forgot to scale down the "extras".  Well, just the first big one really.  But me being me, I was too tired (and yes, lazy) to tear it up and start over again.  I guess I lucked out though because the recipient either didn't notice or was too nice to say so.

 

Overall it was a fairly easy hat to put together.  Heck, if I can pull it off anyone can.  Still I had some issues and I'm hoping that one day - sooner rather than later - this practice makes perfect thing will pay off and my crocheting will get better.

Dolphin Night Lights

Sometimes living around the World's Most Beautiful Beaches and other water ways can have its advantages.  Yes, during tourist season it can be a nightmare with all the highly congested two lane roads and stand still traffic that makes you feel like your living in Atlanta.  But during the off season we locals can sit back and enjoy what others travel so far to see.

 

Every day on my ride to work I have to cross a five mile long bridge across the Choctawhatchee Bay and if I'm really lucky I might get to see dolphins out in the water playing.  I've even seen them somewhat close when we gone out fishing.  For whatever reason seeing those dolphins always brings a sense of joy. 

 

So of course it was no surprise that I had to have this Retro Dolphin file from Apex Cuttable Designs.  Not only does this file translate beautifully for night lights but it would make some beautiful designs on shirts, beach bags or other similar items.  And one day in the near future I will have my heat press so I begin using these gorgeous designs to do some of that.  My husband and I finally found the one we are going to purchase so I'm sure it'll be here by Christmas.  :)

 

To create these night lights I started with ones I found at the Dollar Tree.  Removed the existing design.  (Directions in this post here.)  And then I chose two of the different retro dolphins to use on my lights.  Now I have lights that are perfect for use with any beach themed décor.

 

 

Witches Warts

We have a secret pal exchange where I work, and every year for Halloween (and Christmas) I like to make little treat gifts for everyone in the exchange.  That way I can break out and share my crafty side without my secret pal knowing I'm the pal.

 

This year for Halloween I'm using these great little purses from Jaded Blossom as my treat holder and then I'm piecing together different Halloween characters to adhere to the front.  For this holder I used the frog from the recently released Hocus Pocus set by Marjorie Ann Designs.

 

The stamped sentiment is from the Jaded Blossom stamp set Pick Your Poison.

 

Now I just have to decide what fun, spooky, cute characters I want to use on my other purses.  It shouldn't be too difficult though.  Not with all the cute Halloween designs that are making their appearance this season.

Patriotic Angel Hair Beanie

As we begin our week I have a quick beanie that I would like to share with you.  This is another loom knitted hat done in a figure 8 stitch.  I tried to crochet a beanie with this angel hair yarn but man did it mess me up.  So after placing the yarn back on the shelf and it sitting there for months I decided to use it with my loom knitting.

 

 

 

I'm glad I decided to make this beanie because I love the way that it turned out with this yarn.  And now I have a pretty, warm and fuzzy hat all ready for the colder weather.

Re-Fashioned T-shirt Collegiate Scarves

Today I wanted to share another fun twist on re-fashioned scarves.  This is the Braided Infinity Scarf.  Not only are these fun to make but they're easy as can be.  Plus it's a unique way to re-fashion a t-shirt that's too worn out to wear.

 

As for me - I love a good find at the thrift store or a yard sale so when I can get collegiate or other fun t-shirts for a song I'll buy them up so I can re-fashion them.  I do the same thing with sweaters.

 

 

 

Be sure to click on the link above so that you can check out the tutorial on how to make these yourself.  They make great homemade gifts for friends, family and teachers.  And with the holidays coming up why not give it a try?

Bumble Candle Holder

Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys is one of my all time favorite cartoons.  So when I saw a file for making Bumble ornaments I had to have it.  Only I decided to do something a bit different.  Instead of ornaments, I decided to make some candle holders.

 

To create these I bought a pair of wine glasses from the Dollar Tree and turned them upside down.  I applied my vinyl and then came back and sprayed the glasses with Krylon Glitter Blast in Diamond Dust.  After that dried I sprayed with the Krylon sealer spray.

 

And there you have it.  Fun, unique candle holders all ready for the winter holidays.

Cuppa Thanks

Today I have a thank you card that I'd like to share with you.  It's been a while since I've made a thank you card so I definitely need to get my stash built back up so it doesn't run dry.

 

For this card I used the recently released Wanna Gopher Coffee file from Marjorie Ann Designs.  As soon as I saw these cute little gophers I knew I had to create a card with them.  Not only was this cutie easy to piece together but I love that I can change up elements of the design to meet my needs.

 

For example, I omitted the included design on the coffee cup so that I could use that area to include my stamped sentiment.  It's the perfect size space and the location helps to create a focal point for the card.  Not to mention the location is different than the typical top or bottom corner of the card.

 

Speaking of stamped sentiments, this one is from the Got Coffee stamp set by Craftin' Desert Divas.

 

 

I also used the stamp set for the steaming cup of coffee on the inside of my card.  The sentiment here is from the Coffee Break stamp set by Jaded Blossom.

Blackstone Hooded Bear Cowl

In addition to picking back up my sewing I thought it might not be a bad idea to get back to some loom knitting.  Now this doesn't mean that I've given up on learning how to crochet - far from it.  But I'm still a bit slow on the crochet thing and while I can put some hats together there are some that I just can't do without my looms. 

 

For example, this Hooded Bear Cowl.  I was able to complete this project in two days, but that's mixed with taking care of a grandbaby and having to remind myself on how to do some of the stitches.  After all it's been a couple years since I've touched my looms.

 

Be on the look out though because I'll have different hat styles coming your way.  :)

Many Faces of Jack

 

I found these push button type night lights at the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago.  I was looking for the larger ones and knew that I definitely wanted the ones with the black ring, but all they had were the smaller ones.  Still I knew that they would work for what I had in mind, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

 

 

Using a file I found somewhere - can't remember where exactly - probably in one of my FB groups I went to work choosing which Jack Skellington faces I wanted to display on my night lights.  After choosing the ones I wanted I cut out the vinyl and adhered to cover.

 

And now I have some fun night lights that can either sit on the table or hang from a bar or hook.

Football Turkey

You know the seasons are changing when the temperatures are cooler in the evening/morning, football is in full swing, the leaves start changing color, and turkey is on its way.  Since today is College Football - Roll Tide - I thought I'd share a card I created celebrating the return of Fall.  Now don't get me wrong, summer is my favorite season.  I love being outside in the bright, warm sunshine.  But I love what Fall has to offer too.  I just hate that it's the start of colder temperatures.

 

So for today's project I created a card using the Thanksgiving Turkey Football file from Apex Cuttable Designs.  I love that this turkey was made using footballs for the body and feathers.  To me it was such a clever idea.  And since it was designed more for use with vinyl I made one simple "modification".  In Silhouette Design Studio, I copied the turkey svg, released the compound path and then had a solid cut to use for the base of my turkey.  This allowed me to have the white threads and edges of the football behind the feathers.

 

The stamped sentiment is from the Hey Pumpkin stamp set from Craftin' Desert Divas.  And by the way, this is one of the stamp sets that Tara is retiring.  That means it's on sale right now and once it's sold out - that's it.

 

I also used some Purple Twilight and Sunset Orange skittles from DoubleClick Connections.