Paper Cut Christmas Gift Tags

I try to find a new way to wrap my Christmas presents every year and this year I has a new toy to play with - my Cricut Explore

Since it's the season of giving gifts I thought I would share my SVG file with you and instructions on how to add the lettering - hope you guys enjoy using it

Step 1 - Download the SVG file

Click on the image below and down load my christmas.svg file

Step 2 - Upload SVG to Cricut Design Space

Upload the christmas.svg file buy selecting the vector upload option and then choose the image to import

Step 3 - Add your text

Add text to your image

Turn it black and then move it so that the centre is touching to one of the lines on the line.

Once it is touching the line, ungroup the text

When the text is ungrouped you can move the letters individually. This means you can slightly turn the text so that it an all be moved to touch the line on the image.

Once you've finished moving all the text on one line, select each of the letters and click on "group" so they are linked back together.

Then select both the sentence and the image, before clicking the Weld button to link the test to the image. Repeat until you have added text to all the lines.

Step 4 - Link your star

There will be a gap between your text on the top line and one of the falling stars so link it up by adding a square and move it until it fits between the bottom of the letter and the star. Remember to weld the square to the image so that it stays in place when cutting.

Step 5 - cut out the image

Cutting out these tags with my Explore, I then glued them to the front of  my gifts, finishing it of by writing the recipients name on the tree with a gold pen.

I'll be back,

About to Pop Baby Shower

Before last month I had never thought about themes for a baby shower before...apart from ehh baby themed! But the fabulous Jileen at work opened me up to a world of possibilities.

After searching through lots of themes (which we found on Pinterest) we settled on "About to Pop" and I wanted to share a guide to how we put it together.

Invites

Because we were doing this at work, we just sent out an email to invite people but there are plenty of ideas online on what you can do for your shower - Pinterest again is great for this

Decorations

Balloon Popcorn Picture

We bought Red, White and small Gold balloons and stuck them to the wall to make a popcorn image. Because we were doing this at work we were worried about sellotape etc ripping the paint of the walls so we used blue tac to stick up large pieces of white paper and then stuck the balloons on that with some sticky dots. Also because I'd put the balloons on white paper, I could draw round them to emphasise the shape.

Bunting

I made the popcorn bunting using my Cricut but I've also created an image file as well so that you can just put thin card in your printer and then cut out the shapes yourself.

Cut out as many as you need for the name you are using and "About to Pop" (I put the word "to" into one popcorn box). You will also need to cut/print all your letters as well. Then take a piece of string and then attach them all with gaps in between the words.

Signs 

Around the room and one the food/drink we placed about to pop signs to tie the theme together.

                          Large Popcorn Box                                   Small Circle Image

 

     

     

For the .svg files you will need to build up the layers yourself to look like the images above!

     

Food

We themed all the food and drink around things that pop:

• popcorn
• lollipops
• cocopop cereal bars
• popping candy
• soda pop (cherryade & lemonade)
• cake pops

         

We also bought some pieces to display it on the table:

• Popcorn boxes
• Straws
• Large & small Vases

We used the popcorn boxes as display stands for the cake pops as well - by placing polystyrene in the bottom of the box, the cake pop sticks fitted in and kept them upright.

We bought our cake pops from Blissful Bakes in Livingston - if you guys are local to the area then definitely check them out because they tasted great!

Presents

We got the baby momma lots of little gifts but my favourite by far was the nappy cake! Jileen put this together based on the theme and added in flowers, ribbon and tissue paper to jazz it up!

Games

The girls came up with lots of fun games to play on the day as well.


Guess the Baby food

Each jar had a letter stuck to the front of it and they also printed of answer sheets for people to fill in.
The answer sheets and jars were passed around and each person tasted the food before writing down their guesses.

Pin the Sperm on the Egg

Everyone in the room was asked to draw a sperm on a post it note. We then took turns getting spun around with our eyes closed and placing our sperm as close as we could to the egg on the wall.

We had winners for:

• best sperm
• closest to the egg
• furthest away from the egg

Don't say the B word

Everyone in the room got a disposable bib at the start of the shower. Then if you said the word "Baby" you had to remove your bib and put it on the washing line of shame.

By the end of the shower, those with these bibs remaining had to play one final game.

We each had to blow up a balloon and then put it up our top - not easy when you are wearing a tight dress! Then a load of toys/baby items were scattered on the floor and the person who picked up the most toys was the winner

These toys/baby items can then be given to the baby momma or you can just print off pictures of toys and place them on the floor instead, if you want to save a bit of money.

Hopefully this has given you some baby shower inspiration - they really are so much fun for everyone and a good way to spend some quality time with your friends before the baby comes along.

I'll be back,

Vintage Wedding Cushion

My friends Kerry and Al got married this year and Kerry was going all out with her handmade wedding touches - right down to home-made white chocolate fudge in a little vintage jar as a favour! YUM YUM 

So I wanted to add the same crafty flare to their wedding present and decided to make something myself. 

I had just got my Cricut cutting machine and was busy trying it out when the idea for this cushion hit me! It's a really simple way to make a personalised gift for the happy couple and it's something they can have out in their home for years to come.

What you will need:

Natural Coloured Linen (depends on the size of your cushion but I used 1/2 a meter)

Cushion - mine was 12" x 18"

Zipper - size depends on if you want it on the side or bottom (I used 25cm on the side)

Cricut Machine  (to find out how to get a discount on yours click here) or a craft knife

Vinyl (any colour it's just a stencil)

Black Fabric Pen

Sewing Machine & Thread

Sewing machine zipper foot - I bought one for my Janome sewing machine

Step 1

Take your piece of linen and make sure its big enough to fold over the top of your cushion and wide enough that you can add a small hem

Step 2

Next you need to hem the side you want to put your zip on - I wanted the zip on the side of the cushion so I had to hem one of the longest sides, but if you want it at the bottom then you will need to hem the two shortest sides.

Step 3

Lie your material down so the outside of your cushion is facing up the way, then fold the material in half.

Open up your zip, take the side you want to attach the zip to and pin it along the edge of the material, but just on one layer of the material - don't pin them together.

Sew the zip along where you have pinned. This is when you use your zipper foot so that you can have the foot flat on the material without it getting stuck on the zip.

Step 4

Fold your material in half again the same way as before and this time close your zipper. Then on the layer of material you have not sewn the zip to yet, pin it on so that you keep it straight with the other side.

Again you need to sew your zipper to the material but it's easier to do if you unzip the zipper again.

 

Step 5

Now that your zip is attached, make sure the outside of your cushion is still facing inwards and then pin along the remaining two sides. REMEMBER TO LEAVE THE ZIP OPEN!

I placed my pillow back on the material to see where I needed to pin the material so it would have a tight fit.

Sew along the remaining sides, and close up any gaps on the zipper side, so that only in between the zip is left open

Step 5

Turn your cushion cover inside out, put the cushion inside and zip it up, making sure that it fits correctly. 

If you have made it to big then you can turn it inside out again and sew a bit further inside your previous line.

Step 6

Next you need to make your Stencil.

I created mine using the "Folk Art Festival" digital font but if you want to use the free font like I have done below

Take your piece of vinyl and cut it to the size of your Cricut cutting mat - or A4 if you are just using a craft knife

 

Step 7

Take the backing of vinyl stencil and place it on the front of your cushion so it is centred.

Step 8

Open the zip up on your cushion and place a piece of cardboard inside it so none of the pen leaks through to the other side and then colour inside the stencil until there is no blank space left.

Step 9

Remove your stencil and put the cushion back inside the cover

Step 10

Stand back and admire your handy work!

There are so many designs you can use with this method so it really is a great way to make a unique present for any occasion!!

I'll be back,