I made this

This week, most people are taking a short week at work, wrapping up on Wednesday for the holiday. So at SuzerSpace, I’m doing the same thing, posting my normal Friday post on Wednesday. That will give me more time to enjoy the holiday, and I wanted to squeeze these two crafts in that are Thanksgiving themed.

Script Thanksgiving Banner

Creating a banner of separate letters with holes for stringing isn’t too hard once you get a system down. I’ve done it for New Year’s, and for no reason at all, and then I’ve done some heart and bicycle shapes that used the same treatment.

So of course it was time to try something new. I wanted a “Happy Thanksgiving” banner that was in joined script letters. I knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as just setting the type in script and welding it together and putting the circles at the top and stringing it. Unless your string is exactly level, doing it that way would make the two words dive down in the middle at awkward angles.

But I wasn’t sure how I was going to figure out how to gracefully space the letters so they’d hang evenly.  There’s science to how things hang on strings. It’s gravity, and -gulp- Calculus.

I’m very crafty. But not really mathy. But Adobe Illustrator is, in disguise. (Other software will do this too – I just have years of Illustrator experience so it’s always my go-to).

I measured off my window, and measured the low point of the garland that was hanging there at the time. I then created an Artboard in Illustrator the same dimensions as my window, and added a guideline at that low point. I then drew a oval that had the bottom part of the curve meet that low point dimension.

Then I set my type use the Type on a Path tool, and used the Type on a Path options window to set the baseline to Center. I fiddled with the spacing and then converted the type to outlines and ungrouped it so I could move the letters higher or lower on that path so that I’d have good spots to put the holes for the string.

Because of that pesky gravity thing, you need to keep watch that more of the heavy part of the garland is below the line, otherwise it will flip over when it is hung. I learned this the hard way last Christmas, when I created a garland of reindeer that unfortunately hung upside down because of where I placed the loop holes.

Finally I used the Pathfinder tool to weld the letters together. I exported this file as a DXF since the basic version of Silhouette Studio won’t work with an AI or EPS file.

After merging in my DXF file, I moved the words around to get the best fit on my sheet (don’t always lock yourself into cutting things in reading order – diagonal often words best since it lets you cut more than the width or the length).

“Thanksgiving” was too large for my paper any way I spun it, so I did it in two parts, and then glued the overlap of the “s” and the “g” together.

I then threaded twine through my holes, and put the garland up, adjusting it to where the string reasonably looked like the curve I had set up in Illustrator. And it worked. Just like I planned it!

Thanksgiving Turkey Placeholder

My second Thanksgiving craft is based on this one. I didn’t do mine exactly the same way (I have a great stash of googly eyes), and because I used cover stock for my accordion fold it so it isn’t exactly level, but I love it anyway. If you make one, consider using lighter weight stock for that fan so it sits better. This could also be a great kids craft while they wait for dinner on Turkey Day.

Since the original post has a great tutorial, I’ll just share my photo of my finished version, and then let you enjoy your holiday!

It’s no secret I like to make door decorations. Flowers. Owls.  Wreaths.

So with Thanksgiving coming up, I bet you can guess what I made this weekend.

Yup, a turkey for my door 🙂 .

I started this one the way I always do, looking at clip art and craft ideas and noting what makes an image “work.” And then I drew up my own mashup, keeping in mind the sizing I have to work with (12 x 12 paper in particular).

I like to draw the finished image first, colored in vaguely like it’s going to be.

That gives me a guide for my project as I get deeper into it, since sometimes I get completely off track and forget what the little yellow rectangles are for. (Oh yeah, buckles for the turkey shoes! Right!)

Then I break apart the image to separate the pieces by the color they need to be cut on.

I found a neat burlap digital print texture online, and the colors were perfect for this project so I printed off several sheets.

I exported my design files as DXF, because I like to work in Adobe Illustrator (I have more than 25 years invested in that), but the basic version of Silhouette Studio won’t accept an AI or EPS file. But DXF files are perfect.

After I cut the various pieces, I traced the turkey body onto a cereal box and cut that with scissors to create a stable background. I don’t like to use my Silhouette to cut cereal boxes because it’s rough on the blades, and since this part won’t show, it isn’t worth wasting them. I also cut a few circles (I used a juice glass as a template) for gluing down the feathers. On the turkey body piece, I left an extra bit of cereal box at the top to hide under the pilgrim hat to reinforce the hanging hole.

Quick drying tacky glue and staples were what I used to put the various pieces together. I created the feather rounds first, and then stapled them to the cereal box back. I glued up all the turkey details onto the turkey body, and then glued that on top of the cereal box, which hid the staples. Finally I added the hat and punched a hole in it for hanging.

Once it was on the door, Mr. SuzerSpace (who is an editor by trade) noticed the background feather colors were too close to the door color. So I freehanded a white background  cut a little bigger than the turkey and hung that on the same hook so it has something to stand out against.

When Halloween falls on a workday, I like to wear a low-key T-shirt to the office.

Lately it’s been hard to buy something in the store, because somehow the holiday has been taken over by either extremely gory or extremely slutty fashion.

Earlier this year I stencil painted a t-shirt using some leftover vinyl from a project. I had a little trouble transferring the vinyl from my cutting mat to the shirt, and I had asked a fellow crafter about that, and she responded “Freezer Paper.”

Well, that turned out to be a ton of fun. A roll of freezer paper is about $4.o0, and it’s way, way, way more than you’ll ever need. In case you aren’t familiar with it (I wasn’t) – freezer paper is in the wraps and foils aisle at the grocery store, and it is paper on one side with a plastic coating on the other. This isn’t wax paper – that is waxy on both sides. The concept here is that you use an iron to lightly melt the plastic side to your shirt. It sticks firmly enough to work as a stencil, but is then easy to peel away when the paint is dry.

And it’s super easy to use. I had seen a cute piece of artwork which featured a bat and the phrase “Going Batty.” Of course, if you know me, the “going” part is not true. So when I created mine, I left that off.

I drew up the bat and stretched and squished the letters to fit inside. I also typed up the date “31” in a cool font.  I exported that file as a DXF.

In Silhouette Studio, I brought in the files and added a rectangle around each one. You have to think a little backwards when you are cutting a stencil – it’s the inside part that is going to get painted, while the paper will protect the fabric. So leaving a good margin around the artwork helps you keep the paint where you want it.

I cut a piece of freezer paper the size of my Silhouette mat. It actually only has to be straight on two sides (the top and left). I put mine paper side down. Because I did that, I needed to mirror my type so when placed it will be right-reading.

I set up my cut settings for vinyl (because someone recommended that) and then cut my two stencils. I then put my T-shirt on and looked in the mirror while I stuck a pink post-it note on the inside part of the chest where I wanted the bat stencil to go. Placement here isn’t super critical, I just wanted to avoid having it placed too low, or where I didn’t everyone to look (if you know what I mean 😉 ) I pinned that note so it wouldn’t fall off and then put the shirt on my ironing board. I was then able to see through the shirt to that post-it to position the stencil.

If you look closely you can see the pink post-it note I stuck on the inside to figure out where I wanted the location for the artwork.

With a dry iron on the “Cotton” setting I ironed on the bat stencil first, and then carefully placed the little letters inside. I used the tip of the iron to touch the top of each letter so they’d stay put, and then went back and put the whole heat of the iron on all the letters to seal them well. I used more of a pressing motion than a normal ironing motion to get everything set.

A cut up piece of cereal box separated the front from the back of my shirt and I sponge daubed on some black fabric paint. After it dried I peeled up the paper and let it dry another 24 hours before ironing it inside out, as per the fabric paint directions.

After thinking about it, I decided the back needed to be decorated, too, so I repeated those steps to create a design that flew along the back up to the shoulder.

Notice something different between the front cutting file shot and the back? Yup. I got brave and upgraded to Silhouette Studio 4.0

And now I have a unique shirt to wear on Halloween. I made mine on a short sleeved T-shirt to try and outwit the Kansas fall weather – if it’s unseasonably warm, I’m set, and if it is cool, I can wear a long sleeve black T-shirt underneath.