Just about every day since before Halloween, I’ve been told that Thanksgiving is going to be late this year.
Last week it did feel like it should be time for a holiday, but I didn’t kick into high gear until the weekend, grabbing my trusty recipe and shopping lists and checking out the food section of the New York Times to see if there was anything new I’d like to add.
Once that was under control, it was time to turn to decorating.
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This year, as I was cutting a new monster for my front window, I remembered that I had pinned another project that I wanted to do for Halloween.
But when I thought about it, making all those pieces and crawling around on my stairs didn’t sound like that much fun. Plus, I’d need to clean the stairs of all the dust and cobwebs. And then I saw this post on Instagram, and realized that a) I did not need to clean, and b) I could just put happy bats all over my stairs and it would be just as cute and my knees would thank me for it.
Bats have made several appearances at SuzerSpace, so I don’t think you’ll be surprised to find they are back for this year’s Halloween.
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I don’t think it is any big secret that I like to decorate T-shirts. I’ve posted about my favorite freezer-paper stencil technique enough times that I probably should start a category for it. And I’ve dabbled a little in Heat Transfer vinyl, although I need a lot more practice to be comfortable with it.
But sometimes, you just need a decorated shirt for a one-off event. Say, Halloween. Sure, I’ve hand painted a Halloween T-shirt before, but this year I wanted something different. Mostly, I wanted it to be temporary – so that the shirt could return to normal duty after the holiday.
This turned out to be ridiculously easy. I just used removable vinyl!
I don’t go all out for the holiday; just a work appropriate Halloween T-shirt so I’m showing some spirit (pun intended 🙂 ) To capture that completely, I hand-lettered a “This is my costume” layout and then used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the words from two different colors of regular, removable vinyl.
If you’d like to make the same shirt, I have the cut file in my Etsy Shop. And if you hurry, there’s a Halloween sale going on.
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Because July is my birthday month, I like to celebrate every day of it.
It’s super handy that right at the beginning is a National Holiday, complete with popsicles, parades and fireworks.
Which naturally leads to … crafting!
You’ve seen those super cute and or super pretty cake toppers on Pinterest and Etsy, of course? If you have a cutting machine like a Silhouette Cameo, or Cricut, they are very easy to make yourself. I think it would be possible to do these by hand, but pretty tedious, so I’m going to leave that decision up to you if you don’t have a cutting device.
But if you do, I have a present for you – a free zip file that contains the most common formats so you can make your own.
Click the graphic to the left for the download (do it on your computer, not a mobile device) and then unzip the file and using your particular cutting machine software, upload the appropriate file.
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If you are like me, then you really don’t need a reason to craft.
But, if there is a holiday looming, it does kind of focus my interest. Even if it’s not a holiday I’m really going to celebrate. The flood of blog posts and Pinterest Pins gets my creative gears whirring and the next thing you know, I’m making something. On topic or not – doesn’t matter.
Father’s Day is also a good inspiration source, because for some reason, it’s harder to think of more masculine craft projects. So many of these work out great for birthday gifts or Christmas surprises for that great guy in your life.
Here are five ideas that I’ve pinned for later from the crop of Father’s Day ideas this year:
This tutorial for Candy Bar Wrappers doesn’t have to be used for just Father’s Day – this easily technique could be reused for just about any occasion.
It’s no secret that I like kid’s crafts, and this one even has a video for stepping through the process of making simple necktie cards.
For a similar idea, but with a lot more detail, this shirt card tutorial even features a front pocket. My dad required all shirts have that all important sunglass pocket!
Even if you aren’t a big paper crafter, it wouldn’t be too difficult to pull this project off. And if you had to “test” some of the pieces before you put them in this emergency stash box, I think Dad would approve 🙂 .
I’d be a really bad blogger and Etsy store owner if I didn’t include my own item – this knock out frame is easy to cut with a craft cutting machine like a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut, but it can also be cut with an X-acto knife. Either fold it up like a card, or use the alternate setup to make a framed sign. A little bit of whatever you place behind it shows through, so you can make a one-of-a-kind personalized gift.
Pin this so you have a list of great craft projects for the next time you need a gift idea for a guy in your life.
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