Tuesdays with Matt - Look for the Fun Not the Familiar

For the month of June, Tuesdays with Matt will focus on reigniting the spark in your relationship with your partner.

Do you remember the days when everything was fun and exciting? You used to play games, try new things, and never really had the same date twice, right? What happened to that? As positive as familiarity can be in a relationship, there is also a downside to it. Join renowned author and media personality Matt Townsend and he gives you the skills you need to keep your relationship with your partner fun and exciting. You may just Reignite the Spark!

Great suggestions from Matt today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Stenciled Gift Wrap

If you're a regular reader of Hello, New Day then you know by now that I love stencils and stenciling projects.  My latest stenciling project is this cute and colorful gift wrap that I created this week using the small Hollywood Squares Stencil from Royal Design Studios:

When I was at the Snap! Conference in April I received this free stencil from Royal Design Studios. 

I hadn't heard of them before, but once I started looking through their catalog, and after taking a hands-on class at Snap! from the company's president and creative director herself, Melanie Royals, I was hooked.  

They have an awesome collection of beautiful stencils and so many inspiring projects on their website.  There are also some fantastic resources on their website for learning how to stencil and learning different techniques.  

This gift wrap was easy to make and would be a fun project for the kids too!  The color possibilities are endless and the cost minimal.  I started with some packing paper that I had on hand.  Whenever I go to Tai Pan Trading here in Utah (a home decor store), I seem to bring home sheets and sheets of this paper.  They use it to wrap fragile items that you buy, and I've always hated just throwing it away.  Some time ago, I decided to start keeping it, thinking I could use it for packing paper myself someday or for shipping items.

Since the paper was wrinkled, I ironed it.  I didn't even know you could iron paper, but you can!  I set my iron to high and ironed directly on the paper.  I read that you should put a cloth or pillowcase over the paper before ironing, but for me it worked better without the cloth.

Before ironing:

  

After ironing:

Then I simply placed the stencil on the paper and taped it in a couple of places to hold it in place.

I wanted to use orange and pink for my gift wrap, but I didn't have any craft paint in the right colors, so I used my stamping ink and applied it with sponge wedges.  I used Stampin' Up's Classic Ink in Only Orange and Pink Passion (I know the supplies photo above shows Positively Pink, but I changed my mind after I took that photo and switched to Pink Passion).

To apply the ink, I just dabbed and rubbed the ink right on the paper over the stencil.

It took me an hour to stencil the whole paper (which measures 24" x 34"), and cleanup was a cinch.  The ink literally washed off under running water in the kitchen sink.  

I loved doing this project and I can't wait to give my sister her birthday gift that I wrapped in this colorful, fun gift wrap!

I love the pattern and color combination so much that I think I'll stencil a canvas tablecloth in this design that I can use outside for summer dining.  Or maybe a beach tote.  Or maybe both.  It's just too cute!

You can find the Hollywood Squares stencil that I used at Royal Design Studio by clicking here.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

I'm linking to these fun parties:

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Tuesdays with Matt - Make a Date

For the month of June, Tuesdays with Matt will focus on reigniting the spark in our relationship with our partner.

Back in the good old days, you and your partner were actually able to set time aside to work on what was most important to you: your relationship with your partner. Nowadays, does it feel like all kinds of things get in the way of doing that? Things like your job, your kids, your phone, maybe even Facebook? In this video Matt Townsend, Relationship Coach and Communication Expert, gives you the skills you need to begin Reigniting the Spark in your relationship.

 Thanks for stopping by today!
 See my full disclosure statement here.

The Bee's Knees - June 4

A Cute Place to Make Stuff - Raising Up Rubies

There are so many creative blogs nowadays, sharing so many fun projects that I enjoy looking at and that inspire me.  And every now and then I come across a project that takes my breath away.  I love to share these projects with you - they're just too good to miss!  This week's featured project comes from Jaime over at Raising Up Rubies.  She transformed her formal living room (which is just off the kitchen) into an unbelievable craft room.  EVERYTHING in the room is beautifully done.

You've got to click over to her post about this room and check out all of the amazing details.  She shares over 30 photos of this fun space, including a fantastic idea for customizing standard bookcases.  Also, her sewing tabletop is soooooo creative and cute.

I could go on and on about Jaime's cute place to make stuff, but I'll let you see for yourself why I think her craft room is absolutely The Bee's Knees.  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I'll see you here tomorrow for a new segment of Tuesday's with Matt.

Laundry Sign Inspired by Ballard Designs

I finally finished a project that I started about six months ago.  Have you ever done that?  Started a project then for some reason or another it sits there forever, unfinished?  I hate that.  Back in December I decided to make a piece of art for my laundry room.  I used this beautiful sign that I saw in the Ballard Designs catalog as inspiration:

Ballard Designs

Here are the materials I used:

• 16x20 wrapped canvas from Michaels
• Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-Surface Satin Acrylic Craft Paint in the following colors:
• Putty
• Vanilla Bean
• Acorn
• Martha Stewart Crafts Weather Crackle Effect
• Adhesive Vinyl and my Silhouette machine

I started by painting two coats of the "Putty" paint color on the canvas front and sides.  Then I created the wording in my Silhouette program.  I used Times New Roman font for all of the words.  The word "Laundry" is 200.0 point, the second line is 93.6 point and the rest of the wording is 63.0 point.  And THIS is when my project stalled.

Canvas with 2 coats of "putty" paint

I have used my Silhouette many times for cutting paper, but not often to cut vinyl.  I wanted to cut the letters onto vinyl so that I could stick them to the canvas and use them as stencils.  I could not get the smaller letters to cut without them pulling up and getting all tangled and mangled in the machine.  I spent hours working on this.  Finally, in frustration, I put the whole project away until last week.




I got the vinyl loaded into the Silhouette and tried again.  Same problem.  Yeah, I'm not sure why I thought time would solve this issue.  :)  I sent Silhouette Customer Service an e-mail describing my problem and asking them if I was trying to cut letters that were too small.  They responded in ten (!!!!) minutes - awesome!  Their suggestion was that I slow down the cutting speed to 1 and decrease the cutting thickness to the lowest level.  WHADDYA KNOW?  It worked!   

Using transfer tape, I transferred the wording to the canvas.  Then I put one coat of "Putty"-colored paint over the words to kind of seal them onto the canvas in preparation for the darker color.  I let this coat of paint dry.

Once the coat of "Putty"-colored paint was dry, I put one coat of "Vanilla Bean" on the canvas.  When this coat was dry, I applied a coat of the Weather Crackle Effect.  The photo below shows the canvas at this point in the process (while the Weather Crackle was still wet):

I let the crackle effect dry overnight and this is what the canvas looked like in the morning:

At this point, I worked quickly and didn't take photos of the process, but here's what I did:  I covered the entire front of the canvas in "Acorn"-colored paint.  While it was still wet, I removed all of the vinyl letters using the weeding tool that came with my Silhouette.  Once the letters were removed, I used my hand to get the canvas wet with a bit of water and I scraped the acorn paint off with my fingernails and with a paper towel.  I wanted the sign to look like weathered wood.  I just scraped and rubbed until I liked how it looked.  If the paint started to dry too much then I just lightly wet it again so that it would scrape off.

So now, in retrospect, it wasn't a difficult project.  I couldn't be happier with the customer service department over at Silhouette America - they were so quick to respond and their suggestions were right on target.  Now, if you've got a project that you've set aside, I encourage you to pick it back up and finish it!  It's a wonderful feeling!



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