Feels like the first time

aka, Cutting Adhesive Vinyl in the Silhouette machine.

My crafty eyes are bigger than my stomach.  Even my huge almost-7 months-pregnant stomach.  So I tend to buy the supplies for projects I intend to do *sometime* in the future, and they sit for weeks, or months.  Or maybe even a year.

When I bought my (beloved) Silhouette SD die cutting machine back in 2010, I figured I'd mostly use it to cut paper - letters, shapes, etc for card making.  But it also cuts vinyl, which you can use to make iron-on T shirt transfers, or adhesive stickers for signs, laptops, and cars.

So I bought a pack of assorted colors of adhesive vinyl sheets to try it out.  And that vinyl sat and mocked me in my craft room.  I'd see it, get excited about using it, then realize I had a million other things to work on.

My Dream Lab class gave me the kick in the pants I needed.  One of the class "challenges" was to "Go Big", and put up some kind of message or sign out in the world for people to see.  I didn't want to hang something up on someone else's property, but one of the suggestions was to put a sign on your car.

And I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to try out a vinyl decal.  I'm pleased with how it turned out:

My first thought was to put up something short and sweet to the effect of "get happy" or "find joy" or something, but that sounded too much like a command and sort of annoying.  So I figured maybe this would just get people thinking.  And probably wondering what the heck it means or what I'm trying to sell them...  TJ, of course, thinks it's odd, so I guess I've succeeded.

But the project was surprisingly easy and quick.  Here's how I did it:

Supplies and Tools

• 2 6x12 sheets of adhesive-backed vinyl
• Silhouette Machine(love this thing!)
• Cutting Mat(the thicker one)
• Cricut Vinyl Transfer Tape
• X-ACTO Knife

Design

1. Using the Silhouette Studio software, I set up the page so it was 6x12 on the cutting mat, then chose a sans serif font with thick lines (in this case Franklin Gothic Heavy, conveniently included with Windows 7.) 
2. I created one document for the "what makes you" portion, and sized the font to be as large as could fit on the 6x12 sheet (spread over two lines).  It ended up being 156 pt.  I created a second document for "happy?" because I wanted it in a different color and also larger - 204 pt.
3. I test cut the design on a 6x12 piece of cardstock just to get a feel for how big the letters would actually be and whether they were readable from a distance.  Since I had only 1 piece of vinyl in each color I wanted to use, I wanted to be sure it was right before cutting into it.

Cut

1. I set the Silhouette machine's Cut Settings to 'Silhouette vinyl" (even though it was a different brand), a cut speed of 9 and a thickness setting of 7, and used the blue cap (0.1mm) and made sure the 'use cutting mat' box was checked as well. 
2. I stuck the white vinyl sheet to the cutting mat (short end in) and loaded it into the machine.  I clicked Cut and held my breath, and fortunately it cut just fine.  I repeated the process for the yellow vinyl sheet.
3. I should have taken a photo at this point, but didn't realize I was going to write this up.  Basically, the Silhouette just makes the cuts, so the substrate (fancy word for paper or vinyl) just has faint cut lines in it, but doesn't look like the end product.   

Weeding

The "fun" part is removing all the bits of paper around the design very carefully, so you're just left with the part you want.  This is called "weeding" the vinyl (see Steps 3-6 of this excellent tutorial).

1. First I removed the cut vinyl sheet from the cutting mat and used my paper trimmer to trim the portions that weren't cut, so I could reuse the vinyl for small designs.
2. I carefully peeled off the outer part of the vinyl (ie, not the letters), very slowly, and cut away portions as I went, careful to leave the letters intact on the backing sheet.  The adhesive is very sticky and can mar the letters if a piece gets stuck to itself. 
3. I used the Exacto blade on a few parts of the letters where they didn't get cut completely.  I carefully peeled out the center portions of letters like 'a' and 'o' to get the little blibbets out.  (no, that's not the technical term).
4. I then stuck the phrase together by taping the back of the backing paper in the exact orientation and spacing I wanted it on my car.

Transfer

1. I cut a piece of transfer tape to cover the entire phrase and peeled off the backing, after wrestling with it to uncurl it.  Those more patient than me would benefit from flattening out the cut piece before proceeding.
2. I laid the transfer tape over the design, and smoothed it out with the handy popsicle stick provided.  You can use a squeegee, credit card, brayer, or any sort of smoothing implement to do this.  Make sure it's stuck on there really, really well, and all bubbles are squeezed out.
3. I carefully peeled away the backing from the original vinyl sheet.  The letters should be adhered backwards onto the transfer tape.  Go very, very slowly and smooth down the transfer tape as needed if the letters aren't coming with it. 
4. Hooray!  Now you have a piece of transfer tape with your phrase in the right spacing, and the sticky sides of the letters facing out.  Be careful and don't accidentally bump into things with this, or your letters will get stuck onto something.

Installation (aka sticking your sticker)

1. Since I was putting this on my car, I used a couple of baby wipes and a paper towel to clean off the windshield and dry it before putting on the sticker.
2. I carefully placed the transfer tape with letters facing down where I wanted it, and used the same popsicle stick from the previous Step 2 to smooth it down and get rid of all bubbles.
3. I carefully peeled off the transfer tape, and VOILA! the sticker was stuck on the car.  Hooray!

Notes

• The vinyl I used is not rated for outdoor use, so I'm not sure how long it'll last.  But the outdoor vinyl's adhesive is very strong, and I wasn't sure I wanted to use something that hardy on my car anyway.
• Thicker letters and designs are much easier to work with than delicate thin ones with a lot of detail.  For words and phrases, thicker ones are easier to read at a distance, too.
• Check out this awesome blog post for more info about cutting vinyl, colors and brands, especially for indoor wall decals.
• I have the older Silhouette (SD) which is limited to 8.5" wide substrates, but the new Cameo can cut things up to 12" wide, which is pretty awesome.  I can't justify upgrading, though.

If you read this far, you deserve a jellybean.  Now I'm itching to cut more vinyl stickers for journals, my laptop, picture frames etc.  I'm also trying to figure out something I can cut for BabyX's new room.  Maybe a pennant banner, since I'm totally in love with those.

So, do you have a Fabulous Cutting Machine?  Have you made any vinyl designs?  Tell me!

So let's raise a glass

I'm enrolled in the online Mondo Beyondo Dream Lab class right now. It started about 2 weeks ago and I'm woefully behind on most of the "assignments". As I was scurrying around trying to get "caught up" today, I realized the ridiculousness of the situation.

Dream Lab 2012 is all about inviting play, rest, and kindness into our lives, things that are often overlooked in our nonstop action-packed lives.

This essay called "The Busy Trap" by Tim Kreider is well worth a read. I especially love this line:

More and more people in this country no longer make or do anything tangible; if your job wasn’t performed by a cat or a boa constrictor in a Richard Scarry book I’m not sure I believe it’s necessary.

I can't cram 2 weeks of self-care and self-awareness into one morning.  So I'm giving myself permission to stay "behind" and be ok with that.  Maybe I'll "catch up".  Maybe I won't.  But I promise to make time for myself, to savor the lessons and enjoy them as they are meant to be done.

Last night I started putting together my "play kit", which is a box of stuff that invites me to slow down and have fun.  Not surprisingly, a lot of the items were pilfered from the extra stash of stuff I have to entertain T.  Because nearly everything she owns is part of her "play kit"!

fun in a box

What's in it?

• A jar of bubble solution
• Reese's mini PB cups
• Bubble gum (I remember how to blow a bubble!!!)
• A brand-new Hello Kitty coloring book
• Brand-new 24 pack of Crayola crayons (only 50 cents at Target, no joke!)
• A brand new kelly green notebook
• Markers
• Awesome Pilot G2 black pen
• 2 packs of Lego minifigures (don't know what you get until you open them!)
• Cool patterned tape by Todd Oldham's new line at Target (thanks Peck Life for the tip!)
• My fabulous birthday crown
• Colored Post-It Notes
• Cute envelopes
• Play-Doh
• Little slips of paper with different "rest" and "play" activity suggestions

Sounds fun already, right?  It makes me happy to look in this bright red bin and see a bunch of completely non-utilitarian, fun things. 

This morning, one of the assignments I read was to pick out something from the box and have a little fun, letting go of my stresses and mental load.  So I built this little guy:

 I'm pretty stoked about this class, and have "rebooted" my brain from "OMG another obligation" to "hey, look, a chance to have fun".  Because THAT is what life is all about.

And also, my life is going to get much harder come October so I am going to play NOW.  If anyone has a good way to fast forward through say, the first 4-5 weeks of having a newborn, please let me know :)

Tuesday Lovin': Castle Logix

When we went to Ireland in April, I wanted to buy one new toy for T that could hold her attention for a while so we didn't have to drag her whole toybox with us.

I've written about my toy pickiness previously, so you know I didn't want anything that makes noises or lights up, or is drowning in pink plastic and/or "just for girls".  I thought we might bring it out on the plane, so I didn't want a lot of tiny pieces either.

I decided to buy her a puzzle game called Castle Logix which I learned about from Cloud's blog.   It's made of sturdy wood, has just a few large-ish pieces, and best of all, helps kids work on their spatial skills, something I am *sorely* lacking. 

Once I took a horrific engineering aptitude test which had a bunch of pictures of exploded 3-D shapes and I had to choose what they would look like when assembled.  Torture, I tell you.  I'm not sure I got a single one correct.

Castle Logix in action.  In Ireland!

The recommended age range is 3 - 8 years old.  And in fact, we adults had fun with it too.  It's a one-player puzzle, where you look at a photo and combine the blocks and towers to make a castle that looks like the one in the photo.  The puzzles range from easy to 'expert'.  On the expert level, the colors of the blocks aren't specified, only the outlines, so it's even challenging for adults.

I wasn't sure if T was ready for it, and she knocked my socks off.  After a few tries and some coaxing (my girl likes to get things right the first time - something else we need to work on!), she was off and running.  She would play with this toy for 45 minutes straight, a major bonus for any parent with a toddler, right?

Three months later, she still likes it, and will work on it by herself at home.  She is very methodical about the order in which she does the puzzles, and can do most of the ones in the first two sections of the book.  (Starter and Junior levels, I think.) 

It's definitely helping her spatial skills - yesterday we made an American flag out of construction paper and I printed out a photo so she could see what it looked like.  I asked her to tell me where the blue rectangle went, and where the stars and stripes went, and she could place them correctly on her paper based on the photo.  Very cool.  I had no idea a 2 year old could do that!

I also love that this toy will grow with her, and be challenging for more than a few months (as long as she doesn't get sick of it!).  We do rotate the toys we leave out, so after some time "in hiding" it's new again.  Tricky parents!

I love that I found a toy that's educational and fits all my crunchy granola parameters, that T actually likes and plays with.  That's no small feat.

Smart Games is the company that makes it, and they have a TON of other logic games like these, at different age ranges, so I can't wait to explore more of them as T gets older.  A few are already marked for her wish list!

Have you played with this?  What do you think?

Stealing Time

I work best when I have a large chunk of uninterrupted time to focus on a project.  In fact, in that case, I'm unstoppable.  I don't multi-task well, and I've known that for a while, so I try to focus on one thing at a time until a good stopping point comes along.

This is difficult in a workplace with a LOT of meetings.  Most of my focused work happens earlier in the morning before everyone shows up, or late afternoon after the myriad meetings.   Sometimes I need to take time in the evening to really focus when it's quiet and empty.

But, as parents know, huge chunks of uninterrupted time on weekends for personal projects is hard to come by.  Especially with a baby or toddler who can't yet get out of bed on their own, fix their own meals, or even dress themselves.  Nevermind being able to go to the bathroom alone or trusting her to sit and read a book or play alone for hours at a stretch.

Lately I've been CONSUMED (obsessed?) with crafty projects.  I have four things I'm working on (actively) right now:  Project Life, my first mini scrapbook album made from scratch, a birthday gift for my mom (secret!), and an album kit from ScrapScriptions.  I switch off between them depending on my mood, what the next step is and *how much time I have*.

Which is often not enough by a long shot.  I could sit and work for 5-6 hours easily, when I am inspired.  But I *never* have that much free time at a stretch.  When T is at preschool, I'm at work.  Occasionally we'll drop her off at my parents' place for a morning or afternoon (woot) but not for the whole day, because *we* want to hang out with her, and her schedule is surprisingly full for a toddler.

After tilting at this immutable parenting windmill for 2.5 years, I am finally starting to figure it out.  For now, while I have small children, I just won't have those whole days to dedicate to my craft or  my other leisure pursuits.  I can't sit around waiting for the "perfect day" or that big uninterrupted chunk of time because it will NEVER come.

So I've resorted to "stealing time" when I can.  As soon as she goes down for a nap, I head to the craft room.  No idly checking email or Facebook, which can stretch from 2 minutes into an hour easily.  No quick loads of laundry or dishes, unless I'm intentionally doing that particular task right then.  (I like to save my toddler-free time for more exciting things than house chores.)

After she goes to bed (thankfully at 7pm), it's the same story.  I pick a project and get to work and then I can put in at least 3 hours before I need to sleep. 

Remarkably, my obsession about these projects has even carried over to the morning and I am NOT a morning person.  TJ typically takes most of the morning toddler duty, so if I get up just a bit before she does, I can get in 30 minutes to an hour of crafty goodness, and even squeeze in a tiny bit of treadmill walking, all before getting ready for work.  I was also inspired to try this by Laura Vanderkam's awesome new e-book, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast.

I've also thought about how to break down the projects, so while T is playing by herself or doing her own art project, I can bring something upstairs and work on it next to her.  This way I'm making progress with the time available rather than waiting for that perfect time to materialize.

And to that point, here I am at the doctor's office, 45 minutes into my 2 hour glucose tolerance test, finishing up a blog post.  I've already checked my work and personal emails, and will also be able to squeeze in some Morning Pages.  Woot!


How do you steal time to do the things you want to do?

What Alice Forgot: BlogHer Book Club Review

The last fiction book I read was What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.  It was a fun, light  read, perfect for lazy summer days. What drew me to it was the interesting premise - after an accident, a woman loses 10 years of memories and has to go through her daily life without them, and figure out who she is and how she relates to the people around her.

It sounds grim but was actually quite funny and easy to read.  It's set in Australia, but could be anywhere really.  Alice figures out that she had turned into a not-so-nice person over the 10 years she "lost", and starts to rebuild her relationships with her sister, children, and husband.

The characters are familiar and likeable, for the most part.  The most interesting to me was her sister Elizabeth, who narrates part of the book in first person, and details her struggle with infertility, in a very convincing way.  Moriarty definitely got that part right.

For the first half I was impatiently holding my breath, waiting for Alice's memories to return and it hindered my enjoyment of the book.  Somewhere in there, I just let go of that idea and accepted her state for what it was, and then it got much easier and more pleasant to read.   I will admit I was a bit disappointed when she did get her memories back as I quite liked the "new Alice".

Like most "chick lit" books, everything ends well, which was just fine with me. I love a satisfying happy ending with all loose ends neatly tied up.   It took me just a few days to read the whole thing.

This book overall was good, but not great.  I probably won't keep it to re-read but don't feel like it was time wasted, either.  It's nice and meaty at around 400 pages so if you're looking for a vacation book, it's a worthwhile read.

I was compensated for this review by BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are totally my own.