Playfully Contemporary: 2015

Thursday, May 14, 2015

CUSTOM HEAT TRANSFER BEDDING SET

For my last post on the Silhouette blog, I had to share just one more glitter heat transfer project. It is my new favorite product, one I will always keep on hand!

I bought this cute bedding for my daughter’s room and I decided to glitter it up. I measured the circles and cut a bunch (about 250) out of the mint glitter heat transfer material. I cut them as close together as I could. Then I just peeled them off the plastic and ironed them on right where I wanted them. I only did it on the top 16 inches on the duvet cover where I wanted to fold it over. I loved that this duvet cover was reversible, it adds a little more visual interest.

It did take a while to iron all of the circles on, but it was totally worth it! I also decided to make a monogram pillow for the top of the bed. How cute is this vine monogram P?!

I used the black glitter heat transfer material to cut the P and the sewable fabric interfacing to cut out the white fabric. It’s always amazing to me how much character you can add to a room using the Silhouette! I love it!

I have really enjoyed sharing my ideas here on the Silhouette blog. They are such an amazing company with a fabulous product! I hope that you have as much fun with your Silhouette as I have with mine! I will try to post projects every now and then on my own blog, feel free to follow me there if you’d like.

Thanks again Silhouette for this opportunity, you are a great!

FROSTED VINYL WINDOW ART

Frosted Vinyl Door Art | Amy Cox for Silhouette

We have some great windows on our front doors that help add light into our front room. The only problem was the privacy with said windows. Every time people would come over they would watch us come to the door, which really isn’t a big deal, but sometimes it was a bit odd. Here is my before picture with husband posing as a guest.

To solve the problem I created custom fit frosted vinyl art for the windows. I just measured each window and created a rectangle in the Silhouette software the size of the window. I made circles and placed them randomly to create my polka dots. It was so easy and if I ever get tired of it, I can just peel it off! Perfect!

I really love the polka dot windows, but I think my daughter loves them even more! One of her favorite games is to play peak-a-boo in the circles with my husband.

I used the Silhouette frosted vinyl but this project would be fun with any color of vinyl they sell. You can be as creative and bold as you are daring to be.

You could even do colored ones for different holidays, how fun would that be?!!!

To add to this project, I also made a ‘Knock, the baby is sleeping’ sign for the front door. I used a few of the design from the Silhouette design store and the print and cut feature. Here’s how it turned out….

So fun, and if you are like me and get anxious to cut the shapes before the ink is dry, here’s a quick tip. Place your printed material carefully on the mat, then lay the blue cover that comes with your mat, right over the page shiny side down. Then you can press down to smooth out the paper on the mat without smearing the ink!

RUNNING SHIRT

I am totally obsessed with the new glitter heat transfer material! In my opinion everything is better with glitter! I bought a new workout shirt and decided to glam it up, because you know…when your workout clothes are fun you want to wear them more.

I found this awesome design from the Silhouette Design Store. It was perfect for me. (Especially since I help manage a candy store!) So here’s how I did it….

Mirror the design first.
Ungroup the design.
I made sure that each set of words were grouped the way I needed them.

I like to add a cut line under the design I am cutting on the heat transfer material. This way I have a nice straight line to help me cut it off the rest of the material. I also like to use up any little space I can when I’m using a specialty media. So in this case I made some circles for some polka dots on a future project.

I cut my design out of the hot pink, black silver, and purple glitter heat transfer material.
I have found that it is best to use the heat transfer material FLOCKED setting to cut glitter heat transfer material. It weeds perfectly every time!

When applying the heat transfer make sure to measure it out to ensure you have it in the perfect spot, perfectly centered. This helps it look more professional. Also make sure to prewash your shirt so the heat transfer will stay put on the shirt, and wash it inside out.
One more tip… make sure to use a pressing cloth (any scrap of fabric) when ironing the transfer so you can avoid burning your fabric.

Seriously this product is AMAZING! I made a shirt for my daughter (who is 1 1/2 years old) with the glitter heat transfer material and it has been washed dozens of times and it is still in great condition.

RHINESTONE SWIMSUIT COVERUP

I am getting super excited for a tropical trip my family is going on next month! I bought this little towel swimsuit coverup for my daughter to use on the trip, and I just had to embellish it to make it more fun and well more tropical. How cute is this rhinestone turtle design?!

DIY Rhinestone-Turtle-swimsuit cover up by Amy Cox for Silhouette

I used a brand new blade in my CAMEO to cut the design out of the rhinestone template material. It is adhesive backed, and it cut the circles all the way through the backing, which was wonderful! When I removed the template material from the mat, a lot of the circles stuck to to it, or the backing on the tiny circles did anyway, which made the weeding process super easy! Because the adhesive was exposed on all of the tiny circles, I just placed the template on a plain piece of paper and pressed it with my hands so all of the black circles would stick to that paper. I didn’t have to pull out any of them by hand. It was great! Then, I just removed the rest of the backing from the template material and stuck it to the backer board that comes in the rhinestone template kit.

Rhinestone Turtle Coverup | Amy Cox for Silhouette

The most time consuming part of this project was placing each colored rhinestone right where I wanted it, but it was fun too, I felt like I was doing one of those velvety color by number pictures from my youth.

Surprisingly the rhinestones stuck really well to the towel like surface, but it did have really fine loops, not big ones like a normal towel.

So what do you think? Have you tried out the rhinestone kit yet?

STENCILED CANVAS ART

Yay for free designs!!! I hope you are collecting them every week, it is totally worth your time to do so. I just love collecting designs, and its even sweeter when you get them for free.

Free Design Painting| Amy Cox for Silhouette

For this week’s design I decided to turn it into a canvas painting using stencil material. Have you used the stencil material yet? It is awesome! I cut the design wide enough to fit the width of the canvas. They made the design perfect to line up easily if you are repeating the pattern, which I did.

My canvas has staples on the side. I didn’t want to look at those so I covered the edge with washi tape. I think it adds so much to the design! I have this picture on the edge of a shelf so now the edge of the picture will look nice when you see it coming down the hall. A silly little detail maybe, but it makes me happy.

Can I tell you how much I love 3d flower designs?! One of my favorite flowers are ranunculus. I was very excited that there was a ranunculus design I could buy.

This stenciled canvas turned out perfectly! I needed to add some visual interest to my picture shelf. I love that this pattern added a fun pop of color.

Have you used this free design yet? I’d love to see your projects!

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE SHIRT AND BAG

My daughter is only 1 1/2 years old but she is in LOVE with Strawberry Shortcake! I was so excited to see that Silhouette now has some Strawberry Shortcake designs! (I was going to do a Strawberry Shortcake party for my daughter’s 1st birthday, but I couldn’t find designs I liked for the decor. She will definitely have a Strawberry Shortcake party for her 2nd birthday now!) When she saw these designs on my screen as I was working on this project she got so excited and started saying “Strawberry Cake!” As soon as I finished this shirt she was trying to put it on. I’ve never seen her so excited about clothes!

Strawberry Shortcake Shirt| Amy Cox for Silhouette

Here’s how I did this project…

I found all of the designs in the Silhouette Design Store that I just had to use.
I made sure the cut lines of each design were set to ‘cut edge’
Then I turned on the registration marks.
I used the little eye dropper tool in the fill color window to pick up the exact colors from Strawberry Shortcake, then filled each of the hearts.
Next, I printed out the designs on the printable heat transfer material for dark fabrics.
Then, I placed the printed heat transfer on my cutting mat, loaded it into the Silhouette and clicked cut.

Now here is the tip I have for you today….if you are using a regular pressing cloth instead of a towel to press this on, make sure that it has cooled completely before removing the pressing cloth or you could tear your heat transfer material. I learned that the hard way.

This was my first time using the printable heat transfer material and I am really impressed with it! As always, Silhouette and it’s products have helped me make a very professional looking project.

Whenever I make a project with a special media I like to use every inch I can. That is why I decided to cut 2 Strawberry Shortcakes, her pets and the hearts. I can always find a use for them somewhere, like on this little tote bag…

My daughter loves purses so I used the extra designs I’d cut out and made her this little tote bag to go along with her shirt. This way I could make her something fun with the Valentines day design and she can still wear her shirt after the holiday has passed.

I can’t even tell you how excited she was to wear this shirt today. Isn’t she such a cutie! I just can’t enough of this sweet little girl!

GLITTER HEAT TRANSFER VALENTINES SHIRT

Yay for Valentine’s Day and glitter heat transfer material!!! I wanted to make a cute little Valentine’s Day shirt for my daughter, but I wanted it to be general enough that I don’t have to feel like she can’t wear it after the holiday. I found this cute little polka dot shirt for her and thought it would be fun to make it have a little French feeling.

Valentines Shirt| Amy Cox for Silhouette

I found this cute eiffel tower design in the Silhouette Design Store that has a little heart on the top. Super cute! I also used the heart of the kiss silhouette design to add a little more love to the design.

Have you tried the new glitter heat transfer material? Are you in love with it as much as I am? Quick tip: I have found that the glitter heat transfer material cuts best using the Heat Transfer Flocked setting. I hope that helps you out.

GLITTER HEAT TRANSFER PILLOW

Valentines is coming up! Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays, probably because I love all things girly and Valentines is full of hearts, pink, red, purple, and sparkly things. I decided to make a fun Valentines pillow for my living room. I found this super cute kissing silhouette design in the design store and I just had to use it. I added Besos (kisses in Spanish) under the design for a fun little modern touch. (My husband and I both speak Spanish so I thought that would be fun.)

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the new glitter heat transfer material!!! It is my new favorite Silhouette product! It is so super glittery and fun. I want to put it on everything! I have found that it cuts best on the Heat Transfer Flocked setting. I seriously love this stuff!!!