New Years Traditions

With the New Year comes new traditions. Now that Lady A is a bit older and able to participate a little more in family activities we have had a lot of fun coming up with our own family traditions, especially since we live away from the rest of our family and won't always be able to make it out for the big events and holidays.

I'm not much of one for New Years Eve events, trying to keep my toddler up until midnight does not sound fun right now. She would be so tired and fussy by the time midnight came and the following day we would all still be paying for it.

But it is still a good reason to celebrate so for now we will celebrate on New Years Day!

We are new to Kentucky, we got here the weekend before the college semester started in August. While the winter has been pretty mild compared to what we are used to {we are from Utah and spent the last three years in Connecticut for Grad School} but we are told that the cold comes mostly in January. Here is my mug and saying for the year.

We all can use a little pep talk every once in a while.

Lady A joined in and created her own as well!

We need to encourage those little creative minds

The back detail

Paul helped her a little bit.

She wanted to use the mug I had done a little trial on. The gold dots were "oh, pretty!"

SUPPLIES

Paint Pens / Sharpie Markers
Cheap White Mug {I got mine from Wal-mart}

Vinyl {optional}
Silhouette Portrait {optional}
Saying, Quote, Shapes etc. {optional}

INSTRUCTIONS

I do not care for my handwriting on the mugs, it just never turns out the way I want. Instead I busted out my Silhouette Portrait and quickly cut out a little saying. 

Clean the surface you are going to be placing your design. I used a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol and went over the area once to wipe away any dirt and oils on the mugs.

Place your stickers, shapes, or vinyl where you want it. Now so to town with your paint pens and markers to create your one and only mug.

I used CraftSmart paint pens. I had more colors on hand with the markers so Lady A decided to use them.

Bake the dish int eh oven by placing it on a cookie tray. With your mug in the oven set it to 425 degrees, once the temperature is reached bake it for 30 minutes. Prop the door open, turn the oven off and let it your oven cool with your mug still in it.

A close up of the back detail.

I love how they turned out. Lady A is pretty pleased with herself too! Now that she is getting older and wants to join me in my creative activities I am so excited to see her creative personality emerge.

TIPS: 

I took two days to do mine because Lady A wanted me to wait so that she could finish her master piece before we placed them in the oven. When using a paint pen to fill in or around a letters and shapes, I would recommend taking them vinyl off before the paint has time to dry too much. Taking it off in the morning after the paint had time to dry and get tacky pulled up some of the paint from my letters so they don't look as smooth as I would like.

On the dishes I have made so far I have found that the Paint Pen stays great to wash in the dishwasher on the top shelf. Sharpie marker is best washed by hand. Do Not scrub! Use a soft washcloth and mild soap

Here is another Sharpie marker project with different tips and tricks.

Easter Plate

I would love to hear from you and see your projects. Leave a comment or #AlwaysCreate on your photos. Find me on Instagram {@AlwaysCreate} and follow along for behind the scenes and fun little extras.

Canister Labels

The other day I went looking through my baking items and found one of my peppermint baking bars nibbled all up and down the sides. Breath. Do not freak out. Aahhhh!!

Naturally the next step is to re-organize the closet and put just about everything in a canister. 

I love creating designs in Silhouette Studio and this would be a great chance to see what I could come up with. As well, this would be my first time cutting vinyl. *So excited*

First thing is first: Deciding what will all go into canisters so I know how many labels to create and what size to make them.

Choose the colors: For Christmas we got a little bit of spending money from family and I told Paul it was time for a change in our kitchen decor and colors. The vinyl for the labels will match the new colors so well.

Items needed:

Canisters {purchased at Wal-Mart}

Vinyl in color{s} of choice

Clear Contact Paper

Small clear Omnigrid rulers
Cut file*

Tip: For something a little more worthy of the counter top check out this

Oggi 4 Piece Stainless Steel Canister Set
or

Oggi 4-Piece Locking Acrylic Canister Set

I used the 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square ruler from this Ruler Value Pack
 and the 1" x 6" ruler from this Basics Ruler Set

First wash the canisters. After they dry use rubbing alcohol to clean the surface where the vinyl will be placed. 

Design the labels or purchase a cutting file. Here is the label design* I came up with for my canisters. I love how they turned out and they were actually pretty easy to create. Give it a try, after seeing your first design come out you will be hooked.

Cut the design into the vinyl then weed out the parts that you will not be using. Since I am not a very avid cook I also have solid labels for the backs of the canisters and I will be putting the expiration dates on them to remind myself when it will be time to switch out the contents.. A dry erase marker can be used on the vinyl so this will work out perfect.

Tip: on some of my vinyl pieces that had a lot of negative space I cut a bunch of 3/8" circles so that Lady A could use them as stickers. We ended up using the green dots on a simple white bedroom clock. After we used the dots on our clock project I weeded out the rest so they would not get in the way of transferring the labels.

Tip: on smaller vinyl images and ones that are not to intricate I use normal clear contact paper that comes in a huge roll. While it is not as 'sticky' or as thick as transfer paper, it works great on these smaller projects and costs a lot less.

Bring the vinyl up with the clear contact paper. Then center on the clear ruler to the height that you want the label and let your clear contact paper stick to the ruler. Line up the ruler to the center of the canister and simply press the top of the label onto the canister, making sure to start from the center and smooth out the label so no air bubbles get trapped. Remove the ruler and press the rest of the label down, then remove the clear contact paper

It gets just a little bit trickier when placing the labels with words. If the lettering lays over the clear ruler at all they will want to stick to the ruler. Expose the bottom of the label so that it can still be lined up on the ruler. Leave the vinyl baking where the lettering is. Follow the same process as above for centering and placing the labels but be sure to remove the vinyl baking when the ruler is removed.

Finish pressing/laying the vinyl into place and remover the clear contact paper.

TaDa!! Nice wonderful canisters labeled and ready to go in the closet.

The colors turned out great as well and will match the rest of the kitchen. 

*Eeek*

If you have a Silhouette machine but are maybe a bit intimidated by it like I was {this is my first electronic cutter of any kind} I would suggest watching the introduction DVD that comes along with it. Seriously, it helped me so much, with just enough instruction on how to use it and a lot of the different features ~ now there has been no stopping me.

*Download files are not to be sold, redistributed, or altered without permission. Items using this cut pattern are not to be sold. Please send your friends and family to my blog if they want a copy as well. Thanks! I am excited to see what everyone come up with.