As 2012 comes to an end, I wanted to do a few things to decorate the table at a New Year’s crop I was attending. I found a large martini glass (decorative only) at my local craft store. I had made a resolution to learn how to cut the faux etching vinyl from www.KNKUSA.com before the end of the year. So today, I did just that! I wanted the words to be read when looking at the glass, so I cut them to go on the inside of the glass. I used my KNK Maxx, speed 50 Force 60. I probably could have gone a little lower on the force. I added champagne colored glass balls to the inside. The font I used was Fiolex Girls; the champagne glasses were a free file from www.svgcuts.com.

I wanted to do a decorative block to put in my window for this week, so I cut Happy New Year in the faux etching vinyl and added gold vinyl (also from www.KNKUSA.com) on top to look like champagne glasses with “bubbly” inside. The phrase came from www.svgcuts.com and the glasses came from a different site, but I can’t remember where. My mistake is I put them on a frosted block .  Since I still had some vinyl left, I cut a “2013” to put on the outside of a glass I’ll drink my champagne from tonight. To make it show up, I added black tissue paper and silver star sticks.

 

One of my favorite things to give as a gift is a glass block decorated with vinyl. This year, I had a problem getting inspired, so I turned to Pintrest. The Jingle all the Way is my take on the ones I’ve seem there (and there are many).

The bell was a file from  Silhouette Studio that I converted to an svg file then to MTC. I did a internal shadow so I could get the outline. For the title, I used Cambria font and made a mini bell as the dot for the “i”. I used gold, black and red vinyl from www.KNKUSA.com. All vinyl is cut on my KNK Maxx 24″, speed of 100, pressure 70. I leave one blade holder with the blade set just for vinyl.

Once I got this design on the block, I added jingle bells inside. The next design I did is my own (not hard to do). It matches some of my Christmas cards. I made a rectangle in black and used a square inside a square, with a thin rectangle, welded together for the buckle. I had ribbon already with Santa’s belt on it, so it was perfect. I added red mesh and red mini lights to give the effects of Santa’s suit. Black vinyl and gold vinyl used.   For the last blocks, I used a circle and a rounded corner square (from MTC shapes). I made an ornament and put our last name in it. I wasn’t real happy using the solid ornament, so I went back, created an internal shadow, joined them, added my daughter’s last name. It turned out much better until I filled it with the ornaments. These are mini ornaments from Michaels. I should have used another color besides red, which I used also for the ornaments. There isn’t a box on this block, so I can change the ornaments out for gold ones.

Hope these give you some inspiration for the holidays and gifts.

 

 

 

 

I am confessing! I’m a hoarder, of files, that is. Like many of you, I can’t resist a free file or a cute file that I might need later! LOL My problem, like many I’ve seen, is how to organize them so I can find them later. Any one else downloaded the same file more than once? I have. Finally figured out how to know what files I have and how to find them easily.
Most designers post a .pdf or .jpeg file with the cutting files. So, I print those out,

put them in a photo box along with the CD of those files.

 

 

 

If a file fits in more than 1 category, I can print 2 pictures or cross reference it on the CD.

While I was recovering from my shoulder surgery, I was limited as to what I could do. I found some canvas that looked like it would be easy to work with and I could go slow. Now I am full of ideas to use the blank canvases you can get in any craft store and make them into beautiful decorations for the home.
The first one I did with my daughter for my husband’s birthday was a real challange. She wanted to do his family tree to use the information she’s been gathering in Ancestry and Family Tree. Those who did the large wall trees inspired me and I cut it in vinyl in several parts. It took us both to get it on straight. I also cut the “Family” title and all the banners for the names. We had a great time creating this together.

This was so much fun, I made a couple of other things that I can use as gifts or for my own home.
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Paint the canvas first with acrylic paint or ink edges and add paper. Then attach the vinyl. What could be simplier? I’ve got some very small canvases that I want to use for small pictures and names of family members. The ideas are endless! Enjoy!