I just started playing around with wind spinners, and I might be a little in love lol
This is the first one. I see places I need to adjust for next time, but my mind is swirling with ideas now 😀
Also, numbers are hard. And I don’t always consider them when buying items like this. So I bought 10 inch wind spinners, but my printer can only print about 8.25 inches wide. So now I get to learn how to piece together images to make one large one so I can fill the entire wind spinner 😀
I’m thinking about using something like this for Mother’s Day, but I also think something like the 4th of July would be really cool on these, too. But this one is going in my garden ❤️
I wish I could post videos, because it’s really neat to watch it spin. It’s kind of mesmerizing 🙂 Maybe I need a YouTube channel for videos to link to, lol
Anyway, thanks for stopping by!
XOXOXO
I make these for a $20 donation to Paws 4 Autism. If you’re interested in one, let me know and we’ll make sure you get one. I can put all sorts of things on these 😀
To check out our organization, go here: AWESOME DOGS
If you’re interested in donating to our fundraising, go here: EVEN MORE AWESOME KID, the donation section is at the bottom of the page.
There’s a lot of sad in the world right now. From world events, to national, to local, and right down to the people in our lives.
And I’m an emotional sponge. I soak in emotions. The easy emotions get released pretty easily. The laughter and smiles, that’s the easy stuff.
The hard ones…those are the emotions I keep in. I hold those close because I don’t WANT to give them to others. I don’t WANT others to feel those same things. So I keep them. I process them. I deal with them.
One of the ways I deal with them is art. But I don’t keep the art. The process and the thought behind the art is where the healing is for me, but that’s not the end of it. The end of that dealing with and healing from comes when I find the person that work belongs to. Sometimes it’s easy, if someone has been on my mind. Sometimes I have to wait and see who comes my way. But every single time I’ve been able to do something like that for someone, that’s really what healed my soul and filled my heart.
My therapist didn’t understand at first when she asked me what I did for ME. The answer is, I make things for someone else. And even if it didn’t fit her idea of what that meant, she realized that it worked for me.
So this last week I spent some time playing with paper because I needed to feel better. And I had a very specific project in mind. I needed the message it created. It didn’t come out exactly like I hoped, but I use the good stuff and once it was in place, that was it, lol.
The design took eight layers of paper to complete. I fell in love with the design right off the bat, and I absolutely love the colors and how they came out. It was tricky trying to get it to look like I wanted it to in the shadow box, but I got it figured out. The only part I’m not too keen on is the wording. I needed to use a lighter color of vinyl, but like I said, this stuff isn’t coming off easily lol.
Anyway, the words say, “You are Always Enough” I just wish I’d done it in white 🙂
Here it is, out of the shadow box, which takes the glare off of it. The designer did a beautiful job and this file was so nice to work with 🙂
But there is value in making mistakes, if we’re willing to learn from them.
I was playing with an idea to sublimate Bandit’s name onto a few things. I’m trying to put together an emergency bag for him that’s ready to go, including first aid items. We live in Tornado Land and it is that time of year. But we’ve also had ice storms in the winter that knock out power for four days. Gas leaks. People sitting in front of our house watching it…and more, I’m sure, because my life is NOT boring lol.
I found these bags at a good price, so it was worth experimenting with, especially because this one would stay in the basement unless we needed it. And if we need it, it will have character 🙂
Here’s what I learned:
Nylon straps melt at high temps. I’m sure I would have remembered if I’d taken time to think about it. In the future, I’ll just cut off this particular strap. I’ll get a better image that way, too. But I do have to clean the melted nylon glob off my heat press. Luckily, I have a teflon sheet attached to it. If I can’t clean it off, I can replace it. You can see some of the melted strap I’ve already scraped off on the silicone mat.
2. I learned that not only does the nylon strap melt, it impedes the transfer of the image. You can see that on the right hand side of the picture. In this set up, there was no way to move it far enough out of the way for a good transfer. But then again, it also wouldn’t have mattered since the strap melted. On the other hand, I also learned that I CAN sublimate on these bags, and the temp and time seem to work.
3. I also learned that the melted strap I hadn’t gotten off the teflon, was over further than I thought…Maybe I should have tried harder to clean it off, but I thought I had enough room to do the last transfer. I should have paid more attention to exactly where the glob would land. Because some of it got on to the other piece I was sublimating lol. You can see where it transferred on the bottom left. But again, this is an emergency bag, so this gives it character 😉 And I now have a matched set 😀
In addition, the transfer on the bottom left is a little light. So I learned I need to move the image up just a little more to stop the seam from interfering.
4. I learned that the top inside of this bag…melts a little 🙄
When sublimating, it’s usually wise to use some blow out paper on top of the image and under the substrate you’re sublimating on to, to catch any of the ink that could transfer to somewhere you don’t want it to go. The white part inside the zippered pouch…that’s the blowout paper. It’s stuck to the top of the bag now because the material above it melted a little. You can also see the blue tape I used to keep the blow out paper in place…it may also be a permanent part of the bag now lol. But now I know.
I learned I was right to use another teflon sheet inside that zippered pouch. It was placed after the blow out paper, because I wasn’t sure about the material there and how it would react to heat. If it *did* melt a little, I didn’t want it sealing off this pocket and limiting the options I have for this bag.
I learned a lot. Not everything I did was a failure, I saved some of the project by making smart decisions. But other parts, I really messed up on, and learned from them. Knowing what NOT to do can be as important as knowing WHAT to do.
I have another bag like this. It’s for use in the car or for traveling so the labeling will be similar, but a little different. Now, I can take my mistakes and the knowledge they created, and apply it to this other bag 😀
Thanks for stopping by! Bandit and JJ appreciate everyone’s support on this journey ❤️
To find out more about our organization, you can visit us and check out the pups in our program here: Paws 4 Autism
To find out more about JJ and Bandit, you can find their page here: JJ’s Magic
My sweet sister-in-law lost her mother this week and I play with paper so I made a card for her. This is the first time in a LONG time that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with a card I’ve made. But let’s be honest, I just don’t have that many chances to sit and make a card anymore. At first, I wondered if I’d forgotten how, because it wasn’t working. I regrouped, tried something different and got this. I did really like the chance to make my son’s wedding invitations, but those weren’t “mine” as much as they were “theirs”. An awesome opportunity, but not in the same way.
So after this gushing, I hope you like it, too.
In a few days, I’ll be starting another, and it will be one of the most meaningful, but also the hardest that I think I’ve ever done. We lost my 25yo cousin this week and she earned her wings before she ever left this earth. I’m not sure how to pull this off, but I feel driven to do so. The world lost a light this week, but it seems a little bit of my cousin’s light was left with every person she ever met.
Anyway, here’s this one, and like I said, I’m so happy with how it turned out.
Besides being a mom to some awesome little kids, I’m a mom to some awesome big kids, too ❤️
One of those big kids is getting married next month. It’s a weird place to be. He’s my baby, but he’s not 😔
He was the first little one to call me mom. The first to hold my finger and smile up at me. The first to think I hung the moon.
I really like his soon to be wife. She just fits. So I was very honored to be able to make their invitations. It took some time, there were 150 of them, but every single one of them was made with love and wishes for an amazing future.
I was able to play with wax seals and had an absolute blast coming up with just the right color combinations for the wax.
This is the outside. The band holds everything together and simply slides off to open it.
Once opened, invitations, registry info, rsvp info, and map info can be found inside. And of course, a picture of the sweet couple.
I found the file in the Silhouette design store and cut out the envelope pieces and attached them.
Then I gathered the info, printed it, and cut it out. All of the cutting was done on my Silhouette Cameo. There’s NO way I would have been able to pull this off without that machine. It’s one of the best paper crafting tools I have 😀
This statement is technically true, but maybe not in the way you think.
One of my absolute favorite things to do as an artist, is to create something that starts out looking one way – like paper, for example – and then working to make it take on some realism.
I’m trying to take those ideas and skills with me into 3D printing.
You may remember, we used 3D printers for some of our Paws 4 Autism fundraising for Bandit, JJ’s autism service dog. We made ear savers and 2020 Toilet Paper ornaments to commemorate the year (those are still both available).
But when I’m not busy printing for fundraisers, my printers get used for other things. Things that might be helpful around the house.
We’ve been redoing our hall bathroom upstairs. It has a kind of an ocean theme, but one that’s very easily removed so we can go a different direction if we ever choose to. This bathroom is the one that got the light switch I printed that had gears.
Well. We needed a hand towel holder and a TP holder. So I printed pieces that look like and fit together like pipes we could use for this.
We went from this
To This
To this
I used gray PLA filament. This is the same type of filament I used for the ear savers and the 2020 TP ornaments. It took some time to print, and I had to reprint a few pieces to get the right sizes for my needs. But you can see that they were individual pieces that actually threaded together. I bought the file online, and the designer did a great job with these. There are so many ways to mix and match to get what you need.
So then the next magic step began. The pieces required a couple of priming passes, a couple of coats of copper colored paint, and an oxidation spray. A lot of people sand between primer coats and painting coats, but I wasn’t going for a smooth, shiny, flawless look.
And we ended up with these.
So, there you have it. I 3d printed pipes for my bathroom 🙂
And while you’re here, I’ve got some other 3D printing fun to share in the next couple of days. It will be the next fundraiser for JJ, Bandit, and Paws 4 Autism. So don’t forget to come back 🙂
As always, if you’d like to donate to JJ’s fundraising page, you can find it here: Help JJ
There’s a lot of free files out there. I’ve worked on modifying (very tiny mods) some files – like the Ear Savers For JJ here that we’ve been using as a fund raiser for his service dog. But I’ve printed more where I’ve just stood back in awe at someone else’s genius 🙂
This is one of those times.
Our upstairs bathroom *could* have a nautical theme, or not if you decide to remove the octopus shower curtain. I want it to be easily changed, because I think I’d like to move in a few years and not everyone shares my likes 😉
Anyway, this light switch cover/leaver caught my eye.
First step – printing. This is how it looked after the print was finished.
Then, checking my work before painting or gluing. This is where I found out I printed the wrong gears. They were too big, so I went back and printed the right size, lol. Then it fit together nicely 🙂
Once I knew it fit together correctly, I smoothed out edges and cleaned things up. Then painted them.
I’d LOVE to tell you I added all the cool detail by hand, but I didn’t. I found a Patina oxidizing finish kit by Modern Masters Metal Effects. A few coats of primer, a few coats of copper paint, and spray on the oxidizing spray and you get some neat finishes 🙂
Here’s the finished piece (except gluing. I still need to glue, but that’s it’s own skill set).
Fun, right? You’re turn. You should go out and try something fun, too ❤️
It’s a thing I believe. And I just so happen to like making thank you cards, so this works out for everyone 😀
I’ve had these designed for a while, but finally had time to sit down and put them together. It took a medical intervention to create the time lol. I’m at the sleep clinic with one of my daughters, so I was able to put the cards together while I wait with her. It’s been a LONG sleep study. We’re doing overnight and nap monitoring…I’m pretty sure we’ll head out by evening though 🙂
In the mean time, a dozen cards were finished and my blog updated. They didn’t turn out how I designed them – my printer ran out of blue ink, but I made it work, because I have some people to get these out to 🙂 If you’re one of our donors – THANK YOU SO MUCH! JJ’s so tickled by your willingness to help him. He even cried a little. You guys are making a little boy so very very happy. These cards are for you ❤️
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
And as always, if you feel it in your heart to donate, or if you want to see more of JJ’s story, here’s the link to our donation page. paws4autism.org/jj.html
Isaac has been in therapy since he was 3 months old. First with CMH, then transferred to First Steps (our state’s early intervention program) for physical therapy when he was 4 months old.
At 15 months old, he was diagnosed with a profound speech delay and a speech therapist was added to our weekly First Steps therapy session.
At 22 months, he was diagnosed with Autism. The next week, a special instructor was added to our sessions to help address the autistic needs we were encountering.
Last year we lost out physical therapist because Isaac had finally caught up in that area.
Today, we said good-bye to our remaining therapists. In our state, the early intervention program works with qualifying children until they’re 3. At that time, if help is still needed, the school district takes over – which is the case with our son.
I wanted to make something meaningful for them, to show my gratitude. My son is in such a good spot and has made up so much ground because of these hardworking ladies.
Here are their gifts.
This is for our speech therapist. The first time Isaac really started participating in imaginative play, they were having a “tea party.” I wanted to commemorate that and create something that brought her back to that memory.
The next gift set was for our special instructor. This woman was described to me as magical, and they weren’t lying! She came into our lives at a time when we needed a little magic, so I made her a Mary Poppins set.
As mentioned in a few posts before, the autism center my boys use is amazing. Most of the work on this project was done there. I cut out everything at home, then colored, shaped, and assembled most of it at the center. The topiary is from the kit Thank You For the Music at SVG cuts.
This is kind of picture intensive, so please be patient with me. There were a lot of components.
I took pictures of some of the process. I’m always amazed I can start with flat pieces of paper and make something substantial and dimensional. So I included pics for other people who might feel the same way 🙂
First, the focal points – the flowers. There’s two types. The main flowers and the fillers. Each main flower has 5 parts. I cut them out of blue paper, then added white to the centers, dark blue to the edges, then blended with a shade of blue somewhere between the color of the paper and the dark blue. I believe there were 32 big flowers.
I wanted a fuller topiary, so I used more filler flowers than called for. I used the same process of coloring them as I did for the blue flowers, just different colors.
I also wanted to add clovers and leaves to the base. The clovers are from the Springtime Box Cards kit at SVG Cuts. The leaves are from the pumpkin in the Harvest Sunset Kit, also from SVG Cuts.
I started with white paper and colored the clovers and leaves the colors I needed them. I used a mix of ink and colored pencils.
And I just HAD to have a hummingbird. And wouldn’t you know it, SVG Cuts has one or those, too! This one is from their Hummingbird Box Card. Instead of cutting out different colors of paper, I cut all the pieces out in white, then colored the individual pieces before assembling. I made a mirror copy that I used to sandwich a wire between so I could make it hover by the topiary.
So those are the elements 🙂 Here’s some pics of the finished product. Thanks to my daughter who helped me get the pics 🙂
The clover.
The topiary and the hummingbird.
The whole topiary
And the card. I used a kit in my Craft Artist collection and designed this card. The flowers weren’t colored, which I LOVE because it allows me to color them 🙂 I used a combination of copics and colored pencils for the flowers on the card.
ajdurrant 