How To Make a Tacky Sweater

Here are two tutorials, but I must admit are not my best.  If you've followed previous tutorials I give you step-by-step pictures but I made these late at night and was so focused on getting them done that I took very few photos of the process.  So for that, I apologize but I also think you can get the gist of things by what I've provided.  If not, feel free to send me an e-mail :)

Supplies:

Sweatshirt

Fabric Paint

Cardboard or Something to Place in Sweatshirt

Paint Brushes

Decorating Accessories

Fabric Tacky Glue

Optional: Washi Tape

What Kim Used:  I found our sweatshirts at Old Navy, where they had a sale on their crewnecks for only $10.  Super comfortable and great quality?  It's a win-win for everybody.  

Initially I wanted a very deep green for my sweatshirt because I was going to make a tree, however, I couldn't find the right color at Michael's.  I knew that I had black fabric paint at home, so I decided to make my own color at home.  However, once I got home I realized a more minty green would look fabulous on the sweatshirt.  So instead of mixing black, I actually added white and silver sparkles fabric paint.  I created a custom sparkly mint green for my tree and it turned out really cute.

Michael's sold cardboard shirt pieces for painting shirts and making sure the paint didn't bleed through so I spent a $1.50 on that.  Obviously cardboard from your garage works just as well but I honestly didn't want to cut up a box.  It's the holidays and they're already stressful so no thanks!

When it came to decorating accessories, I had a ton of various sequins at home and I bought Christmas light buttons and pom pom balls of different sizes while I was at Michael's.  I also had tacky glue at home so this was a fairly inexpensive project for me.

Step 1: I placed the cardboard piece in the sweatshirt and also laid out a pattern of a tree using the washi tape.  Now you don't necessarily need washi tape but in using it, I had really clean lines and it also inspired me to create that custom mint color instead of a dark green. 

Step 2: Paint!  After I painted my first layer, I realized that there was way too much space between the branches of the tree.  Therefore I whipped out the washi tape once again and added more!

 

Step 3: Decorate! Once your tree is significantly dry, take that tacky glue and start adding your accessories.  I used sequins as ornaments, buttons as lights (because, well they actually look like Christmas lights), and pom poms as various ornaments too.  

 

Step 4: Top her off with a star and a base.  I laid out various sizes of gold sequins and put those aside to make the base and star of the tree.  I then took the tacky glue and created those shapes on the sweatshirt and added the sequins.

 

Just wait for it to dry and there you have your own tacky Christmas sweater!!

Now this next one is trickier and of course, I only have pictures of the finished product (sorry!). You'll really only need that washi tape and white fabric paint for this.  I used the pointed tip of the fabric paint as my detail tool and I also printed off various pictures of a similar design to freehand this.

 

 

Step 1: Print off your design so that you can scale it according to the sweatshirt's size and section it off in washi tape.  I created a large rectangle as the outer layer and then separated it into rows so that I could add the text and content.

Step 2: Start designing!  The most complex aspect of this design is how detailed it is.  If you look at the screenprinted sweaters, the design is made to look like it's hand-embroidered.  So I used tons of connecting X's to make this and it took awhile but I love the finished product.  The washi tape helped to make sure that everything turned out symmetrical and looked great.

    Just wait for it to dry and you have a great tacky Christmas Sweater!     If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!

Creating a Winter Wonderland: "Finding the Perfect Tree" Jar Tutorial

Skate with me... by bittersweet89 featuring a beret beanie hat

Isn't that winter wonderland perfect? Create your own winter scene, perfect for your living room with this easy to assemble craft tutorial!

 

Place the plastic tree on top of your truck or car and secure with a glue gun.  Wrap baker's twine around the tree and vehicle, glue to secure.  Take the Christmas tree equipped vehicle and hot glue it to the base of your jar, making sure that the jar is on its side beforehand.  Add snow and top it off with the jar's cap.  Voila, there is a simple to make winter scene.

  Have you picked out your tree yet?  Ryan and I don't have a truck or SUV at the moment, so it's our 2nd year rocking our acrylic tree.  It's small but still very cute!  What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?   If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!

Guest Feature: Halloween Card Tutorial with the Silhouette Cameo and Karla =]

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 So excited for this guest feature!  Karla is a wonderful fellow mil-spouse and Sconnie and she makes fantastic cards.  If you're looking to see a great Silhouette Cameo example or learn what the heck that is...read on!

    I was so honored when the lovely Kimberly Erskine asked me to be a guest feature on her blog. I was especially shocked because I myself am not a blogger nor would I label myself even a good writer. However, Kim is a fan of my cards and I love making cards so I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Kim and I met about three or so years back. We both attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison at the time and ironically enough, we were both about to marry men in the Marine Corps. Ever since my husband joined the Marines, I’ve been a huge fan of writing him letters and more recently making him cards. As you may or may not know, as a military couple, you spend A LOT of time apart. Since my husband enlisted in September of 2010 we have spent somewhere between 14-15 months together. You get really good at writing to each other.  I quickly got bored of typical letters and decided to get into card making not only as a hobby to help pass time but also so that I had more fun things to send my husband. Today I am going to show you a card I am making for my husband. He is coming home VERY SOON from a deployment, and I can’t wait to actually give him this card in person!

   I personally use the Silhouette Cameo for all of my paper cutting (and much more) needs. I love the versatility that it gives you. I began my card today by picking some designs from the online store. (If you don’t have a silhouette, you could easily cut most of these shapes out with scissors or other sorts of die cuts and stamps!)

I found this super cute card from Lori Whitlock. However, the balloon design did not fit my theme so I also pulled some pumpkins from her gallery as well.  

After changing the shape to match my theme, I made a cute banner with a variety of fonts and started thinking of colors and sizes for my card. The default size of the card layout I chose was A2, which I am not fond of. I like big ole 5X6.5” cards. 

Once I had all the sizes and layout established I picked out my papers. I used paper from the Lawn Fawn – Into the Woods paper pad set. I am absolutely obsessed with everything Lawn Fawn. If you don’t know anything about their products, stop reading this and go look them up now. They have adorable stamps, sequins, paper pads, and more. I love all of their stuff. 

I just love how this brown paper has a wood grain look to it. I just think it’s the funnest little detail. Anyways, now with my papers established I started cutting everything out with my Silhouette Cameo.

        

This thing is amazing. Look how detailed it can cut! 

Once all my pieces were cut out, I was ready to assemble the card into the layout I designed in the Silhouette Studio program.

   

I personally am a big fan of glue runners to adhere my shapes together. It doesn’t require drying and it’s super easy to use.

Once all my pieces were assembled together on the card front, I realized that it needed some extra pizazz. I’m not one for making “simple” cards. I also am incapable of spending less than an hour on a card I feel like. It’s just in my nature.

Anyways, so I started adhering various Lawn Fawn sequins onto the card with jewel glue (it’s what I have on hand). Overall I am very happy with how the card came together.

I will apologize for my poor iPhone photos and lack of instruction and commentary. As previously stated I am not a regular blogger, but I couldn’t resist sharing this opportunity with you all today! I hope you all like my little card!

-Karla W. 

Isn't Karla the best?  Absolutely love this adorable card and I may or may not be begging Ryan for a Silhouette for my birthday!!

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!

Creating Your Own (Olli)Blocks with Caravan Shoppe

Despite not having children, Ryan and I love kids and we're especially looking forward to the first birthday of Halo, the little girl of one of our good friends.  The thing about being a blogger in this big ol' bliggety blog world is that you become introduced to so many awesome kid products.  I feel like I'll be fully prepped in terms of baby products, baby showers, and the best stuff out there whenever Ryan and I have our first kid.

One of these awesome shops that I've come across is Caravan Shoppe.  It's a site that offers a ton of printables for purchase and the best part is that they're super affordable!  I've stocked up on printables for Christmas and I also really love their Olliblocks.  They're these mix-n-match printables for blocks that allow kids to use their imagination.  I love them!

This is not a paid review, nor was I given these products for free.  I found their shop, really like the type of products they have for sale and I think it's something for your $$.

 I purchased the Winter Olliblocks combo pack and the Monsters & Superheroes pack.

 Upon purchase, I was sent an e-mail with the printable files.

 I then prepped with Matte Mod Podge, 1.5" wooden blocks which I got off Amazon, scissors, a small paint brush, and the printables.

The two biggest labors of this project is the cutting and then pasting- it's really that simple!

 Caravan Shoppe provides instructions with their printables and they're incredibly easy to follow.  Heads stay on the same block, toes on the other block, etc.

I had my pieces laid out and waiting as I added Mod Podge to each of the blocks in nice even coats.

 Then I added the pieces to each block and added another coat of Mod Podge.

 Here are some of the monsters from the Monsters & Superheroes Collection.

 The Winter Olliblocks are just as cute and I just love the reindeer and nutcracker!

 I highly recommend this product! The only thing I would have done differently would be to get them printed at a print shop instead of my home printer.  However, these printables were done on my home printer and they look great still so it's really up to the crafter on his or her preference.  I'll let y'all know how Halo, the birthday girl, likes her gift =]

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!