Screen Print Ties

Don't worry, you still have time to make that something special just for Dad! Dress up some times for Father's day with Freezer Paper Stenciling. Check out our past tutorial on Freezer Paper Stenciling, grab a tie, some freezer paper, fabric paint, iron, and your favorite digital cutting machine or exacto knife and a cutting mat.  But don't forget your favorite LD graphics or SVG's, perfect for Dad. For these ones we used our brand new Father's Fancy Footwork SVG, Treedle Dee SVG, and our Aye Matey SVG. Have fun and make Dad a gift he's sure to love!

Thursday's Tip: Bored Jar

School's almost out, and are you already worried about what your kid's are going to do this summer? Do you fear being nagged to death by the three little words, "I'm bored, Mom!" Making a go-to jar filled with activities to keep your kids busy it a great way to get yourself and your kids through the summer. Now the great thing about this, is the activities can be anything from doing chores, or something fun like building a fort using blankets and the couch. As soon as you hear those magic words, send your kids to the jar to pull out their next activity!

Directions:

Simply use any extra jar lying around the house. Decorate it and make it fun and enticing for the kids. We used the No Place Like Home SVG's, because what kid doesn't like snails? ;) Then we tied some fun cordinating ribbon under the lid. Print your activities onto a piece of paper and cut apart into strips. Fold and place them into your jar. We even have some activity ideas to get your started:

Activity Ideas:

Pull Weeds

Dust furniture

Dust base boards

Make Cookies with Mom

Play Hide and Seek

Play a board Game

Ride your bike or scooter

Help Mom with Dinner

Play dress up

Build a Fort

Play a video game

Do 1 chore of Mom's choice

Go for a walk

Dance

Go to the park 

Clean your room

Vacuum

Read some books

Make a lemonade stand

Do an art project or craft with Mom

Run through the sprinklers

Make a sock puppet

Go swimming

Invite a friend over

Have a picnic

Play with Bubbles

Play with sidewalk chalk

Water the garden

Clean the bathroom

Take out the Garbage

Help with the dishes

Watch a movie with treats or popcorn

Do a puzzle

Make an obstacle corse

Create a junk model

Have fun, and happy creating!

Paper Rosette Corsage

 To show your mothers your appreciation this coming Sunday, a paper corsage made from our Threaded Rosettes SVG, may be the perfect solution. Not only do they last a lot longer than regular corsages, but you can use your own creativity, with various scrapbook paper, colors and embellishments to make them unique for that special someone in your life.

Just begin by cutting the rosette out with your favorite digital cutter. I used Threaded Rosette10 and inside 20. After you get done folding them simply thread with thin jewelry wire. Small jewelry pliers work great for twisting the wires together to get as tight as hold as possible. When both pieces are made, insert the wire of the top piece through the center of the bottom piece.

Using the single leaf from How Tweet it Is SVG, you you can do one of two things, merge two leave together before cutting or cut two leaves and and then glue together as shown. I cut out a hole to pull the wire from the rosettes through. Then used a glue gun to secure the leaves to the rosette. Wrap the stems around the wire and glue.

To finish the corsage off, take a coordinating ribbon and wrap around the wire. Feel free to add additional ribbon or embellishments. Have fun, personalize and get creative! Right now get our Rosette  and How Tweet it Is SVG's at half off! Hurry offer ends next Thursday!

Alternative Easter Eggs

Looking to stray from the traditional solid color variety Easter egg this year? Here are some and great easy alternative eggs you can make using your Lettering Delight's SVG's or graphics. Begin by dying your eggs. You can use the store bought dyes or you can try this easy recipe at home.


Easter Egg Dye:
Boil 3 cups of water. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. Now add a few drops of liquid food color. Drop in eggs and let them sit until they achieve the shade you desire.Be sure to let the eggs dry completely before you add any addition details.


Birdhouse Egg: Using the solid roof from the Spring is Bliss birdhouse basket and the butterfly from Sweet Nothings Tag Cards, I began by sizing down the roof to 3" by 1.75" and the butterfly to 1.5" by .75".  I cut them out along with a simple circle that I created in Make-the-Cut. I punched a hole through the top middle of the roof and threaded my string securing a knot oh the underside. I adhered my butterfly to the roof and finished with a ribbon embellishment. Using a hot glue gun, I glued the roof and circle to the egg.

Pretty Flowers:
These cute and easy flowers came from the Simple Flowers Shape SVG. I merely cut them out, attached together with a small brad and then adhered to the egg with a glue gun.


Eggs in Disguise:
Ok, so we can't get enough of our Photo booth SVG's. Using Funny Faces and Mustache Mania we gave our eggs some pretty  nifty disguises. I bet you can't tell whose who;)!


So have fun, and get creative! 

Friday Freebie: Easter Beastie Bag

It's Friday, and you know what that means...Freebie time! We've turned our Easter Beastie into a treat bag just for you! So hurry and gobble up this freebie before its too late. Offer ends Sunday.

Screen Print Shirts using Your Digital Cutting Machines

We just had to try an idea we got from a really talented customer, Shelly of Marina, CA. You can see her post to the idea gallery here. Since we didn't have any flocking on hand, we decided to try freezer paper stenciling.

Materials:

• Freezer paper
• Fabric paint
• Foam Brushes
• Iron
• T-shirt or onsie
• Digital Cutting Machine or Exacto Knife and Cutting Mat

Using the tie from the Funny Face SVG and a mustache from Mustach Mania SVG, we began by laying a sheet of freezer paper (dull side down) onto our cutting mat. From there we cut out our images. Try to make sure you cut your image in the middle of the freezer paper, to ensure you have lots of protection when you are stenciling. If you don't have a cutting machine, you can use an exacto knife and a cutting mat to cut out your stencil. The only difference for this one is place the freezer paper waxy side down so that it sticks to your non-sticky mat.

We used these settings:

• Pressure: medium
• Speed: medium
• Depth: 5

Carefully remove your image from the cutting mat. Make sure you put another piece of freezer paper or a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to protect from any paint that might seep through. Position the image onto your shirt shiny side down and iron it on. Do not use steam when ironing.

Now use your foam brush to gently apply the paint onto the shirt. Make sure you wait for it to dry before you remove the stencil, you may want a 2nd coat of paint. 

Thank you to Shelly for the amazing idea! And don't forget, all of our SVG sets are only $2 right now, so hurry and get yours now, and start painting!

DPI and Exporting File Sizes

Adobe Illustrator exports files out at 72 DPI.  Inkscape exports files out at 90 DPI.  Since most craft users only have access to Inkcape (a free, open-source program), most cutting based software is set to 90 DPI as a standard.  Translation: Our files at 72 DPI import in at 80% the size they are supposed to.  Solution: Change the import settings.  MTC and SCAL both accommodate users in this aspect.  Our cards are actually set at 5.5 x 2.12 give or take...so they hold true to the size they are supposed to.