Shhh…Baby Sleeping Door Hanger
By:  Tanya Alley

I have several friends getting ready to have babies soon. Since I love making handmade gifts, I thought this cute door hanger would be perfect. Having two babies myself, I know how important it was to rest when your newborn is sleeping. Simply hang it on the door so no one will ring that dreaded doorbell.

Supplies Used:

• Commercial Vectors – Baby Sleeping Word Art
• Fun with Felt – Flower Mix
• Silhouette Cameo with Silhouette Studio Software 
• White Vinyl
• Transfer tape
• Weeding Tool
• Scraper (or old gift/credit card)
• Spray Paint
• Wooden Door Hanger
• White Ribbon
• White Yarn
• Button
• Hot Glue

Step 1: Spray paint the door hanger and let it completely dry.

Step 2: After cutting the vinyl out with the Silhouette Cameo, “weed” out the excess vinyl. Weeding is the process of removing extra vinyl bits around the graphic. You can use a special weeding tool to make the job easier without damaging or tearing your finished artwork.

Step 3: Apply transfer tape over your graphic.

Step 4: Using the scraper press down the tape and make sure that it is smoothed out and sticking to the vinyl.

Step 5: Once this vinyl is completely stuck to the transfer tape, apply it to your dried door hanger. 

Step 6: Use the scrapper again to apply it to the hanger. Remove transfer tape.

Step 5:  Embellish with button and bow.

OPTION B: Vinyl Masking with Paint

Another fun idea is to use the vinyl lettering as a mask and create your sign using paint.

Paint your sign with acrylic paint in the colour you want your letters to be. Let it dry completely and apply the vinyl letters.

Paint over the entire sign in the colour you want to sign to be. Once that has dried completely, use your weeding tool to remove the letters to reveal the yellow paint below.

Hope this post sparked some creative ideas in you.
Happy Crafting!

Tanya 

Today’s AWESOME Christmas deal is on Commercial Vectors for digital die cutting. Save 25% all day on all vector designs. Don’t forget to grab this ADORABLE Rockin’ Christmas Word Art FREE when you spend $20+.

Plus Tay has generously created this fantastic holiday gift for you. Pick up the Holiday Menu WordArt absolutely FREE until December 22 2012 (midnight EST).

Click HERE to view our massive collection of vector graphics (EPS, SVG, JPG format). I can’t believe that we have over 500 graphic packs in the store. Holy smokes!

If you’ve been admiring our collection of vector graphics and wondering what they are for and/or what you can do with them please take a peak and the information below:

Who are Commercial Use Vectors for? They are specifically designed for small-business professionals using digital die cutting machines like the Silhouette or a professional machine to create vinyl decals, t-shirt transfers, art prints, etc.. All graphics are optimized for rapid, smooth cutting with no intersections, overlaps or cross-cuts. Plus re-positionable and removable elements within the EPS files allow phrase lines and flourishes to be freely interchanged for creating truly unique products. Increase your inventory in an instant!

Can I use them in my Digital Scrapbooking? To answer the many email inquiries I have received,  YES the PNG graphics included can be used in your scrapbooking, card making and crafting. Note that the graphics do come in BLACK and not in the colours shown so you will require a graphic editing program to alter the colours if desired.

What are you allowed to do with our Commercial Use Vectors?
Our vector graphics (packages with the blue stripe only) include a license that allowing you to use the graphics to create a physical hand-made product for the purpose of re-sale for small scale distribution This means you can use them to cut and sell vinyl wall art, t-shirts, wooden signs, rubber stamps or any hand-made item. Just keep in mind that these graphics cannot be used digitally to create digital products and CANNOT be re-sold as files that have been digitized for any purpose including embroidery.

Happy Crafting!

Howdy vinyl sellers!

This is Tay and today we’re going to talk about how engaging in some quick and easy trend spotting, as well as creating smart preview images, can boost your vinyl sells. For this article we’re going to focus on nursery designs but these techniques work equally well for keeping your shop up-to-date when it comes to offering any type of decorative decal.

To begin, you’re going to need to do a little research. Consumers tend to buy pre-made nursery collections from a few popular places. Often times you’ll get their magazines in your mailbox or a sales leaflet with coupons. Take a second to flip through these materials so you can see what room décor themes they are promoting. If their “new” children’s bedding designs feature jungle animals, sports balls, owls or butterflies then you know what nursery designs to feature in your online shop.

A big name kid’s store just launched a dump truck nursery line. Grab our Construction Vehicles Nursery pack, create example images using colors that coordinate with the bedding you saw and watch easy sales pour in. Seeing nurseries with simple color palettes and chevron stripes? Browse our large collection of monogram frames to create a clean and classic custom accent.

The reason this boosts sales is because people don’t quite know what they want until they see it. You may have a cute owl decal for sale but if the boring black preview you’re showing doesn’t match baby girl’s bedding and someone else’s (less cute) pink owl does, that’s the one they’ll purchase because that seller helped them envision it in their child’s room. When you work with vinyl all the time its easy to forget that first-time buyers don’t understand that they can order their vinyl design in any color they want. They mistakenly assume that what they see is what they get. By taking the time to update your preview images to reflect current color schemes, you’ll attract much more attention because your vinyl designs will be a visual match to what they’re shopping for.

Also, while you’re updating your images, be sure to add a watermark to protect your work and NEVER post high-resolution images (300 ppi) online. This is because your competition can save the image right from your storefront and cut it on some machines instantly. Online example images should be low-resolution (72ppi). To adjust this in Photoshop go to Image > Image Size > and then type the number 72 into the Resolution box. If the image becomes smaller than you want, go to Image > Image Size and type in the correct height and width while leaving Resolution at 72 and click Ok.

With a small investment in time you can shake up slumping sales and attract new business from the 4 million U.S. babies – and shopping moms – expected to come next year!

In August, children will begin to head back to school which means every mom finds herself with more time to get things done. With the approaching holidays, she’ll need every moment she can get! In the upcoming series of articles, Vector Designer Tay Silver will demonstrate how you can turn seasonal events into easy ways to promote vinyl sales.

This is Tay, hoping you’ve all had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to an exciting fall! The coming months each have a holiday or special event which means with a little insight and thoughtful timing, you can capitalize on it to promote additional sales you might otherwise miss out on. I’m here to help you get organized by mapping out a game plan, including promotion schedules used by the most successful businesses to capture the greatest numbers of sales. This article will focus on back to school, which is a gold mine if you know what products to offer. Let’s begin!

Back To School: August

When to Begin Offering Products: Late June / Early July through End of September

The Catch: Getting a child back to school is expensive – with new clothing, new supplies, ordering school t-shirts, paying student fees and making classroom party donations. Families won’t be spending money on frivolous items but will be buying things that help keep their family organized. By placing relevant products front and center in your shops, you’ll help customers find what they need and make it easy for them to send their friends and neighbors to buy, too!

Products Needed:

• Name Labels: Everything for school must be labeled, from jackets and backpacks to water bottles and lunch boxes. Many elementary schools are requiring children to bring their own sports-top water bottles each day so students are not frequently in the hall unsupervised using the water fountain, which helps increase school safety. Every child must have a water bottle with their name clearly on it and vinyl has been the most desired option. Offering dishwasher safe vinyl decals specifically for plastic bottles and lunch containers, as well as super tough tag labels for clothes (if you have a printable vinyl business), is an excellent way to reel in tons of back-to-school business.

• Organizer Labels: Life is about to get very busy for these families, as fall sports and extra curricular activities follow close behind the start of school. Showcase anything that helps corral the clutter and moms will gladly snap it up because with the kids in school, they’ll finally have some time to get the house in order. Check out our Pantry Label Shapes, Basic Label Shapes and our family-friendly line of cute Bin Decals to give moms what they need!

• Teacher Gifts: Many moms start out the year with a gift for the teacher that introduces their student and thanks the teacher for all the work she’s put into getting ready. The designs that sold well for you last spring when the year was ending will receive new attention as the first day of school draws near. Stock up! You can find our Teacher designs here.

Helpful Hints: Most likely the moms on your site will be shopping for their children so make sure to also suggest your other kid-appealing designs. Vinyl for children’s rooms, playrooms and family spaces make great add-on sale ideas. Just be sure to have your back-to-school products up by the first week of July. That way you can catch the early shoppers who are typically the very organized ladies most likely to be asked by other moms where they purchased their items and be referred to you.

 Good Luck!

Do you decorate your home with apples and primary colors that smacks of Kindergarten classrooms?

Neither does your child’s teacher.

Vector Designer Tay Silver asked several teachers what gifts they appreciate most and gathered lots of ideas to make end-of-the-year gift giving more thoughtful and much easier, from start to finish!

Buying a gift for a teacher can kind of be like shopping for your mother-in-law; you know her pretty well yet somehow you have no idea what she would enjoy. I’m Tay and this year I’m going to help you get through the stressful bustle and rush of coming up with the perfect teacher’s gift so you can get back to juggling swim schedules, managing activity sign-ups and paying camp fees. Let me share the short list of preferred gifts that were mentioned by all the teachers I asked, along with some suggestions of how to turn these ideas into awesome gifts!

1. Gift Cards
Teachers are busy, just like you and me. Often they don’t have the time to make room for twenty new pieces of clutter and like us, they don’t really want to. Every teacher I asked mentioned that gift cards were the most useful. Keep in mind each school will have a limit on how much you can give – typically $50 or less – but even if your budget is $5, the gift card will be appreciated. Most teachers will privately confess that gift cards to big-name stores, like Target or Wal-Mart, are desirable but they are even more pleased with the Visa type gift cards that can be used anywhere like a debit card, including obscure online websites where they may wish to purchase a special item for the classroom. When giving a gift card, be sure to take the time to dress it up a bit. A couple dollars spent on attractive wrapping supplies will make any small gift the envy of the teacher’s lounge. Our Pillow Box Templates and other printable wrapping products will help get your gift cutely covered in no time! The example below features the ice cream card from the Summer Treats Cuttable Cards pack, a gift card to a brand new frozen yogurt shop and all of it packaged in a cellophane bag with crinkle fill and a topper made using the Bracket Mat shapes.

2. Home Décor Gifts
Your child’s teacher isn’t sure where she is going to put a third framed initial made of broken crayons or another dust-collecting item bearing the hideous school colors in her classroom. However, she has seen all the trends in home decorating and organizing online and wishes she could find the time to begin. This is an incredibly thoughtful place to start because teachers typically spend hours on grading & prep work after arriving home and they often have families of their own, meaning decorating projects just don’t get done. Help her out by sleuthing what paint and furniture colors she has in her home (other teachers can often help) and creating something custom for her. I was surprised when my son’s teacher recalled a large sign board I’d made using the Prominent Home Word Art for a fundraising auction and, when pressed by me for gift ideas, asked if I’d be willing to make another one for her because she had fallen in love with it. Aside from a sign board, here are some other insightful ideas every teacher we asked has nearly shouted her excited approval of:

• Pantry Labels: Adorable bracket labels for pantry staples really dress up the space and bring clarity to the inevitably cramped quarters found in most cupboards. Plus your teacher is guaranteed to have one that needs organizing! Our Pantry Label Shapes have been a hot seller because they were deliberately drawn long and skinny, perfect for fitting lengthy text. Most people opt for black vinyl labels because they are easy to read against clear glass and the floury white or pasta tan contents they may hold. But don’t stop there! They’re just as useful for labeling laundry products, art supplies, classroom bins and office items. A stack of labels with application instructions tucked inside a charming lidded glass jar labeled “Miscellaneous” will give her a great start on a Pinterest-worthy organization project! If you want labels that are universally useful, both at home and at school, check out our Basic Label Shapes that can be cut from chalkboard vinyl and applied anywhere.

• Snack Basket:Wire baskets are fast replacing wicker ones and your child’s teacher will love the update. The trick is adding a trendy detail, such as a hanging tag naming the contents, to make the basket a decoratively useful gift. One clever option is to create a snack basket where she can easily corral granola bars, fruit cups, individual bags of chips or crackers and other last-in-the-box strays for convenient summer storage. She’ll continue to appreciate the grab-and-go ease when school starts next fall.

• No Soliciting Door Decal: I’m bombarded by friends begging for these so I know they’ll be appreciated! In addition to the wildly popular Please Knock decal features a twist on the classic No Soliciting sign to include special instructions for delivery packages to be placed somewhere out of sight. This makes the window cling a thoughtful addition for teachers who are not home during the day to accept their parcels.

3. Custom Gift Buckets: You can’t go wrong with these! One of our favorites features a bright metal pail with our Sunshine Seals cut in vinyl for the front and filled with summer essentials. Items such as sunblock, a box of freeze and eat popsicles, packages of heat-friendly candy, sparklers or pops for July fourth and gift cards to a local ice cream shop or sno cone stand creates a brag-worthy bucket of summer fun that’s ready to go the moment school is out! Once emptied, the bucket makes cute, convenient storage for sunscreen, bug spray & swim goggles.

If you want something that will help her start school next year, use one of our School or Teacher Bin Decals and fill the pail with vibrant colored whiteboard markers, a pair of comfy titanium non-stick scissors, a new badge ID lanyard, a funny wrapped chocolate bar (see our Printable Candy Wrappers ), Crayola colored teacher’s chalk and any other must-haves she’ll appreciate for next September.

Check out our full line of Bin Decals for other inspired ways to turn an ordinary bucket into a great storage catch-all and gift container for Coaches, Administrators, Counselors and Camp Directors!

Hopefully these ideas give you a lot of inspiration for putting together a touching gift worthy of the wonderful teacher your child has been lucky to have for the last year. Feel free to share any other ideas you may have and post pictures of your creative concoctions in the gallery.

Happy End of the School Year!

Hey crafty gals, this is Tay Silver and I’m here to talk about glazing. Glazing is really popular right now in furniture and cabinet finishes but we’re going to show you a super simple way to take it a step further to glaze your craft projects using regular acrylic craft paints.

Here’s what you’ll need:
Wall Glaze (sold in the paint section of home improvement stores)
Acrylic craft paint
Paint brushes
Disposable bowl to mix glaze in

First, you’ll need to begin with your wood piece already cut, sanded and painted in a solid under-color. In our example we started with a plain white board that had already dried. For added detail, we sanded the edges slightly to reveal the wood underneath so it would pick up more glaze color around the edges.

1. Use a paint brush to scoop up a small amount of glaze into the bowl – about 1 tablespoon per 12 inches of wood board. A little glaze goes a very long way!

2. Add acrylic craft paint to the glaze in equal parts if the paint is a dark color. If glazing with white, add two parts paint to one part glaze. Add more paint to darken the glaze color if you wish. We used a dark gray acrylic craft paint then added one drop of black craft paint to create a charcoal glaze.

3. Using a sponge brush, paint the face and sides of your work piece with a quick, thick layer of the glaze and paint mixture. Don’t be precise, a fast and messy application yields the best results.

4. Let the glaze sit for about 1 minute while you go and wet down an old rag or paper towels. Ring out excess water, you only want the rag to be damp.

5. Wipe away the glaze in long, even strokes that run in the same direction if you wish for a ‘linen’ like finish, which we did for our example, or wipe away in a circular motion to leave more whimsical glaze swirls. Your board will dry the way it appears so if you want less glaze, simply wipe it away. If you want the glaze to be heavy and dark, spread the glaze with your damp cloth and leave it.

6. Wipe glaze from the sides last, where a thicker deposit will give your project interest and dimension. Let the board dry for several hours before applying vinyl.

If you don’t like how the glaze is looking, remove the glaze with a drenched rag, let the wood dry and try again. However, the point of glazing is to add rustic, weathered charm so the more you think you have “messed up”, the better your piece will look in the end. You really cannot mess it up. For my projects I have had the best glazing results when I painted the wood with satin wall paint (purchased in sample sizes) then glazed over it. The satin wall paint is water resistant, which means the paint is more durable and stays put when I’m wiping away glaze, allowing for you to texturize the glaze with brush dragging patterns if you so choose.

Once you have discovered how easy glazing is, you’ll be able to take your projects to a whole new level!

Happy crafting and be sure to post your creative works in our gallery!