A New Toy--A Silhouette

Despite the fact that I sew more quilts than our family could ever need, I've never considered myself particularly crafty. I mean the crafty/cutesy/DIY/adorableness that you see on so many blogs. I ventured into this new realm just a bit last week. I purchased a Silhouette. This was a big, huge splurge for me. I admit I've wanted one for a long time. I love all the projects people do with them. Since my sewing machine was in the shop for two whole weeks, I devoted much of my free time to this new toy and began my quest to label everything in the house.

This is how I store all my scraps, current projects, etc. For a while I just stuffed my scraps in Ziploc bags, but I love being able to pull the whole box out and sort through it for the perfect scrap. I love having labels for everything too. I made the labels ginormous, which I'm not in love with, but it will do for now until I find the time to remake them. It didn't seem horrible until I stood back and realized I could read them from 100 ft away. It was fun experimenting with the vinyl. I ordered lots of different colors from Expressions Vinyl. They have much cheaper prices than Silhouette, and I haven't had any problems with the quality.

Little Dude and Miss A got a new set of bins for their room as well (all these bins are from the children's dept at Ikea). We give high-5s every time they put their dirty clothes in the bin rather than on the floor. Little Dude actually likes putting his legos away now. The "Cars" box was my very first experiment, excuse the crookedness.

Miss C was thrilled to fill her new bins as well. So far our new system has worked out really nicely.

Finally, I tried my very first freezer-paper stenciled shirt. Again, I went too big on the cutting. It's hard to judge what size I want. I'm just having fun experimenting right now. Despite the fact that the heart is ginormous, Miss A loves her new shirt (because it's pink glitter).

Finally, in other happy news, I was thrilled to check Craftsy Monday night to find that my patterns were listed #1 and #2, plus I was the featured designer. Of course I had to take a screen shot to record it! Thanks to all of you have purchased my patterns! Please remember to join up in the flickr group and share what you are creating with them. I really can't wait to see how you all put your own twist on my designs. Thanks!!