I am a last-minute gifter. You know that lady who is pulling her kid along at a run in the store looking for that toy, because she is on her way to the birthday party and is already running late…
Yep that’s me.
Don’t know why. It’s not like I don’t think about what I want to get, or that I’m unsure if we are going to the party. Trust me, I think about it, for days. And, I always think, there’s still more time.
Since I have gotten my Silhouette, those last-minute gifts have turned into ‘what can I make’ the night before the party, which leads to finishing it 10 minutes before we have to leave, still running late.
One such instance I had an idea to give the birthday girl a personalized bag and beach towel, and another swimming related item. But alas, the store didn’t have the type of beach towel I wanted, so I just got her a toy to o with the bag I was going to make her.
So here it is ten o’clock the night before and I sit down at my computer to make her bag. I had planned on using the printable heat transfer material that I love. I traced and colored in studio, got her name all curved and did a test print.
No red ink.
But I was in luck, I had just enough HTV to make her bag. But weeding Spiderman’s face was a killer!
It actually turned out better than what I had planned. I really like the way color of the bag shows through Spiderman’s black lines, so his mask is actually pink. Cause you know, it’s for a girl.
We had to attend a birthday party for a pair of sisters (not twins, just born in the same month) while I was sick. I wanted to make them something personal, but wasn’t sure what to do, or if we were going to make it to the party. Cause you know, I was dying, or at least felt like I was.
I decided to get them a gift card to an ice cream store and make them personalized ice cream dishes.
I cut the ice cream cone, sprinkles and names out of vinyl. You can’t see in the picture, but the cone has a cross-hatch cuts to make it look like a waffle cone.
I decided to make my own gift boxes, because I didn’t have a gift bag or boxes that they would fit in.
I made the gift boxes using cardstock and decorative paper accents, and coordinating tags. I also added some straw-spoons to the box. I finished these about 20 minutes before we had to leave for the party.
I really love the way they turned out.
Of course I used the sketch pen feature to label the tags, because my hand writing is atrocious.
Neither of these projects would have been possible without my Silhouette. I am still a last-minute-gifter but now at least my gifts are personalized.
The theme for this month’s Silhouette Challenge is “my favorite things” meaning my favorite Silhouette supplies.
The main reason I got my Silhouette Cameo was to cut paper and make party decorations. I love to make party decorations and have always gone a little over board, but now that I have my Silhouette, I go hog-wild.
This past March we had my oldest son’s fourth birthday party and I just knew this month’s challenge would be the perfect opportunity to share them with you. Or should I say, the perfect opportunity to force motivate me to finally get around to writing this {wink-wink}….And let me warn you, this post is full of pictures.
Ian decided he wanted a pirate party for his birthday, so I got to work, starting in January.
The invitations were treasure chests that opened to show a map, some treasure and the party info. The exterior of the invitation was a cut file I purchased through the Silhouette store. I used my Cuttlebug to give it the wood grain look. I used elements from Just So Scrappy’sYo-Ho Pirate digital scrapbook kit to make the map and as a background for the information section. I used graphics from this kit in almost everything I did for this party.
I designed the coin and jewel pile and used Silhouette’s print and cut option to cut them out.
I love making rosettes for parties, and this party was no exception.
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I created these party hats for the kids. This skull and cross-bones was from the a flag in the scrapbook kit. I used some of the negative skull and cross bone cut outs in other decorations, like the bunting flags (see below).
I don’t think I would have been able to make a dozen pirate party hats with out my Cameo.
I really loved these flag topiaries. I cut the flags out from the kit and used the digital papers to make the each base.
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Of course there has to be a picture of the Birthday Pirate!
The bunting flags were made with the digital papers and cut with my cameo. I used twine to string them all together.
You can see where I added the negative skull and cross-bones from the party hats.
I decided to use the sketch feature in the Studio software to make the skull and cross-bones for these straw rosettes.
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One of my favorite things from this party was the “Happy Birthday” banner.
I really like how the layered flags turned out.
I wanted to use this bone font but each piece of bone on one letter is a cut line, so I used the offset tool to cut all around the letter. I could have used a sketch pen, but I just printed them.
I used the custom design tool and the sketch feature to make the skull and cross-bones for the number part of the banner. Instead of writing the number, I cut it out, so you can see the background color. I used sisal rope to hang the banner across the window.
I also used the print and cut feature on the elements from the kit to make other banners.
I cut out some pirate items as silhouettes and put them in these Tolsby frames from Ikea.
These are my new favorite party items, and they are really inexpensive and simple to adapt to any party.
I used black vinyl to keep the silhouette look.
I also purchased this 3-D pirate ship, from the Silhouette store with the idea that I would enlarge it for the center piece. I had so much other work to do, that I just decided to use it as decorations.
These treasure boxes were too small to be used as the gift boxes, but they made great decorations.
I filled them with glass stones and chocolate gold coins, and had them through out the house.
As a guest gift each kid got to take home a hook and a Thank You bag.
The tags say “Thanks me hearties!” I also made the gift bags using the digital papers as the panels for the bags and black card stock for the bag base. I used a variety of the papers included in the kit. The skull was attached with foam dimensional tabs.
Each bag had a pirate bandanna, an eye patch, a pirate ear-ring, some tattoos, cold coins, chocolate coins, and a telescope.
The hooks wouldn’t fit in the bag, so the kids got to get them out of a basket.
The Table
For the table center piece I took these Easter buckets I got at the dollar store and transformed them in to a mast from a boat.
I actually envisioned it much bigger, but the wooden dowels I had, limited the size.
Using the idea from Sid’s beach party, I made a plate with brown sugar sand and pearls (Sixlets) coming out of one of the paper treasure chests.
The cake
I did not make the cake, this awesome creation was made by my aunt.
This table-cloth was the most expensive paper table-cloth I have ever purchased, but I absolutely loved it. The skull candy dispenser was the one thing my son said he had to have at his pirate party.
My son likes to wear his bandana as a pirate cape.
The drink labels were also made using the Cameo’s print and cut feature. Have I told you how much I love that feature?
We had some extra tattoos so I transformed a dish my mom had.
I used the sketch pens on the cameo. It was really easy and something I did at the last-minute, but wouldn’t have if I didn’t have my Silhouette.
I took the sign I made for Sid’s beach party and cut out letters to make it look like Pirates had taken over the beach. I was going to redo the sign, but my mom wanted to keep the original, so I had to make something temporary. She has kept the sign up on the front of her house since Sid’s party.
Of course the night before I decided to make Sid a shirt to wear for the party. Then I realized I had to make Ian one in a similar style, even though I had already made him a birthday shirt.
I just cut circles out of a cardboard box and painted the flattened box. I used my cameo to cut the letters out of cardstock and Mod Podge to glue them on.
Baby Sid loved playing the hook toss game.
It was super difficult to get a picture of the birthday boy, he was in constant motion that day.
Since it was March in the Pacific Northwest, we couldn’t let the kids play outside. The kids got walk the plank in the basement. I used a wood board my mom had, some step stools and the kid pool. I thought about filling it with those plastic balls you find in a ball pit, but didn’t have time to order them.
The kids didn’t need anything to jump into. They loved the plank just the way it was.
And what kind of pirate party would this be without a real pirate?
My cousin is part of a pirate group in Portland and he was kind enough to show up in full pirate grab. He was the hit of the party!
It was a busy day but Ian loved his party.
Thanks for visiting, remember to Shine On
Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?
My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!
Ian started T-Ball this year and I couldn’t be more excited!
This is my very first time being a sports mom. I have been there for my nieces’ sports, and so I kinda know what is going on since my sister has experienced it all.
Each week one player brings snacks for after the game. Since it was my turn I just had to make cute little gift bags with my Silhouette and Just So Scrappy’sBatter Up kit.
I also made Thank You cards for the people who contributed to Ian’s fundraiser.
I think they turned out pretty cute. And I made Ian write his name in each one.
I mean she LOVES tea. She drinks tea like I drink coffee.
I don’t get it, but then again, she doesn’t get why I drink coffee.
I had seen some Teacher Appreciation gifts that incorporate tea with a card stating “You are a Tea-rific Teacher”. I thought how cute would it be to make a tea bag shaped gift bag with the same sentiment for my mom.
When making the graphics for the bag, I had the hardest time with the fonts.
I wanted something curvy and fancy. But those fonts were just too thin and didn’t cut well with the paper. Plus I had to use a font that could be connected together.
I also didn’t want “you are” to be larger than “mom” but I needed the words to be connected, so I used a vintage tea-cup in between the words.
I added a string to tie the bag closed and made a tag in the same shape. That way the whole thing looks just like a tea bag.
The execution of the cut file took a few tries, but I finally found fonts that worked, and still looked elegant.
Of course I couldn’t get this kind of cut with the use of my Silhouette Cameo. I used two shades of card stock and a patterned scrapbook paper to give it a little more life.
I Tri and Craft 