HELP! My life has been taken over by SHIRTS!

Hey friends!  I hope y'all have had a wonderful weekend (and Monday, too!)

Lately, my life has been just a random jumble of craziness!  Not only was last week the first week of school, I've also been slammed with t-shirt orders.  I'm not sure of the exact number, but I've made at least 90 shirts over the past week-and-a-half!  Talk about t-shirt overload!  Thankfully, my fabulous husband has been learning to master the heat press, so my back and shoulders have been spared.  I definitely would not be able to do it without him.  Maybe one day I'll be able to afford one of those "fancy" automatic presses that press and release on it's own, but I will have to sell a WHOLE LOT of t-shirts to be able to afford something like that. HAHA!

Here are some of my most recent designs:

These are the elementary school staff shirts. I've made 60 of these!

For was a gift for one of Jameson's friends!

My saving grace this week was actually getting to do what I love the most, making a frame!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week, and if I go missing, just look under the nearest pile of t-shirts!

So, I found this giant frame...

Since things have been really low key this week (thank goodness), I've had a lot of "Internet" time.  I was bored and spent part of the day looking around Craigslist and some online yard sales on Facebook.  Most of the time, I only find junk, or if there is something great, it's already been snatched up before I even see it.  Friday I hit the Jackpot!

I scored this GIANT frame for $20!  I know the artwork (which was easily knocked out by the cat) isn't the greatest, but the frame is fabulous!

I'm trying to decide what to do with it and where to put it.  As of right now, the plan is to either make a huge chalkboard out of it, or have glass cut to fit it and vinyl it up.  Because of it's size, it will probably have to be hung in the dining room or the master bedroom.

Decisions, decisions.....

I said I wasn't going to be creative.

After the crazy, busy rush of "the business" over the past couple of months, I decided to take a couple of days off for a mental break.  Also, I've been having some issues with my hand/wrist and I thought resting would help.

Well, that lasted all of about 3 hours and I just couldn't resist the creative urge.  I just had to make something.  So, with the Southern Bloggers Conference coming up next weekend (still tickets available!), I thought I would make something to enter in the Home Decor contest.  There will be many uber-creative women women there who can cook, decorate, tablescape, and paint with the best of them and I just know I can't compete with any of their talents.  But, I know vinyl and I thought that I would try my hand at creating a little something using that.  

 

After working on the trace for a while, I finally bit the bullet and started cutting.  My first attempt was a disaster!  I WISH I had taken a photo of the HUGE mess I made.  I ended up messing up my blade, my mat, and my vinyl.  I am lucky that I didn't screw up my machine!  I guess that will teach me to step away from the machine while it is still cutting.  I still have a tiny piece of vinyl stuck to my machine and have no way to get it out.  Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be messing with anything important.  

After changing my settings around, I took a deep breath and started cutting again.

Success!

I spent yesterday looking for frames, but ended up just using what I already had at home.  (you know, from my frame hoard).  I thought it would be difficult getting the vinyl to transfer, but it went on like a dream!  And here are the finished products:

This background is burlap.  I think it looks much better in person, however I am thinking about changing the background to something darker.

 

This background is black embossed cardstock.  I think it helps the vinyl "POP".

 

Close-up of the detail.

 

I am really pleased how well these turned out!  So much for not being creative, huh?

This week's creations!

I know I have been scarce around blogville lately and I am REALLY sorry!  I've just been so busy with everything, I just haven't had any time to visit my favorite blogs like I want too.  I hope you all know I still love you to death and I hope to get to catching up with all of you SOON!

Here are some things I've been working on for the past several days:

Back of Soccer Mom shirt

Several weeks ago, I made 15 similar shirts to the one above.  This week I was asked to make a very similar shirt for another young man who is graduating Air Force basic training in a few days.

 

All the above monograms/frames are Christmas presents ordered by a co-worker.  (I'm pretty sure none of her family read here.  LOL)

 

Again, this frame is still my favorite!  I love it more every time I make one!

I'm working on a few other things too, but have just ran out of time to finish them.

I hope you all are having a fantastic week!  I hope to "talk" to you soon!

Mama's Mumblings

Hey y'all!

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful week, so far.

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I've finally caught up on most of my orders.  I finished applying the vinyl to the last two glass frames and just mailed out my last 3 packages. 

**whew**

Here are a few of the things I've finished this week:

These are candy wrapper covers I made for this beautiful young lady's graduation.  Her mother found me on Pinterest and sent me an e-mail asking if I could make these for her.  I think they turned out really cute!

 

This is a frame I made as a goodbye gift for a special co-worker who is leaving on Friday.  The plan was to give it to her Tuesday, but I was unexpectedly off work that day. (More on that later).  That just gives me an excuse to see her and give it to her in person.

This is another split letter monogram. Megan saw this on the blog and e-mailed me about making one for her family.  I LOVE doing these!  This is going all the way to Illinois.  I really hope Megan loves this!

This is for my great friend, Beth.  She was one of my very first orders, but I've been trying to find the frame she wanted for the past three weeks!  I finally found one and finished it up today.

I'm still working on a few things for friends.  Things that aren't just cut-and-dry.  I have to practice and think on these things, so it takes me a while longer to get those done.  LOL

Jameson has a request in for me to make him some signs for his room that deal with Minecraft and he's also requested a t-shirt.  It's sad that my own family has to stand in line to get some things made.  HAHA!

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As I mentioned above, Tuesday did not go as planned.  Marty woke up at 4:30 am with chest pain.  He's had issues with pulled muscles, reflux, gallbladder, etc..., but said this pain was different than anything he's ever experienced before.  Needless to say, we were all a little freaked out.  After a trip to the emergency room and the doctor's office, it was determined that his heart was in good shape and he wasn't having a heart attack.  However, they still aren't sure what the problem is.  He's going to have some additional tests next week, so we hope to have some answers then.

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I've experienced two things that I've never done before this week.

I cashed/deposited a money order and sent an invoice through PayPal.  I know, I know...dullsville.  But I thought both were pretty neat!  LOL

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Sweets the cat, has a problem.  She's addicted to her cat treats.  If we would let her, she would eat nothing but cat treats and never touch her food.  She's started this cute thing where she jumps on the counter, puts her paws on our chest (hugging us) and then "gives us kisses".  She thinks by doing this, she will get a treat.  Well, when she first started doing it, it was so stinkin' cute, she did get a treat.  But now, every time we walk into the kitchen, she tries to do it so she will get treats.  The final straw came when she had so many cat treats (not that many, really), she actually threw up.  So now she's being restricted on how many she gets per day.

 
She doesn't like that at all.  You may see her on an episode of "Intervention" pretty soon.

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My car hit a milestone the other day:

Look at ALLLLLLLL those 7's!!  Too bad I'm not in Vegas!

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I hope you all have a wonderful and fantastic rest of the week!!

More frame ideas.

Hey y'all!

I hope everybody is doing well!

I promise this blog isn't going to become all about crafting, but that's all my life is about lately...so I just blog what I know! LOL

The mad rush of the last two weeks has finally calmed down a bit and now I've been working on some projects for friends and family.  I'm also waiting on some previews to be accepted before I start several larger orders.  As much as I've enjoyed the calm, I miss the craziness of the past two weeks.  Hopefully, things will pick back up again soon!

Anyway, here are some things that I have been working on this weekend.

This is a shadow box I made for a friends GREAT granddaughter:

This is an actual shadow box, so I thought I would add a little handmade paper flower to give it a little extra "something".  These photos really don't do this justice.  The vinyl makes this really cool shadow on the pink paper.  I hope the new parents love it!

Then, I've been working on a few sample pieces:

I love these small little 4 x 4 frames that can be hung!  I found them in this distressed white and also in distressed black!  I LOVE these!

I love this simple 5 x 5 frame.  The possibilities of this are endless.

This frame is perfect for a family monogram!

This frame is my absolute favorite!  It's even more beautiful in person!  I found this in this color, and also in black with a silver insert.

Can you tell I've been doing a lot of frame shopping lately?  I have frames coming out of my ears!

I hope all of you have a wonderful and fantastic week!

I think my canvas is possessed!

A couple of years ago, we had fabulous family portraits made by our friend, Roxanne.

This was one of our absolute favorites because it looks exactly like us and how act in real life.  

I decided to have this photo put on one of those "free canvases" and LOVED how it turned out.  You can read about that here.

A couple of hours after we initially hung it up for the first time....using Command Strips....it came crashing to the ground, scratching up the frame.

You can read about that little adventure here.

Well, we fixed the frame and strung a wire across the back, and hung it back up using a Hercules Hook. 

No way that baby is going anywhere now, right?

Well, for the past year or so, no problems at all.  Then, at 4 AM the other day, we heard a huge CRASH and then multiple smaller crashes!  It scared the mess out me! This was right after Marty hurt his back, so it took him a minute to actually be able to get out of the bed, but I dove out of the bed and ran screaming for Jameson (Chelsea was at my mom's).  He was sound asleep, despite my screaming, and everything in his room was undisturbed (even though it is so messy, how could one really tell it was undisturbed.  haha).  So I slowly started back-tracking though the house trying to figure out where the noises came from, secretly wishing I had a sword or something in case it was an intruder.  HAHA!

I finally made it to the dining room, and lo-and-behold, the canvas was on the floor, AGAIN!  Along with my "Important Dates" frame, the containers, and the flowers in their container.

What the heck???

(I don't have a picture of this because, you know, it was 4 AM)

We picked everything up and tried to figure out what in the world happened.  Hercules Hooks are supposed to hold a ton of weight, so we knew that couldn't be the problem.  When we flipped it over, this is what we saw:

(Photo taken today)

The hook on the back of the frame came completely out of the frame!  

Seriously??

I can see if the canvas and frame weighed a ton, but literally, the only weigh about three or four pounds (if that much).

Not only is the the back of the frame messed up now, it also cracked the other frame that was sitting under it and bent the art that was in the frame.

It looks like the wall will be looking like this for a while.

So what is it with this canvas?

I think I've decided that it's possessed!