Houser Home

I don't know about you, but laundry and dishes pile up at our house quickly. We have the 2 girls 100 percent of the time and share 50/50 time with the 3 boys, so our home pretty much stays a disaster area. With that being said,  I've been thinking about how I can provide a responsibility/chore list that is also a cute display - I think I have found it.

You can use chalkboard paint on anything you would like to get this look. I didn't use it here, but this is chalkboard so it makes it super easy to change who does what on a weekly basis, then I just added it to a cookbook holder that I had. I put the picture above that just says "Houser Home" so that you can see how it would look if you just wanted blank space to put whatever you want for the day or week (quotes, dinner, etc.) As always, I used my silhouette cameo to cut out the shapes and letters. 

Pumpkin Cupcake Box

I tweaked one of the cupcake boxes a little bit to make a gift for the teachers at school. I liked how it turned out, but in the end...probably should have just gone with straight orange for color since it is borderline looking devilish. Anyways, here it is!

The idea is to add either candy, cookies, or a pumpkin bread muffin inside. These are great inexpensive ways to show your children's teachers that you are thankful for taking care of them. Here's the how-to:

All the pieces were cut using the silhouette cameo. 

I then used glue dots to glue down the pieces together. I used a sandwich bag that I cut for the front opening, but you could use anything you want (even the plastic wrap from sliced cheese I suppose). 

Fold it all up and insert the cupcake holder - or leave it out depending on what you are putting in there. 

Here's the back of the box. If you like the idea of having the inside be a surprise, then leave the face off and just use it as a cute little box! 

"Witch" One?

When I was growing up I don't really recall having a say in what I was for Halloween....or maybe I didn't care due to my infatuation with candy - it didn't really matter as long as I got my bag filled. My oldest daughter, she's almost 3, gave me a run for my money. She was all about Doc McStuffins and couldn't wait to get her costume...and then it got here...she wanted to be Princess Sofia. Yep. Nothing else would do except Princess Sofia - so since I am mother of the year to quiet the madness...we went with Princess Sofia. If you read my post last night, then you were able to see my youngest, 15 month old, wearing her witch outfit.

 Today Miranda had to be a witch too. Hello number 3 costume. She put it on and loved it for about 4 minutes and then wanted to be Sofia again. Goodness gracious. Long story short...she will be a witch for Halloween. Tonight they went to a 'trunk or treat' and sported their cute little outfits.

 

When I bought Maggie's witch hat...I did not realize that I was going to need another...and of course they did not have anymore left. So, the only thing left to do was to break out the silhouette machine and get to work. Although, you don't have to use a silhouette machine - it just makes life easier. First thing first, I found a 3-D witch hat pattern (which is really used for candy holding) on the online store and printed it out on card stock. I don't have the fabric cutter so that wasn't an option for me - but I will get it one day. 

Top pieces are the card stock and bottom are the fabric pieces. I just traced the pattern onto my fabric and used my scissors. 

Next I pinned it right sides together and sewed it up. After that I turned it right side out and took some odd looking tool that obviously belongs to  my husband, although I have never seen him use it - or many tools at all for that matter, and poked it up the top to get the pointed look. Then I proceeded to fill it with stuffing.

Pin the round circle piece to the bottom of the hat, right sides together and then hand sew. When finished sewing, tack down a piece of felt or any thicker material to cover up the hole in the middle. Add a headband or whatever other tool you need to hold this to your child's head. 

And BOOM...there it is. I somehow misplaced the green strip of fabric that I was going to use around the hat, but I have every intention of gluing some orange ribbon around it. So there is an example, although it is not complete yet. 

Here is my Lovey. I used alligator clips to hold the hat to her head - I just slid them underneath the thick felt piece. 

Free of Charge

I told you yesterday that I was going to do a tutorial on how to curve your letters in Silhouette Studio...so here it is. I'm using it on the wonderful Starbucks Logo since that is the one I mentioned yesterday. This is my first video ever...aren't you excited? I had to use my phone because I don't have any software that lets me take a video straight off the computer.

If you have any questions just let me know...I promise I won't charge you.



I just watched my video on here and it is quite possibly the worst video ever. Sorry about that, but hopefully you get the point.

Cupcake To Go

This is a real fun project! If you have any parties coming up and you want to go all out...these are the things to do. First, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the design that I found on their online store.

After they cut out you just pull them off and this is what they look like. 

Take the pieces and fold to shape the box. 

Take a glue stick or glue of your choice. I used those little glue dots and glue together where the pieces fit. Then I took a sandwich bag and cut it and inserted it where the window box is. I'm sure there is something else you could use, but this is what I had...so I utilized it. 

Here it is! That's a muffin...not a cupcake - but you get the idea. When I noticed that the picture was blurry...I had already eaten the muffin :-/

Happy Cupcake Boxing! 

Happy Halloween

Success! I have finally finished the project I have been saying I would finish. 

I painted the 12x12 wood piece in a chalkboard black by Valspar. It turned out really nice. The blue thing is a Pepsi drink thing turned over - wonderful for my projects! 

Transferring the lettering to the transfer tape. I love transfer tape because you don't have to press very hard to lift the letters. Also, you can reuse it - or at least I have depending on if the stickiness remains. I added an extra E later. =)

Here is the finished product! The color here does not do it justice. The letters are bright orange and it looks really good! Yay me!! This did not take long at all once I actually started. 

Happy Happy! 

An apple a day keeps the...witch doctor away?

This project was not easy...I repeat NOT EASY. I do not recommend this. I used burlap canvas that I painted for this project and it was super difficult to get the vinyl on there.

First I took a roller brush and painted the sign (from Hobby Lobby) pumpkin patch orange by Glidden. It was a great color and turned out wonderful. Those are shoes on the floor in the background...they play no role in my project. 

These were the 2 designs I came up with on silhouette studio. The Doctor's office picked which one they wanted. The word "Witch" and the flying witch were both purchased off of Silhouette online store (with my nifty little $10 gift card they gave me). The fonts are from Dafont. If you don't know how to get fonts off of other places, let me know and I will do a brief tutorial.

I get my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl. It is great quality and you can get big gigantic rolls that are 10 yds. Okay...so once again I goofed during the transfer step and I accidentally ripped off the D in Doctor. So, I had to improvise. I cut the transfer paper and made a black space where the D would be and went ahead and applied the vinyl and LATER cut out the D and just put it on there. I also thought that the sign needed a little more something and added this great spider web to the top.

I then set it up all nice and cute looking so I could use it to share with all of you. 

Happy Bewitching! 

Borrowing is not stealing...well I'm not taking it back

I'm supposed to have a really awesome finished project to show y'all right about now...yeah I don't have it ready. BUT, I will....just not now...well lets be reasonable, it's not happening tonight. I have 2 Halloween projects that I'm in the middle of plus I'm still waiting on my hubs to go down the street and borrow some wood scraps from the new house being built.

This isn't a very good picture. It's a little further away than I thought it was, but that pile there that you see is wood...and I want it. Before you call the police, we aren't stealing it. They will throw this away, but if it will make you feel better I will call the construction manager in the morning to let him know that it will be gone and down at my home should they wish to retrieve it. 

Just to keep y'all interested though...here's another pic of the fabulous project that I will do the tutorial on -TOMORROW. I will also be working on a Witch Doctor sign that should be equally fabulous. 

Also...take a look at this amazing cup cake holder by Rivka Wilkins.

Those are absolutely adorable and I will be doing a tutorial -SOON ...not right now so don't get all huffy when there isn't an automatic post following this about cupcake boxes. And don't you dare look tomorrow either and wonder where it is because it won't be here...definitely not the cupcake because I will have eaten that. Anyways, for you lovely Silhouette owners you can find this design on the Silhouette online store. 

Happy Waiting...again