Super Sparkly Personalized Water Jug

So, I just might have an addiction to this floral diamond wrap from The Dollar Tree. It's just so darn shiny! All kidding aside, here's another quick project for any of you out there looking to spoil someone with (plastic) jewels.  Of course, these were made for my little dance-teamers but they'd be really cute for lots of uses...like sorority big/little gifts, your favorite trainer at the gym, or a kid going off to camp!


What you'll need:

• Diamond Wrap (9ft/$1 at Dollar Tree)
• Large Water Jug (Bought mine from the grocery store.)
• E6000 Glue (Please use with the window open, it stinks!)
• Vinyl Lettering (Made mine on the Cricut, but you could purchase ready made letters too.)

Step One: Lay Out Design
The design kind of depends on where the ridges are positioned on your particular jug, but I suggest keeping it simple.  It will make the gluing step much more successful.  I was lucky enough to find the diamond wrap in my daughters' school colors, so that made it pretty easy to nail down how I wanted it to look. After you've decided on a design, pre-cut your strips of wrap to the desired length (you may want to use a bit of tape at this stage if it's shifting around a bit). Don't forget you can cut the strips lengthwise, as well, if you want narrower rows of gems.

Step Two: Glue Diamond Wrap
Using a glue recommended for use on plastics, carefully glue wrap to bottle in the desired design.  Be careful not to use too much glue, as it will push up through the wrap's webbing.  I used a small craft paint brush to apply the E6000 directly to the bottle.  And, starting a one end of the strips, I applied the glue in small sections.
Important:  LET DRY COMPLETELY!

Step Three:  Apply Vinyl Lettering
If you've made your own lettering, just use the standard method for vinyl transfer using transfer tape.  

Reminders...a project like this cannot go in the dishwasher.  Just use a gentle hand when rinsing in the sink, and do not soak it as the letters will probably come off unless you've used water proof vinyl!

Have fun, and be sure to post your designs in the comment section!

Blingtastic Personalized Mini-Notepad

   

Pull out your glue gun folks, 'cause here'a a really quick and easy project for your weekend!  Around here it's dance recital and dance team try-out time, so I made these cute little notepads as a congratulatory gift for my girls.  They always have little notes or reminders from their coaches, and I thought the notepads would come in handy for staying organized.  But, I think they'd be great little favor gifts for a little girls birthday party, too!  I'm thinking of making matching pens with some of the leftover diamond wrap, and I'll post them when I get a chance.

Here's all you need:

• Glue Gun
• Glittered Mini-Notepads (Dollar Tree, 2/$1)
• Floral Diamond Wrap (Dollar Tree, 9ft./$1)
• Scissors

Step One:  Simple...heat up your glue gun! While it's heating, layout your design. In order in use all of my daughter's high school colors, I cut the diamond wrap down to single strands. For the letters, I made simple block letters using the full width of the diamond wrap.  But here's where you can get creative, because I think it would be fun to use a single strand if you wanted to do a more curvy style of lettering (i.e. a monogram font.) And, yes, you can cut straight through one of the stones to get the shape correct for your letters as they are just plastic.

Step Two:  Glue down the diamond wrap!  Once you are happy with your design, work in small sections so the glue doesn't set before you press the diamond wrap into it.  Too much glue will push up through the webbing and not look so good, and you'll be fighting the little string-y bits like crazy. I like to use the tip of the glue gun to gently push the diamond wrap into the glue beneath, just don't apply any pressure to the trigger or you'll have a big mess!

That's it, you're done! Now go enjoy your weekend!

Personalized Blintastic Mini-Notepads!

You were born to SPARKLE...Take Two!

Free "Born to Sparkle" tag available in original 2015 post!

It's my day to revisit some projects from last year and post some updates... and here's another one!  These sparkling water can favors were packaged with bottle cap magnets last year, but to keep it fresh for this year's gift table I made laminated bag tags to attach.  So, for this project you do need access to a laminating machine.  I'm sure most schools have them, and would probably let you use it if it's for a school's own team.  Also, I purchased the bag tags at Office Depot (they include the hanger piece) for around $15 for 25.  There are larger quantities online for much less, so I'll keep that in mind in the future for this project.  

The step-by-step for making the bag tags is available in an earlier post of mine (just search bag tags), so for now I'll just share the generic dancer/dance team designs I came up with using Print Shop for Mac (see FREE .jpg file below).  In case you're wondering, the can and bag tag combo were sold for $3 each. I made sixteen for our gift table, and we sold out by the end of the competition day. 

The bag tag designs...free .jpg attached for your use!

I added some glitter ribbon to finish the tags...dance team style!

FREE .jpg file for your use! Finished size of cards to be cut to 3.5"x2"

Dance Team Travel Pillowcase DIY...Take Two!

Varsity Dancer Pillowcase

Here's an update to my previous post "Dance Team Travel Pillowcase DIY" from 2015...and, as you can see, I went for the sparkle! This project starts with some basic sewing skills to make the pillowcase (you can see the step-by-step from the 2015 post) and the lettering designs use a cutting machine again (in my case, Cricut Explore.)  That being said, I'm sure you could use sparkly iron-on letters purchased from the craft/fabric store and hand cut the shapes yourself...and probably even find pre-made travel pillowcases. But, that would most likely be more expensive than my DIY version.  Since I was making mine to sell, I had to keep the initial costs low enough to make a good profit for the team's general fund!  

I just love the bright and cute chevron fabric that was a "fat quarter" quilting bundle of 5 pieces I bought from my local Tuesday Morning store for only $5.  And, all of the iron-on designs were small enough to make from scraps (I never throw any of that stuff away because it's kinda spendy!)  This time around, I did decide to make pillow inserts since I made them to sell at our competition's gift table.  For those, I used inexpensive muslin and fiber fill purchased from the fabric store.  As a rule, I cut the insert form fabric at the same size as the finished pillowcase.  That way, with a 1/2" seam allowance on all sides of the insert it fits in the pillowcase perfectly.  Oh, and as always...pre-wash your fabric before applying any iron-ons!  The manufacturers apply finishes/starches that prevent the iron-on vinyls from sticking if it's left unwashed.  Not fun!

And, if you're wondering how they were received...these pillows sold out before lunchtime, so if you're running a gift table be sure to make plenty! I priced mine at $8 for the set, but I'm sure you could get $10 a piece.  They would also be a fun team bonding project pre-summer camp for the team to do together.  I think I would just have all the cases made, the inserts made but unstuffed, and the iron-ons ready to be applied.  That way the girls could stuff the pillows (which is kinda fun!), hand stitch the end closed, then iron on the design the way they wanted it. 

LIVE LOVE DANCE...Layered design of regular iron-on vinyl and a glitter dancer silhouette.

DREAM IT Dance it!  Layered glitter vinyl on a piece of satin (backed with no-sew Heat n' Bond)

and 5,6,7,8...single layer design with just iron-on glitter vinyl

Be sure to post a comment with pictures of the cases you make...I'd love to see what you come up with! 

Dance Team Captain Gift...Clipboard Cuties!

My oldest daughter's dance team coaches just named her and a teammate co-captains for the 2016-17 season! So, of course I had to make them something cute and useful as a gift for being awarded their new position! I happened to be perusing the aisles at Walmart, a rarity for me, and came across these cute storage clipboards that I thought would be perfect. At less than $7 each, it makes for a reasonably priced gift as well. With the addition of some vinyl cut on my Cricut, I'm sure you'll agree they'll look very put-together as the new captains! And remember, if you don't have a cutting machine you can just purchase vinyl letters at your local craft store for a similar look. 

When it came to placing the vinyl, I put their names on the lower portion of the front, which leaves room for a smaller note pad (bought at Dollar Tree).  As captains, I'm sure that size will work just great.  As you can see by the grid on the vinyl at right, the letters were about 1-1/2" x 8".  Inside the clipboard, I tucked some post-it style notepads and pens.

For the back of the clipboard I made a logo-style vinyl with their team name. In Cricut Design Space, I started by layering two circles (one smaller than the other) and removed the center area after attaching them.  The rest of the design includes the Liberty Bell silhouette, dancer silhouette and some lettering.  I like  that when they're holding the clipboard in front of them that portion will be visible.  

That's it! Quick and easy, and oh so fun for the girls to use!

You & Dance are the Perfect Pair! (Dance Recital or Dance Competition Favor)

Here's a really quick and inexpensive dance recital or dance team competition favor to make for your favorite dancer.  Any experienced dance mom knows that there's always some downtime between performances or rounds, so this boredom buster is the perfectly portable little gift to give! 

First, buy some cute playing cards (I found mine at the Dollar Tree.)  Then, if you have a Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine, you can create a foldable sleeve to wrap around the cards or you can cut and print the .pdf file I've included.  I used printed card stock with hearts to make it extra cute, and, as a bonus the little hanger at the top of the box is the perfect place to tie a sparkly ribbon. Just a single piece of double-stick tape secures the paper around the cards.  As promised...really quick! Have a great weekend folks!

Tip: I used a fine tip marker for the lettering.

Finished product, before folding on score lines.

Voila!

Printable File...(Not scaled to size, depends on your cards!)

Quick & Easy Star Favors or Motivators

 As promised, lots and lots of projects this week! Here's another new one to share that's super quick and simple... and, I've even included a free printable of the tags I made.  I purchased the star wands at Walmart on clearance, but I've seen the same wands at both Target and The Dollar Tree.  After printing the tags, I cut them apart on my paper cutter, cut a sparrow's tail (I think that's what it's called!) at one end, than used a glue gun to affix it to the wand (sort of wrapping the blank side of the paper to the back.) I'm planning on selling these at our competition gift table as a sort of gift topper to slide under a ribbon or tuck into a flower bouquet.  But, I think they'd be cute as a team favor or motivator, as well.  Of course, you could personalize the tags with your team name.  You'll just need to format the lettering to the right half of an 8 1/2" x 11" paper. 

That's it, you're a star! Get it ;) 

Here's your FREE printable!