Personalized

I try to make at least one homemade gift for friends and family each year and this year that gift is personalized bookmarks. I got an early bday present this year and I am putting it to good use. My Silhouette is quite the beauty. She knows how to do just about everything with paper, vinyl and fabric. I am sure there is more she can do but I can only try do so much!

So the Silhouette comes with a bunch of free shapes to start with and one was a bookmark. So I cut out bookmarks from many different patterned papers, used adhesive to stick them back to back and cut out names from white card stock. I then had them laminated at a local postal center added some ribbon at the top and for a few dollars I made quite a few bookmarks.

One of the things I have been wanting to make for a while, is a sign to go above my bed. I have a very tall head board and it has been hard to find something to put above it. I thought making something custom size was the perfect idea.  I knew I wanted it to say Goodnight, Love you, See you in the morning as that is what my kids, my husband and I say each night when we kiss them goodnight. So I started by having my brother cut a large plank of pine to a 4 foot length as I knew that would be appropriate for above my bed. I then put on a coat of pink paint which I custom mixed by using some acrylic folk art paint and some pure white Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 

I then cut some contact paper on my silhouette, used transfer paper to transfer the letters to my board and then put on a top coat of Annie Sloan Pure White mixed with Florence.

When that was dry, I used an exacto knife to remove the contact paper letters and then did a coat of clear wax. It still looked to bright to me so I then added a coat of dark wax, and buffed till shiny. It turned out great but still looked brand new. I then sanded around the edges and roughed it up a bit.

My husband hung it on my bedroom wall tonight, and here is the final project in place! I am so happy with how it turned out and I look forward to making more with my Silhouette.