Big/Little Reveal

It's that time again....it's Big/Little season! This semester I was lucky enough to take a little and I adore her! She was my first choice throughout this whole experience and she definitely exemplifies everything our sorority stands for! 

Anyways, moving on to the more important aspects of big/little reveal....the crafts! So much went into this event and I'm going to post multiple blog posts for easy reading. 

Here's a bunch of pictures for a peek of what's to come though!

Graduation!

My little brother is graduating today! I don't know why this makes me feel so old but it really does... After graduation we plan to have dinner as a family at a local restaurant and solicited a family member to make desserts. My cousin is a sort of "cupcake connoisseur". She is the reserved baker in our family! She even has her own out of home cupcake business by the name of A Delightful Bite. 

However, while browsing on Pinterest my mom found a cute way to serve the cupcakes:

http://birdonacake.blogspot.com/2012/05/perfectly-packaged-rose-cupcakes.html?m=1

These are packaged so nicely! Now of course, me being recently addicted to my Silhouette Cameo figured we could take this look a bit further using vinyl. 

Isn't it so cute?! I'll show you how I made this in the Silhouette software. 

I have the designer edition of the Silhouette software but I know this method will work with the regular edition as well. I found an image of a grad cap off google images and imported it into my software. 

Next, you'll want to open the trace window. This allows you to create a cut file for an image found online. 

The area that is highlighted yellow is what the Silhouette will trace. For images I find online, I usually select low pass filter because it eliminates a double line that is created when normally tracing images. 

After this, select trace and then you'll have your cut file. 

Yay!!! A new cut file! This process can be used to create a cut file from most images found online.

I played around with a couple of different variations of this design and my mom eventually picked the top left design. 

That's it! I sent my design to the Cameo and used black vinyl for the design. 

We placed purple grass in the cups for the cupcakes to sit upon. We figured this would allow for easy access to the cupcakes. 

The beautiful cupcakes inside their containers! Overall, I think these came out wonderfully and hope they'll be successful at the dinner tonight! 

Something to hold you over...

I'm in the process of finishing an actual tutorial for this blog. I know. It's practically a miracle. So until I finish that product, here's another painting! 

This was requested by a friend of mine! I printed out a map of Texas and traced it onto the canvas. Then I just free handed the letters where I felt they fit nicely. My brushes were BRAND NEW here and it made this lettering so much easier. 

Be on the lookout for my next post which has a graduation theme!  

Another cooler!

I've got cooler fever now. This cooler is one I painted for a friend of mine! Once again, I just free handed everything. I don't get very technical with painting. This blog is becoming more like a "let me show off" kind of place. Tutorials will happen whenever I decide to do some real crafts! I've been slacking lately. I'm also considering opening an Etsy shop to sell a lot of these crafts! But we'll see (: 

IT'S DONE

My first cooler is done! So much effort but it was all worth it. If I had to do it again, I'd change a couple things. I'd probably trace more and use painters tape to keep my lines straight and clean. However, for my first cooler I am impressed!

I haven't modge podged and sealed it yet so it'll have more of a satin finish when that's done!

Reminder: everything was freehanded! I would honestly trace next time I do a cooler. It'd make it look a lot nicer. But like I said, I'm still proud of it! 

Stay thirsty my friends.

Another side of my cooler is complete! This side took SO much effort but I love how it turned out.

It's not perfect but it makes me happy! I haven't sealed it so it's not as shiny as it soon will be.

Once again, no tutorial. Honestly, I just free hand everything. I look at the image then draw and if necessary, erase and re-draw. 

I use chalk to draw on the cooler but I hear graphite works better. The chalk is fairly thick so for skinnier words (like "cerveza" above) I had to strictly freehand it. 

Cooler painting is serious business and I hope to get better at it. For now, I'll work on at least doing progress pictures while I'm working! It's tough because, as mentioned, I freehand and sketch things. I really haven't been big on tracing anything. It'd probably make it look a lot nicer but oh well. 

The cooler will be done by this weekend! (I have a deadline to meet) So you'll see the finish product soon (: I'm so excited! 

One side done...

It's very plain but I love it anyways (: 

Μaybe I'll figure out a way to spruce it up!