New Silhouette Cameo!

I am sooooo excited! My new Silhouette Cameo came Saturday! Whoo hoo! How nice does it look sitting on my desk??

So what did I make this weekend? I have been dying to try the vinyl and now that I have a big enough cutting area I cut out this 12x18 "families are forever" phrase for my picture wall. Doesn't it look great??

Ahhhh...the possibilities are endless! :-) I also made a chalkboard paint coffee mug for my husband. I started with a dollar store mug, brown chalk paint, and a sponge brush.

I painted 3 coats of paint onto the mug, leaving the top white so his mouth wouldn't touch the chalk part of the cup. It wasn't the straightest paint line though so I needed something else. Back to my Cameo...I opened the  "retro car" design, resized it, duplicated it, traced only the outline, and cut it out using black vinyl. I then adhered the vinyl to the mug and this is the final result...

One problem...he didn't use it this morning! When I asked why he said it looked so nice he didn't want to mess it up! I have to give him a tutorial later tonight on how you can erase it. It IS OK to get it wet, although I don't plan on putting it in the dishwasher!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was a success and the little table decorations I made with my 7-year-old daughter were a hit! My 9-year-old daughter spent Wednesday night at Grandma's house so I had to find something my little one and I could work on together so she would forget she wasn't spending the night until Saturday night! She loved making the little Thanksgiving placecards...so much so that I think I created another Silhouette monster! Uh oh...

We used the pilgrim boy and pilgrim girl placecards from the online Silhouette store. We also made a couple of 3-D turkeys (Snapdragon Snipets in the online store) to place on the table as well.

She wrote everyone's names in her very careful super special handwriting! Out of 10 names she let me write 2 of them...my own name and her sister's name!

So onto the food...I made the bird because I did such a great job last year! :-) Only problem was that I forgot what I did last year! But I guess it turned out OK because everyone said it was delicious and juicy. I think the key is to season it the night before. I rubbed the bird down inside and outside the skin with fresh minced garlic, poultry seasoning, and Adobo seasoning and then covered it with foil and put it in the fridge overnight.

Stuffing...I used Jimmy Dean reduced fat sausage, a whole large sweet onion, and about 7 stalks of celery. I sauteed it all up and then added 3 cups of chicken broth.

I stuffed the bird and put the rest in a baking dish to cook along side the bird. I love my Pampered Chef thermometer because I can just walk on by the oven whenever I want and see how my bird is doing temperature-wise...very convenient!

Let's see...what's next...remember the cute little Silhouette free shape from a previous post? I made the dessert - the Pumpkin Lust Cake (with a few modifications...1/3 less fat cream cheese and light whipped topping) and stuck it in the dessert...so cute!

And by the way, the dessert was so yummy!!!! :-) I hope everyone had as enjoyable a Thanksgiving as I did!

"Be Grateful" Rhinestone T-Shirt

I made this with my Silhouette. I used the be_grateful_C00430_24282 design from the Silhouette online store and then converted it to a rhinestone design by just single clicking rhinestones over the design. I just couldn't get the look I wanted with the linear or radial fills. You need the upgraded software to do this. I then cut fall leaves (harvest_set_C20091105234759_20387) out of freezer paper (using the settings for vellum) and used fabric paint to paint them on the shirt. I REALLY love how it turned out and can't wait to wear it to work on Tuesday (my last day before my mini-vacation!). My friend wants me to make her one too so I cut everything out and am taking it to work tomorrow...should be interesting...