Angry ray of sunshine

A couple years ago, a friend and I took a road trip to the mountains and back. It was awesome, it was a blast! And at the end, we had this long long list of quotes, things we had said while driving down the highway, or looking at lions at a petting zoo, or in a bar. One of these was "I am the angry ray of sunshine that gives you melanoma."

We both love it, and toss it at each other constantly and laugh. So I made it into a shirt for her.

About halfway through painstakingly cutting my stencil with an X-acto knife, I realized that I could probably have used my Cricut to cut out the stencil for me. But by that time, I was committed. And I didn't feel like fighting with two pieces of technology to create the pattern for the stencil. :p

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. :)

See you next time! Tomorrow, I will show you the blanket of epic proportions.

-Sylvan

Etched mirror

Long time no see!

I've been really busy this past month, working at 5 am for most of the month, and doing some crafty gifts.

First, I made my mum an earring frame. I must admit, it was my dad's idea.

I drew(free hand!) and cut the "Family" onto some contact paper. I made sure that the piece I cut would cover the entire mirror in case I globbed some of the etching cream on to the mirror. I'm glad I did it that way, but it really was a two person job to get it onto the mirror nicely. (Thank you, Boyfriend!)

A word to the wise though. Don't use contact paper and etching cream. The etching cream melted the plastic contact paper a little bit and smudged. It turned out pretty good though, you can only see the smudge from certain angles.

Now this is where having worked in a frame shop comes in handy. I had my local frame shop mirror mount the mirror in a stretcher bar frame(normally used for canvasses), then had them stretch aluminium mosquito netting over the stretcher bar. Then, to cover the stretcher bar I had a mat cut that would hide it. I tried to choose a mat that would hide minor scratches that will of course accumulate over time. Added a second frame. Beautiful.

Added bonus is, because I asked to not have backing paper put on, the mirror can be removed and cleaned.

Check back tomorrow for the Inside Joke t-shirt I made my friend! :)

-Sylvan