Christmas in July

Did you miss this sale the first time.  Here it is again.  If you combine this sale with the shipping code, you will have an inexpensive early Christmas present for someone.  Or a great holiday decor addition to your own home!  Here is a link to the order page.  MERRY MAIL

Christmas in July Day 4

Deal of the day for #4. Here is a link to go directly to the  Merry Mail order page.

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY.  Scroll down to see the details of how to enter.

GIVEAWAY #1

I will be doing a GIVEAWAY of the "jingle bells/give thanks" lettering for blocks.  There is a great tutorial HERE It makes a fun gift or a great decoration for yourself.  

TO ENTER - each item gets one entry:  

1. Pin your favorite item in my ETSY shop on your pinterest board
2. Like my Facebook Page
3. Share my Christmas in July FB post
4. Follow The Vinyl Express on Instagram
5. Leave a comment and tag friends - one entry per name tagged 

Drawing will be held on August 1.

Christmas in July

The sale starts now.  Get a jump start on  Christmas decor and gifts.  Get 10% off any items in my  Etsy shop by using coupon code TVECHRISTMAS through the end of July.  Also, each day through the end of the month I will feature an item at a special price.  The details on the daily deal will be here on my blog so check back each day to see what is on sale!

Happy 4th of July. Coupon code for today only! HOLIDAY 10 Get 10% off orders placed today when you use the coupon code. Have a happy and safe holiday. ‪#‎thevinylexpress‬ ‪#‎couponcode‬ ‪#‎july4th‬ link to my etsy shop in bio.

Jack o lantern jars

Craft day at my house with my girls.  Simple craft that turned out really cute.  We cleaned out empty jars along with the lid.  Then we added the faces cut out of vinyl.  Add some candy corn and you have a cute fall decoration.

Polka Dot Christmas Tree

I love this polka dot Chtistmas Tree in silver and gold and white.
The foundation is in white dots and measures approx 11" across at the bottom and comes to a point at 19" tall.  Then additional dots in silver and gold are added in.  This is a fun addition to your holiday decor.  You could do it on a frame or an old window, or even on a glass door! You can buy the polka dot sets from my Etsy shop here

Iron-on Vinyl

One of the things that we love to do with Vinyl is put it on shirts. We have Iron-On Vinyl that makes making a custom shirt easy and affordable to create! Below are a few that I have made for my niece as well as one for my daughter. They turned out great, and wash just as well as normal shirts!

"I'm a cool runner" - complete with sunglasses!

"I run like a GIRL Try to keep up"

"Grandma's Girl"

One other great thing that you could do is customize a sport bag with your teams name and mascot! Like the shirts, they turn out great and are so easy to do!

If you would like to create an affordable customized shirt or bag 

4 x 5 - $5, 8 x 10 - $10.  When you want a custom item without paying the price of a single custom item at a shirt shop simply drop us a note and we'll help you design something.  There is a listing for the 4 x 5 size in my Etsy Shop

Holiday Fun...In August!

So this week I have had some fun creating, not only one holiday craft but two! I guess it was double the fun because I made reversible blocks, Christmas on one side, Thanksgiving or Fall on the other. I got the Idea from Pintrest, but added my own little twist. I didn't just paint the blocks, I decided to use different patterned scrapbook paper and Mod Podge my blocks. 

From the beginning: I bought some paper at our local craft store, I bought the paper that has one design on one side and another design on the other side. This way I didn't have to buy as much paper...I know I am pretty cheap, but it did save me a couple of dollars!! 

When I got home I cut out the paper to fit the blocks, and put them in the order that I wanted them in. After I cut out the Christmas paper I used them as a pattern to cut out the Fall paper. I just traced around them and then cut them. I don't have a paper cutter, but I am sure that would be the easiest way to do it. 

While I was cutting out the paper for the blocks, my sister painted the blocks that they were going to go on. We didn't bother painting the entire blocks because they would just be covered with paper anyway. 

I know she would appreciate me putting this picture online :)

As you can tell the blocks are far from perfect, but they will still look just as good even if we had taken the time to paint them all of the way.

Once the paint dried I laid the paper on top of the blocks to make sure the paper fit good and to make sure I liked how it looked.

I cut my paper pretty close to the size of the blocks as you can see here. If you want to see more of the block all you would have to do is trim the paper a little bit more...but I am pretty sure most of us could have figured that out on our own! 

Now for the fun part! Mod Podge. I like this part. How I do it is I put some on the block itself and then on the back of the paper. I place the paper on the block and then brush more on the front of the paper. It brushes on white, but when it dries it will look clear. 

Bubbles are one thing that I hate when using Mod Podge, I have found though that using thicker paper doesn't bubble as much. If you don't have thicker paper, that's fine too, you just have to not be a perfectionist at first. The paper will bubble, but try not to mess with it too much, when it dries most of the bubbles, if not all of them, will fade away. It is kind of like magic! It will only make you crazy in the process if you are like me! 

While you let the Mod Podge dry... (PS only do one side at a time, or else you will have a mess.) Anyway while it dries you can start with the vinyl. It will come in a sheet like this. It will have a clear plastic over the letters that you will peel off later but for now you can cut the individual letters apart. It doesn't have to look fancy at all. (You can get the letters from The Vinyl Express for $6.00.)

As you can tell not fancy! 

Once the Mod Podge dried (mine took about an hour to dry, you can wait a little bit longer if you want to be safe though) I placed the letters on the blocks so I could tell where I would want them to be placed. Then one by one I peeled the paper off and placed the vinyl letters on the blocks. I then took off the clear paper that covered the letters, leaving only the vinyl on the blocks. 

It should look something like this.

This is what the first side looked like. Then I started the whole process over and did the same thing to the other side of the blocks. 

This is what the other side looked like when I finished them. 

I think they turned out super cute. 

They would be cute with some Fall leaves or ornaments and jingle bells. My favorite though that would work for both would be pine cones! 

What a fun addition to any home! You can also save some space in your storage for afterwards since they double for two holidays! :)  ~Kelsie

Customer Photos

Thanks for the pictures Suni!!  They turned out so cute.  For info on ordering the vinyl for these cute reversable guys, visit my etsy shop here.

Reversible Frankenstein and Pilgrim blocks!

Vinyl sets for these fun reversible Halloween and Thanksgiving blocks.  The vinyl goes on opposite sides of the same blocks.  So once Halloween is over, simply flip the blocks around and you have a decoration ready for Thanksgiving.  What a fun idea.  You can purchase the vinyl for this fun craft in my etsy shop here.

WITCH blocks

Fun vinyl for blocks.  Decorate your blocks with scrapbook paper and then add the vinyl letters.  What a fun Halloween decoration.  Thanks Suni for the finished project photo!  You can purchase the vinyl in my Etsy shop here.

New Patriotic Designs

I have some new patriotic designs.  They can be done any size or color you would like!  You can size them to fit on a tile, put them on the window of your car.  Let others know of your patriotism. Send me an email if you are interested in any of these designs and we'll work some up for your 4th of July celebration!!

A Few more Christmas Countdowns

I thought I'd post a few more pictures of some of the fun Christmas Countdown projects.  They are all just a little different, but they each turned out so cute!  

Countdown to Christmas

My daughter made this Christmas Countdown.  She is adding a candy chain to cut off each day of December, as well as number tabs with activities for each day.  Hopefully I will have another picture to add to show the rest of her Christmas Countdown board.  But she did take a picture after she got the board itself done with the vinyl.  It turned out so cute.  She bought the board at Hobby Lobby and mod podged Christmas paper for the background, and then she applied the vinyl decals that I cut for her.  I have the vinyl listed in my ETSY shop.  I am offering it free with a purchase through the month of November.  Or you can just purchase it for $3.50 if all you want is the vinyl for this project.

Easter Project

I have seen this style of art lately and I really like it.  It's called "Subway Art".  I'm not sure why . . .   Anyway, I had the materials for this setting out for some time - in the middle of getting ready for my daughter's wedding.  So one day, I just sat down and put it together - mainly so I could get it out of the way and hang it on the wall - ha ha.  I did this one on an 8 x 10 board covered with scrapbook paper and "ModPodge".  Then I used lavender vinyl for the words.  Something this size would run $6.00.

Do you have a season or sport or idea you would like made up into "Subway Art".  Send me an email and we'll work something up for you. 

Girls' Night Spring 2010

The girls got together on April 3 while the guys all went to their meeting. We had a fun time crafting spring blocks. It got a little crazy at times, but it was a lot of fun!! I thought I'd share a few photos.

Kelsie and Breanne - joint effort :)

Terriann's blocks

Jenna's blocks.

Fun Hot Dog Sticks

Here is another customer picture. She was placing an order and had some extra vinyl. We had had them over for a bonfire and she had seen our hot dog sticks. She decided that would be a fun idea for Christmas presents for extended family. Here is how they turned out - CAute!