Pooped

I know you're not surprised that I didn't actually make my goal to post about my white board vinyl on Sunday.  All I have to say about that is I've been getting lots done, and I am super, super, pooped. 

I did promise you vinyl though, so here I am to share a little more of my madness with you.

A couple weeks ago I contacted the Vinyl Magician, Janae from Thoughts in Vinyl, and I asked her if she could cut some vinyl for me to make this grid set-up for my daily agenda. I knew I didn't want it all in one piece because a) it would have been a nightmare to put up, and b) I'm not an octopus.

Sad as I am about lacking those six extra arms, I'm a realist, so I asked Janae if she could cut me a bunch of strips of vinyl that I could piece together into a grid. Don't worry, I knew what I was getting myself into and I braced myself for the fun to come.

Half the battle is in the mental preparation. Like bracing myself for Monday on Sunday evening.

Once I mentally prepared myself for the process, step one, was to map everything out with measurements. It was pretty handy working with a white board because I just wrote my measurements and guideline grid lines right on the board. I used a wet erase marker for those lines so they wouldn't wipe off when I touched them.

Obviously my title went up first. When doing vinyl I always work from the top down. I don't know if that's the best way, it's just the way I do it. 

I used a level to drop my vertical lines, and I taped each of them a few inches at a time while alternately checking that they were still straight. 

Once the vinyl was completely taped on one side, I was comfortable enough to pull the backing off and apply the vinyl.

I did all my vertical lines first, and then I moved to the titles.

I took some pictures of the process for applying the lettering. I like to first tape my titles where I plan to apply them, making sure that they are level.

Next, I like to cut each large piece into manageable sized pieces to work with, making sure to use lots of tape so everything stays lined up. This is maybe not the best way to do it, but it works for me, a person who is mishap prone.

This picture shows how I've cut the vinyl title into two separate lines, and then taped them to the board. Notice I didn't tape at the bottom, and there's a reason for that. I leave the bottom unfettered so I can remove the sticker backing paper and apply the vinyl to the board.

Instead of applying the whole piece at once, I cut the word "ESSENTIALS" into three more pieces and applied each section individually, starting with pulling the vinyl and transfer tape away from the sticker backing paper. 

Once I separate the transfer tape and the vinyl from the sticker backing paper, I let the backing paper drop to the floor. I'm a messy worker and cleaning up after myself is for later. 

Next I smoothed the transfer tape with the vinyl back onto the board.

Now comes the fun part.

I pulled the transfer tape away from the white board S-L-O-W-L-Y, making sure the vinyl stayed on the white board and not on the transfer tape.

I kept going, getting more excited with each new section.

One down, three to go.

This is where I stopped on Thursday. Believe it or not, this took me about three hours to do.

I stopped here because I knew the next day was going to be TEDIOUS, yes, all caps, because I had a lot of long horizontal lines left to do.

I'm generally pretty anal about using a level when applying vinyl, especially for a project like this. If I would have measured from one line to the next for placement of the vinyl, if even one line were off just the smallest little bit, then subsequent lines would've only gotten progressively worse. By using a level for each line independent of the one before it, even if every line is off a tinsy little bit, the effect isn't cumulative because one line isn't dependent on the last.

Does that even make any sense?

It's cumulative chaos vs. controlled chaos.

That's what I'm talkin' about.

My lines aren't perfect, but you can't even tell unless you are right up on it, looking for the slip.

And you're not, are you?

Vinyl Crazy

I've been going a little crazy with the vinyl lately. Lately being the last two years or so.

Before school started, I ordered some custom vinyl from Janae, and I still don't have all of it up. It's been on my monster To Do list, so today I went into my classroom and I got a couple more things put up.

This Work Hard sign is my favorite. Well, my favorite next to the Grandpa punctuation piece I showed you a couple posts ago. Janae is selling this one for $22.00 here, and let me tell you, it's ginormous. It really sends the message I'm looking to send.

None of my students will get this one because they weren't even born when Sir Mix-A-Lot was kickin' it. I don't think I'll tell them about him either.  He's not really PG-13.  I'll just quietly enjoy this myself and hope that during parent teacher conferences their parents will at least get it. If you love this as much as I do, it's $8.50, and you can get it here.

This is the other quote I ordered, but I haven't put it up yet. My goal is to get it up this week, even if I have to do it in stages. Janae is selling this one for $24.00 and you can find it here. It doesn't have the web address on it though, that's just because this isn't the actual vinyl, but a web example instead.

Janae also made this Christopher Robin quote for me, and I have it at home and at school. It's one of my favorite quotes. Janae sells this one here for $24.50.

The prices are based on the size of the sheet of vinyl used. In my opinion, it is not cheaper to cut it yourself. Especially if you consider the cost of the vinyl and the transfer paper. Not to mention factoring in the time it takes to cut it, pull away the excess, adhere it to the transfer paper, etc. It takes me for-EVER, so I only do the small stuff myself and let Janae do everything else. It's totally worth it to me.

If you order any of the quotes I've linked to, please click the "Thoughts in Vinyl Only" shipping option when you check out. That way your shipping will be a flat $6.00.

This is an example of something I did myself with my Cricut. Small jobs like this are doable for me. I found this idea on Pinterest, and it's where I keep materials for each day's lessons at school. So far it's working very well.

I also did this. I really like how the white vinyl stands out on the black trays.

This is where I post missing assignments for the current week. It's very helpful for keeping the kids on top of their assignments. I put "No Name" papers in a Homeless File, so if a student sees his number up here and he knows he turned the assignment in, then he knows he needs to check the Homeless File.

At the end of the week, any assignments still on the board get transferred to a spiral notebook and the board gets erased for a new week.

Janae pretty much did all of my white board vinyl. I had some that I had done myself, but last year I had a projector installed in my classroom midyear, and I had to move all my vinyl. Time is very precious during the school year, so I called on Janae to help me out. She is really good about working up different plans and giving proofs with prices before cutting. I really appreciate that because sometimes my ideas are bigger than my wallet.

Of all the vinyl on my white boards, this is the section I love the most. It saves me a lot of time every day, and it looks clean and tidy. I tend to be really OCD about my white boards. They have to be super clean at the end of every day, or I get twitchy. I buy a lot of Expo cleaner.

This is where I post homework and reminders for the kids to put in their planners.

Janae did this for me too. I used to have magnets for the jobs, but I love having the vinyl because I can clean the white board without moving the jobs off.

Yes, Anne, I know the Neat Police job is not aligned with the rest of the jobs. It's sort of ironic, isn't it? I was so focused on making sure it was level, no lie, that I forgot to check the horizontal alignment as well. Doy. I am not having Janae cut this one again.

Well, at least I'm not having her cut it today. The next time I need something from her, I'm totally putting this one on my order again. It mocks me.

I might not have to wait too long because I've been coveting some vinyl she cut for another teacher in my hall. It's the teacher's name outside her door, with the cutest red apple with a little green stem. I die every time I walk by it, I'm so in love with it.

You Asked for It . . . Thoughts in Vinyl

So, remember when I did the magnetic menu planning giveway, and then I picked a couple of winners? Well, I decided that since so many people were interested in the vinyl menu planner, I was going to find someone who could cut the vinyl professionally, as in not my make-it-up-as-I go self, and then they could sell it to everyone who is interested.

Well, have I got a deal for you. Janae of  Thoughts in Vinyl  made these beauties for my winners, and you're not going to believe this, but she is selling them for only $9.50 each--and the transfer paper is already on them. What a steal! Trust me on this. Forget buying a $40 Cricut cartridge and wrestling with the transfer paper. This is the way to go.

These are the vinyl menu grids Janae made for my winners, and I have to say, I'm a little jealous because they are way cuter than mine. I love this font and the days of the week are so perfect.

I recently received a desperate e-mail from Mary Ann asking me to please, please, please sell her some Germ-Be-Gone labels, like these, so she could make some ginormous hand sanitizers for Teacher Appreciation Week. In spite of all my whining about my jobsy and my lack of time, people still ask me these things all the time. Instead of replying with a snotty "Did I stutter?" I told Mary Ann that I would work on finding someone whose jobsy it is to cut vinyl professionally.

Enter Janae. She made these super cute labels, which are waaaaaaaay cuter than mine I might add, and she is selling them for  only $4.50 each. How cool is that, Mary Ann? I'm sorry I was so mean. I'll try to be nicer.

These labels are for my classroom, because I never did get around to making them for myself. Before I applied these labels, I cut them into thirds because I find it's just a lot easier to apply a little bit at a time. I don't have the steadiest of hands, and I have that attention deficit thing going on, so this works best for me. I start at the top and work my way down. You might be fine doing it all in one go though. Don't take my word for it.

Before I forget, I want to give you Janae's contact information. She is a pleasure to work with, and she will custom design vinyl to your specifications. I highly recommend her.

Janae Anderson

Thoughts in Vinyl

E-mail: janae@thoughtsinvinyl.com

Website: http://www.thoughtsinvinyl.com/

Phone 208.524.7066

I hope that lots of you will contact Janae and buy so many menu planning grids and hand sanitizer labels, that she will call me and beg me to take the link down. To which I will reply "Nevah! Bwah, ha, ha, ha."

Speaking of hand sanitizer, here's a true funny confession. I was leaning up against the wall at my gym, nonchalantly waiting to get my kids out of the clink, and I leaned right underneath an automatic hand sanitizer dispenser. I got slimed. It was so icky, I can't even tell you. And I did not look cool.

Changing the subject yet again, people e-mail me all the time about this little magnetic pocket that I keep on the side of my fridge (sans ugly sticker, of course). I use this to hold my recipes for the week because it fits my recipe cards perfectly. Well, you'll be happy to know that I was at Staple's the other day, and they had a bazeellion of these babies. I haven't seen them for ages. Anyway, I only bought one so there would be some left for you. Staples is selling them for $7.29. I couldn't find them on the Staple's website, but you can find lots of them by Googling "Oxford DecoPouch."  I even found one on Amazon for $5.99.

And lastly, people have even e-mailed me asking for the 4x6 images that have my menu choices on them. I realize that the vast majority of you have no use for these, but for those that want them, here they are. Personally, if I were you and I wanted to make menu magnets of my own, I would just print my menu choices on some pretty scrapbook paper, cut them into squares mounted on card stock, laminate, and finally, apply magnets. You could even just laminate blank menu squares and write on them with a water-based pen, or with a Sharpie if you want them to be permanent.

If you want to use these, don't forget to click on them first to get the best resolution. Enjoy!

Vinyl Tutorial

As promised, I'm going to show you how to cut vinyl on your Cricut. If you have a different cutting machine, the application process should be the same.

The picture above is a quote that I put in my classroom this year, and I love it.

The tutorial that follows is for doing smaller projects. To do something like the quote I have above, you probably want to use a software program like Sure Cuts A Lot. It will use less vinyl that way because you can squish your letters closer together. You can also stretch and squash them vertically and horizontally. Also, you'll want to use the 12" x 24" cutting mat for the larger projects.

But for our purposes today, I'm just using the 12" x 12" cutting mat.

Once you decide what you want to cut out of your vinyl, you just smooth your vinyl down onto your cutting mat the same way you would with card stock. Please, do not peel the sticker backing off your vinyl sheet. That would be baaaaaaad.

Next, load your mat into your machine. So far nothing should be different than what you're used to doing with paper. Well, except that you're using vinyl. Doy.

This next step is so very important, so pay attention, okay? You are going to want to do a very small test cut on your vinyl. Just one little one inch letter would be sufficient. I want you to put your machine on low pressure, then do your test cut. 

The test cut is so you can make sure the blade cuts through the vinyl, but not the sticker backing sheet behind it.

Very, very important. Once you've tested this, you are free to cut. Here is a picture of my test cut. 

You can see that the sticker backing paper is still there when I peel away my test cut letter. Feel free to use a scrap piece of vinyl for this step. Vinyl is expensive and you don't want to waste it. I've cut a lot of vinyl on my machine, and low pressure is my sweet spot. Yours might be different. I'm sure it depends on how sharp your blade is.

Here is a word I cut on a piece of vinyl. After I cut it, I cut a rectangle around the word so I know how big a piece of Transfer Tape I need to transfer my lettering.

The Transfer Tape is on the left and the vinyl is on the right. You can find it wherever Cricuts are sold. Lately I've been buying my vinyl at Wal Mart because it's $9 a package there vs. $10 at Michael's. I've been buying the Transfer Tape at Michael's because my Wal Mart never has it. It makes me crazy. My Michael's also has a serious problem keeping it in stock. Lucky for me, Girl Genius works there so I just have her snag it for me when the truck pulls up. I'm a Transfer Tape Junkie and she's my pusher. I love her so much.

The next step is my favorite part. I grab my Cricut Captain Hook tool and start pulling away the extra vinyl. You have to do it slowly and pull at a 45 degree angle so you don't tear your letters, but it is oh so satisfying. I like to peel skin from sunburns though, so that might just be me.

I'm easily entertained.

Here you can see my image with all the excess pulled away.

Here I've cut a piece of Transfer Tape that is about the same size as my image. Sometimes I piece scraps together. You don't have to have a continuous piece of Transfer Tape like you do vinyl. Feel free to be frugal.

Next, start peeling the Transfer Tape from its sticker backing sheet. Don't pull it all the way off though. It's like Fly Paper and it sticks to everything. It's kind of like the clear scrapbooking stickers in that when you get close to something with it, it has a magnetic force that sucks it into exactly the place where you do not want it. It's extremely annoying.

So, as I was saying, just pull back enough to get it started.

You can see here how I've started sticking the Transfer Tape to my lettering. Take it slowly and ease it onto the vinyl.

I didn't take a picture of this next step because I don't have three arms, but you want to use something to smooth the Transfer Tape onto the vinyl. Okay, that's a lie. I forgot, okay? Nobody's perfect.

A credit card would work fine. The idea is to run the edge over the surface to make the Transfer Tape stick to the vinyl so it will pull it off the sticker backing sheet without tearing the vinyl. It's a tricky, slow process.

After smoothing the Transfer Tape down, you can start peeling the Transfer Tape away from the sticker backing sheet, making sure that the vinyl is coming up with it. Again, go slow at a 45 degree angle. If you have sections that don't come up with the Transfer Tape, back it up just a tad, smooth it down, and try that spot again. Sometimes it's a process of two steps forward, one step back.

Ta-Da!

Since this piece is relatively small, I was comfortable enough hovering over the spot where I wanted to stick it, then smacking it down before I could lose my nerve.

You could say there's no turning back now.

The final step is to slowly and carefully peel the Transfer Tape away. You sometimes have to back up, smooth, and ease sections off with this step as well.

Whew! That was a little stressful, wasn't it?

I assure you, it gets easier the more you do it. Just dive in and give it a try.

This bucket was a little trickier and I had to notch my word so it would wrap around the curved surface of the bucket without puckering the letters. Sadly, these notches were not enough.

I started peeling my sticker backing sheet away and it was too hard to keep the word from sticking to me and the spot I didn't want it to go.

So I ended up cutting the word into three separate pieces so I could have a little room to work. It worked much better this way.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Now that you've suffered through this little tutorial, I have a little surprise for you. Back in April, I joked in this post about how I wanted to put up a bunch of vinyl sayings in my house, and one of them was going to be "PICK UP YOUR CRAP!" Well, some of you thought it was a splendid idea so I went ahead and did it.

I put it in Peanut Head's Man Cave because it's such a pigsty. Pigsty with a capital "P."

I kid you not. When Stinkerbell was five she walked into Peanut Head's shop and exclaimed "Daddy, pick up all this crap! It's a disaster in here!" I promise you, I am not lying. It even made it into our Christmas letter that year. These are the sorts of proud parenting moments we brag about in our annual holiday letter.

It's that juxtaposition thing that I'm so fond of.

See what I mean about the mess? Actually, this is a horrible example. He just cleaned it up. But it will not stay like this, mark my words.

So what I'm saying is that Peanut Head deserves this little gem.

And he needs to stop talking like a sailor because Stinkerbell has been using inappropriate language appropriately since she was three. And it's very hard to discipline your child when you're laughing hysterically and rolling around on the floor. Very hard.