Showing posts with label Military Mom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Military Mom. Show all posts

Welcome Home Daddy Shirt - Combining & Modifying Different Free SVGS

 
Our son arrived back on US soil very early this morning. I'm not completely sure our just turned 2 year old grandson fully understands that Daddy will actually be here in person to pick him up tonight, not just on a phone screen, but he is very excited about the dinosaur he picked out for on his shirt.


When working with real, quality, svgs, it's so simple to use just certain elements.  For this, I deleted the hearts and text, used contour to remove the "means" from the banner.

I sliced the eye out of the dinosaur shape, so it would be one less layer to apply.  I'm putting this on a white shirt, so the white can show through, no need to use white htv on top.

Then I chose select all, and flipped the design horizontal, and  changed the colors to fit our patriotic theme.

Next, I typed "Daddy" to fit in the banner, then sliced it from the banner.  I did not need to slice this - I could have just attached.  Often attach will work exactly the same as slice, in fewer steps, and this is one of those times.  But I sliced it so I could share a screenshot of the design to show my daughter what it would look like, and get her opinion.  


Next I added this free American Flag svg.

This is my favorite flag svg - because it's easy to weed and layer. To help weed  out the stars, I use painters tape - roll it in a circle around my finger, then dab the area, so the star pieces are picked up by the tape.


For the font, I used Biosha Caps.  I downloaded the Biosha fonts a couple of years ago when they were temporarily free, and this set of fonts is hands down my most used fonts.


I used the curve feature in Design Space to slightly curve the Welcome Home.

Next I decided I would rather waste a little vinyl than take the time to piece and line up the design. Here's the difference:

If I had just clicked "make it", without attaching, Design Space would line all the red pieces up like this.  Once weeded, I would need to place them correctly on the shirt.

By selecting all of the red pieces and then choosing "Attach", Design Space keeps all of the red pieces exactly in place.  It wasted a little more vinyl, but makes it so much faster to apply to the shirt.

My favorite htv is Caregy, or transwonder.  They are much more inexpensive than Cricut brand, and I find the quality to be much better. 
I keep a vinyl comparison price chart here:

Because this is being cut from HTV, to apply to fabric, I needed to Mirror the design.  For htv, you are actually cutting on the back of the vinyl, so the image needs to be reversed.  I do not trust myself to remember to click the mirror button, so for all htv projects, I click select all, then flip horizontal.  

I cut this using my Maker, and again, I'm just not impressed with this machine. Compared to my Air 2, it is just much more inconsistent in it's cuts.  Here you can see it cut the red htv quite well, then cut through the backing of the blue htv in places, making it harder to weed and apply.  

This is the transfer sheet, after I ironed on the design.  This should not happen.  Yes, I can change the settings so it cuts with "less pressure", but then it wouldn't have cut all the way through on the first piece.  The machine is extremely inconsistent - I don't have this problem every time.  

Here's a more detailed look at my experiences with the Air 2 and the Maker, and why I generally recommend the Air 2 machine over the Maker.  

I ironed the blue pieces on first, then applied the red.  
As always, I just used a regular iron - I don't bother with a heat press, nor an easy press, because I have never had any issues just using a regular old iron.  Here's more about how I use a regular old thrift store iron for my htv projects:

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The Military Tree - Cricut Christmas Ornaments

 

I have several Christmas trees here each year. In our dining room, I have a thin pencil tree that is our military tree. I'm gradually completing ornaments with photos of each family member & ancestor who has served.

For these photo ornaments, I printed the photos on sticker paper, which I then attached to the clear transparency paper.  Typically I print right on the transparency paper, but for these, I wanted a more visible photo, and I want to add information on the back without it showing through.

Here's a step by step for the clear acetate ornaments:
(I cut the template twice - once from transparency paper, once on sticker paper.  I printed only on the sticker paper, for these ornaments.)


Here's a step by step for making the Our Hearts Aim High Air Force Ornament:

A Step by Step for the RED Friday Ornaments

The paper ornaments are from this bundle (not free) https://crafthousesvg.com/products/3d-american-flag-svg-bundle-mb88?_pos=1&_sid=e8e82c963&_ss=r?ref=6959505 I skipped the pop dots and put them together with a glue stick - fast and so much easier - perfect for this project. I sized them at 4 inches wide.

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An Index of Tutorials, Tips, & Free SVGS
For Making Christmas Ornaments


Our Hearts Aim High - Air Force Christmas Ornament


Quick Links:




Although shown in black here, I cut the logo and the text both from dark blue 651 vinyl.

I made this ornament before Design Space had a curve feature for text, so the font is Henny Penny, curved in the Phonto App. 

 Design Space now allows you to curve text, making this even easier! 

You can not curve once you have ungrouped letters.  If you ungroup your text, the curve option will go away.


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An Index of Christmas Ornament  Tips, Tutorials and Free SVGS
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/10/making-christmas-ornaments-index-of.html

Which Vinyl For Which Project - and the cheapest places to buy it - 
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2017/09/cricut-which-vinyl-do-i-need-where-do-i.html


On Fridays We Wear RED - T-shirt Designs with Cricut

FREE RED FRIDAY SVGS
Download a bundle of 7 Designs, and find a list of more to download as well.

With a family the size of ours, with two sons and a nephew serving, and many deployments between them - I've made a LOT of RED shirts.  We all have at least one or two. Or four.   Pretty much everyone I know now has one or two.  They are quick and simple to make, and pretty inexpensive, too.