Another DIY Project - stickers and magnets!

I was inspired by the dog silhouette stickers and stationary by Fire Hydrant Press on etsy and was extremely tempted to purchase a couple. 

(source: FireHydrantPress)

I was real close to purchasing them when I mentioned to Mr Lim. As usual, he wasn't exactly supportive (which I understand as they weren't that cheap). Interestingly, he suggested that we should try to make it ourselves since he had previously purchased some sticker paper (for his boardgaming stuff). I figured, why not? And here we go...

I browsed through all Sam's photographs and found one that was most suitable for his silhouette. 

After a lot of trial and error (well, I'm really NOT savvy with Gimp) and a couple of arguments between the husband and wife, we finally figured out how to trace out his silhouette. Well, it doesn't look fantastically like him, but I thought that we did a pretty decent job highlighting his distinctive tail and capturing his hunting posture. I know that the mouth is a little off, but I HACK CARE! LOL, I was quite frustrated and annoyed by this point and thought that this was good enough. -_-

We finalized the silhouette template and that was when the real fun started! I mixed and matched colors and did some individual designs to achieve this!

A little close up. We thought that it would be kinda cute to put Sam's full name!

Once we were done, we went ahead to print the template onto actual sticker and magnet paper. We even tried printing it on decal paper but unfortunately, the decal paper melted in our Laser printer! Yap, there goes the laser printer! (Sigh, on hindsight, it was probably cheaper to just purchase the actual sticker from etsy! What an irony~) BUT, we were not discouraged, we purchased a much cheaper ink jet and resumed our project! 

Sam doing a QC for the final product.

He was guarding the newly printed stickers from my itchy and anxious fingers.

After checking through thoroughly, the dog approves. 

I thought I was done with the project! However, I realised that the stickers and magnets were not water proof! Hence, I went ahead and purchased some self-adhesive laminating stickers to add a protective layer and to give them a glossy finish.

After ALOT of cutting and pasting, here's Sam with one of the end products!

Proof of my hard work!

Guess where the stickers went: Sam's personal items! 

1. His water bottle!

 

2. His poop bag dispenser!

Meanwhile, the magnets went on to join our already Sam-populated fridge!

While the items were no way near as nice and professionally done as the ones available on etsy, I was really happy with the end products! My next step is to go ahead and purchase dies for my cuttlebug so that I don't have to manually cut the stickers and they would have neater edges! Meanwhile, I'm just so pleased and proud of myself!

Job well done!

Yet another handmade project!

This project is EXTREMELY jinxed. I started it about two months ago but stopped midway after I messed up the zipper. (I actually completed it and then realised that I had mis-sewn the zipper. Ahhhh~) After undoing the seams, I called it a day and planned to resume the next day. Then the flooding occurred. *Faints* So after another two weeks, I was ready again. That was when I realised that my zipper has gone missing! ahhhhh~ I'm sure it's still in the house somewhere, but probably misplaced when the workers moved our furniture around. After yet a few more weeks, I finally freed up a day to pop by the store to buy a replacement zipper. And of course, after yet more procrastination (probably a month or so), I finally embarked on the project.

Here are the materials for this project. I really liked the fabric I used for my tokyo bag. However, I was unable to find the exact same purple fabric (well, let's say that looking for fabric in Moods in a challenge) and thus had to settle for the green equivalent.

And the dog approves. 

I was basically pulling my hair out doing this project. I can only blamed it on myself for wanting to do an invisible zip. I was totally asking for it. -_-  FML. I should have payed more attention in sewing class. After 4 attempts and X hours later, I finally did it correctly. Here's the end product - A pillow case!

(notice that the lighting had changed? It was still daylight when I started the project and by the time I was done, it was almost midnight! Felt like slapping myself. T_T)

Anyway, here's the original pillow from Ikea that served as the stuffing.

The final product! I had to wake Sam up again to pose for me, hence explaining his sleepy blur face. 

I decided to take some more photos in daylight. I'm actually really happy that Sam seemed to like it!

The silly boy was actually falling asleep when sitting up. Too cute~

Well, he eventually figured that resting his head was easier. 

Despite the blood and sweat hardwork, I'm really pleased with the end product. While it looked like an effortless project, it sure was frustrating. Guess it goes to show that I'm no where near competent with my sewing projects. Time to put in more effort!

Meanwhile, let me procrastinate a little more just to recover from this project. Hee, what can I say, I AM A SLACKER.