World Traveling Vinyl

I'm so excited to post these pics!  My college friend Anita and her husband are missionaries in Burkina Faso, West Africa.  After over a year of language study, they have just recently moved to their permanent residence.  The wanted some lettering for their new home.


The first lettering I ever made was for their first home in Burkina.

This is what I made- I still like it even though it is obviously a first attempt.

After I made this for a friend, Anita asked me to make one to put in her new kitchen.  I really like the color  of her walls.  They decided to keep the leveling bar on the wall :)

I think this is in their guest room.  I was planning to visit them next spring, but since we are expecting a new baby, I'll have to wait a little longer.

Anita and Ken welcomed their first baby in April.  They picked out a name and kept it a secret from everyone except me so that I could make some lettering for their baby's room. It was kind of fun to be in on the secret.  Isn't Natalie Jewell a sweet name for a sweet little girl?  I love the verse they picked to go with her name.








Ken and Anita, welcome home!!!!  Thanks for letting me be part of your housewarming!

Vinyl for Sunday School Rooms

Someone asked me to make some vinyl for their nursery and Sunday school rooms.  I usually charge $6/sq foot for vinyl but for church projects I will always make it $5/sq ft.

Here are the final pictures:

Stenciling with Vinyl

 I just finished my first painted wooden sign. I'm so pleased with how it turned out!  


Here's how I did it:  A friend of mine distressed the wood she wanted to use for the sign, so that part was already finished.  I used my vinyl cutter to cut the words "Sandy toes and salty kisses".  Instead of removing the extra vinyl from the letters, I removed the letters to make the negative image.

Then I attached the vinyl to the sign and painted over the letters.

I let the paint dry for about an hour, then carefully removed the vinyl.

This makes such a great personal gift.  If you are crafty and want to try your hand at vinyl stenciling, please let me know.  Any vinyl I cut can be weeded with the negative image for stenciling!

Videos

How to apply your vinyl

How to apply your vinyl video

Here is my first YouTube video! I will be sending a link to this video to all my customers from now on.

And a BIG thank you to Jeni for her help with the video today! I owe you some vinyl!

Some Favorite Fonts

I'm always on the look out for new fonts.
 Here are some that I tend to use over and over again!  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Jeremiah!

This post is not about vinyl. 

Today my little boy turns 2.  Jeremiah was born with Spina Bifida.  Part of his spinal cord did not close and was outside his back.  (I have a picture of his cyst before surgery if you are curious, but it is pretty graphic, so I won't post it here).  Jeremiah was born in the "pike position" with his legs up by his head, and he could not lower them at all.  Our neurosurgeon told us that he would probably never walk.  He was in the NICU for 2 weeks.  He had his initial closure surgery to remove the cyst on the day he was born.  Then three days later, he had a surgery to place a shunt in his brain because he also has hydrocephalus, excess fluid in the brain.  He had another surgery at three months because his shunt stopped working.  He went through a series of casts.  The casts lowered his legs, and he can now bend his knees.  He has no feeling in his feet, but he is learning to take steps with a walker.

A good friend made a video of Jeremiah's progress and I thought I'd post it here.  Thanks, Claire!

We have been so blessed by Jeremiah.  He is a happy little guy!  He has a tender heart, a sweet smile, and an infectious laugh!

Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!  We love you!

A few photos of some new projects

I know it has been a while since I've blogged.  I've been really busy filling orders and playing outside with my kids.  I thought you might enjoy a few pictures of some of my new projects.  Let me know if you need anything!

My largest project

When Erin asked me to make a candy land type game board for one of the walls at Imagination Station, the toy store she co-owns, I was a bit intimidated.  I had never made anything so large, and it was a lot of digital design, something that I have just started learning.  After about 6 weeks of planning and tweaking, a new machine, and many rolls of vinyl, above is the final result.

It took about Erin and me more than 6 hours to apply to the wall!  I thought you might enjoy a few process pictures.

Just getting started.

Applying the vinyl

And some more detailed shots:

 

Thank you so much, Imagination Station, for giving me this opportunity!  It was a lot of fun!  

If you are local, stop by the store, see my work, and support local business!

Silhouettes

For Christmas, my brother-in-law asked me to make him a tile that said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I was learning some digital design at the time, so I decided to make a silhouette of their family.  I think that silhouettes add such a sweet personal touch to a gift.

Here is the final product.

I think it turned out great! 

I have been working on some other silhouettes as well.  For a little guy who LOVES soccer, I made took a photograph of him celebrating after a score and turned that into a silhouette.

I talked about a silhouette that I made for my husband of our wedding picture in this post.

What silhouettes would you like to see?  Email me at vinylbyhannah@gmail.com

And the winner is...

Congratulations, Amy Martin!  Please email me your color choices and a few photos of you and your sweetheart!
vinylbyhannah@gmail.com

Be watching for more contests coming soon!

It's a Contest! Tell me your Love Story!

 For Valentine's Day, I decided to make this for my husband.  I have seen it on pinterest, and I thought it would be perfect for us.  I just love the way it turned out.  The picture isn't quite perfect because there is a glare from the window just above the light switch.

I made the silhouette from one of our wedding pictures.  Aren't we cute?

Since we are talking about love stories, I thought I'd share how I met my husband.  If you have been following my blog, you know that after college, I moved to Saipan. One day, my aunt called me on the phone.  She was giggling because she had just given my email address to the preacher's son at her church.  He was single.  I was single.  Surely that meant that we were perfect for each other.  I had my doubts.  Saipan was 28 hours away from Indiana by plane.  I promptly forgot the conversation.  Four months later, on Christmas Eve, I received an email entitled "Hello from Franklin, Indiana."  I did not recognize the sender, but I have several family members in Franklin.  Chris and I wrote each other every week for four months.

Our first picture together, at my cousin's open house just minutes after we met

In the summer of 2004, I flew back to Indiana.  My parents picked me up from the airport at 10:00a.m. and at 2:00 p.m. we went to my cousin's (who also went to Chris' church) high school graduation open house in Franklin.  My entire extended family, and Chris' entire church all watched us meet for the first time.  I was not at my best- I had been awake for 36 hours and I was trying to adjust to a 15 hour time difference.  I knew when Chris walked in the room because everyone at the party stopped talking.  He took me out to Ritters frozen custard because he knew I missed it in Saipan.  The next day, he came to my house- chased by a tornado.  (I am not making this up).  He stopped at Stake n Shake and bought me fries.  The next day we went out to eat on our first real date, and then I flew to Europe for two weeks.

After Europe, we spent as much time as we could together.  He proposed a week before I had to go back to Saipan.  He called me every day at lunch (11:00 a.m. my time, 8:00 p.m. his time).  I came home for Christmas and spent a week with his family.  He came to visit me in the Spring.  We were married in July of 2005.

Every love story is beautiful.  But ours is my favorite.

So now it is time for me to announce the next contest.

Leave a comment on my blog and tell me about your love story.  You could win this phrase for your home.  You pick the colors, and I will even make a silhouette of you and your sweetheart.  Do you want another chance to win?  Pin my vinyl lettering to pintrest and I'll enter you a second time!  Entries are due by February 22.  (One week from today).

Good luck!

Hannah

My Life Verse

When I was 25, I moved to a tiny island in the north Pacific called Saipan.  I taught second grade to children from seven different Asian countries and islands for two years.  This picture is the view from my apartment looking out over the Philippine Sea at sunset.

One day soon after I arrived on the island, I was up early, reading my Bible and praying.  I felt completely alone.  I moved to the island knowing absolutely no one.  I was afraid that this move would keep me a single woman forever, and I deeply wanted to be be married and have children.  I told God that I did not think it was not fair that I was in the middle of no where, with no friends.  I felt like God had abandoned me.

Then I turned in my Bible to Psalm 139:8-10.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.

It was the perfect answer to my prayer.  It was early in the morning, the sun was not yet up.  I was on the far side of the sea.  And God was holding me fast and guiding me.

And you know what?  I haven't ever felt that deep sense of loneliness since. I have been lonely of course, but I have never felt as devastated as I did that day. And as for the singleness issue, the story of how I met my husband will have to be saved for another day.

Here is a picture of my life verse that I made for my best friend...  We met in Saipan.

Do you have a life verse that you want in your house?  Let me know about it!  vinylbyhannah@gmail.com

Some of my unusual requests

Many people ask me if I do custom work.   Yes. Here are a few of my favorites.

My sister-in-law has three sons that she has lovingly nicknamed Doodlebug, Monkey, and Turtle.  What is a doodlebug, you ask?  A doodlebug is conveniently any kind of insect that might interest my oldest nephew.  My brother-in-law asked me to make a stick figure family for his car, but to use animals instead of little boys.  So for my (ahem) wild nephews, I made this decal.  I will replace this mock up with an actual picture as soon as my SIL sends me one. (And yes, she does sell 31.  Hence the 31 bag.)

Another customer loves pigs and snorkeling.  Could I make a snorkeling pig?  But of course.

How about a candyland board?   You got it.

Do you have an unusual request?  Email me at vinylbyhannah@gmail.com !

Surrounded by Scripture

 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.- Deuteronomy 11:18-20



I enjoy making all kinds of vinyl.  I love to create stick figure families for your cars that are custom designed to reflect your personalities.  I love making welcome signs and taking photographs of nature that I turn into vinyl silhouettes.   But by far, my favorite vinyl to design is scripture.  I need the constant reminder.  God even told the Israelites to write them on the door frames of their houses.  Here are some of my favorite verses that have been "fixed into my heart" and written on the walls of my house (or someone else's).

 This is my life verse.  My best friend requested it before I had time to make it for my own wall!

Custom car decals

 $3/person + $1/accessory

 

 Ask about pricing for your small business logo

Playroom

 

 $30 (other sizes and pricing are available)

$24

$10

Entryway

 

Ask about pricing

 

 $25.  Greetings.

$24.  So true.