School Bus Mailbox Cover

After the stomach bug from Hades and daily thunderstorms that have prevented good photos or internet at times I finally have another project for you.  School starts back here in 10 short days!  This summer has flown by and I am sad to see it go.  I hate to see the kids go back.  No matter how much kicking and screaming and resisting the end of the summer, though, it is still going to come, so I decided that I would add a little back to school jazz to my house.  There really is nothing else coming up until Halloween, and this cute little school bus idea just came to mind.  It is a super easy project that really requires little to no sewing.  So without further ado, I present the school bus mailbox cover.  :)

Measure your mailbox to get the right amount of fabric of course.

Materials:

•  Yellow and black fabric (I used cheap broad cloth), and scraps of red and white.
•  Heat n Bond iron-on vinyl
•  Regular fabric Heat n Bond or Wonder Under.
•  sticky back Velcro

I did not take pictures of all the steps because it is really so simple.  You just need to have the measurements of your mailbox at hand.  Make a template for the square windows, stop sign, and for the round circles that will be your wheels.  Using a template will insure they are all equal size. 

You are going to start by cutting from the yellow fabric a piece that is long enough and wide enough to cover your mailbox.  Then you will just cut out all the pieces and using the regular Heat n Bond iron them onto your yellow fabric.  Remember you want to make the bus show up on both sides of the mailbox so you will have to add the cut outs to both ends of your fabric.  I did not sew the pieces down because it will be sandwiched between vinyl and not washed so unraveling should not be a big problem.  Save the wheels for later.

Then you will take the vinyl and following the directions on the package you will apply it to the front and back side of your fabric.  Then you will cut out two strips that will serve as your straps to Velcro the cover onto your mailbox.  I used the yellow fabric for this.  Then I laminated it with the vinyl as well.  I sewed one end of each of the straps onto one side of the cover (right side to right side).  Then I sewed on the wheels on that side.  Only sew the top part of the tire down, because you do not want it to wrap underneath the mailbox with your strap.  You will then sew the other tires to the other end of your strap.  Then you will put it on your mailbox and apply your sticky back Velcro.  NOTE:  You will need to at some point cut out a place for the flag on your mailbox.  I did this after everything was applied. 

This is where my Velcro straps attached.

I love how from a distance it just looks like a bus cut out, and you can't even tell there is black fabric there.  Best of all you can just wipe the surface clean, too.

Linked up over at the CSI Project for their Back-to-School Project Contest

Footprint Door Mat How-To

I have been seeing all these pins on Pinterest of monogrammed door mats so I thought I would change that up a little bit.  My last name will be the same forever, but my kids are growing way too fast so why not preserve this moment.  I have always been a sucker for baby feet, so the Footprint Door Mat was born.

What I used:

• $6 Wal-Mart door mat
• Black acrylic craft pain
• Foam brushes
• Paper
• Scanner, Silhouette Cameo, and vinyl (optional)
• If you do not have a Silhouette freezer paper will work also.

First off you will need to prep and paint those precious baby tootsies.  You might want to have a bucket of water close by or do this in the bathroom because it can get messy.  We did one foot at a time.  My boys loved it!

Next, you will have them step directly down onto a piece of white paper.

You will probably have some lighter spots like in the photo above.  If you are using a Silhouette for this you will want to take your black paint and paint in those light spots so that it is a more solid color.  It makes the next step much easier.

Silhouette instructions

When you have finished painting them in, let the paint dry.  Scan them into your computer if using your Silhouette.  When you open your Silhouette software you will click the open folder and find the location you saved your footprints to.  You may have to change the file type in the drop down menu to .jpg to find it.  Then click Open.  When the footprints show up in your Silhouette Studio software you will go to the top menu and find Object.  Then go down to where it says Trace.  On the right side will pop up the trace options.  Select your trace area.  Then choose "trace outer edge."  When you have done this you can select your media if you haven't already and load it into the Silhouette.  Once you set your blade to the appropriate setting you are ready to cut!  You are going to use the negative portion for your stencil so use your Silhouette hook and peel out the inner foot print.  Then you will transfer your stencil onto the rug.  It may not stick firmly if you are using a highly textured rug like the one I used, but just hold it down as you pull off the transfer paper and it will work. :)

Once you have your stencil secured to the mat you will take your foam brushes and paint those feet!  I coated them several times to make sure to get it good and saturated and dark getting into the textured spots.  Peel it off, and Voila!

The great thing is now you have the footprints saved and scanned into your computer!  Think of all the great crafts you can do with them now!  They would make great grandparent gifts!

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