Father's Day, Silhouette Style

I wish I had a bunch of adorable pictures of my husband and my precious children on Father's Day.  But I don't.  Jim spend the day spreading mulch and mowing the lawn and grilling burgers – all his choice – and he was truly a hot mess.  I suppose I could have taken a picture before or after church, but I didn't realize it was my only opportunity.

So instead of sweet family photos, I'll share all of this year's Father's Day crafts.

First up, the gifts we made for Jim's dad...

Jim (Jim's dad, Jim, aka James Riggs III) is the sports editor for our local paper where we grew up.  As a part of his Father's Day gift, I had my mother-in-law send me clippings from a few weeks of the sports section of the paper.  I used Jim's editorials, as well as a few other articles, as a backdrop for a piece of personalized art!  If you look closely, you can see his name in an article above the steam on the train:

Jim loves model trains, so he is able to hang this in or near the entrance to his "train room" at home.

So, I shouldn't admit this, but the whole gift cost $5.  I got the frame for $4 at the local dollar store, and the train image cost me a dollar in the Silhouette store.  (I love that you can buy what you want from the Silhouette store for $1 per item instead of buying $80 cartridges like you have to do with other craft cutters!)

Jim's dad's other gift is so stinkin' amazing, in my opinion.  (I don't think I did anything amazing; I just think my Silhouette can do amazing things!)  After I saw a the idea on the Silhouette blog, I decided this was a perfect gift for Jim's dad who is an AVID golfer:

First, I asked Sharon which golf balls Jim typically uses,  and I bought a box of twelve.  (This is only one sleeve.)  Then, I special ordered Silhouette tattoo paper and tattooed each ball!!

(This is a sample I did on my own Jim's white ball, just to make sure it would work.)

My favorite feature of my Silhouette is the "print and cut" feature.  I can print something on my regular printer, put it in my Silhouette, and it recognizes where to cut!!!!!!  I mean, SHUT UP!!!!

Isn't this just the craziest thing ever?  And it isn't hard to figure out how to do it!  It's like rocket science in the way it works, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do it!!!

I applied the tattoos to the balls just the same way you apply them to skin: with water and a washcloth.  After the balls were tattooed, I sprayed them ever-so-lightly with a polyurethane spray that I already had, and it kept the tattoo from coming off with water.  Now early morning dew won't wash the name off!

For my own Jim's Father's Day gift, we did two things.  The first didn't involve the Silhouette at all.

My Jim always needs binder clips, so we bought him a box, and Brennan decorated papers that we glued to the clips.

Simple, cute, and very appropriate from a five-year-old.

The second gift was a family gift.  I saw the idea here and thought it was perfect for Father's Day!  I used colors that go with the play room so we could all enjoy it.  (I told Jim that if he wanted it for work, I would make another one.)

I just traced our hands on cardstock and cut them out.  For our name and the date, I used brown vinyl in my Silhouette.

Not only was this gift sweet, but Jim also learned something new about me.  He never knew that I had hurt my finger in the swimming pool when I was young and it has been bent every since.  (Isn't it attractive?)  It actually isn't that obvious in real life (clearly, if we've been married almost eleven years and he has never noticed).

I hope you all had a great and crafty Father's Day.  Unless you hate crafts.  Then I hope it was very store-bought .  ;-)  Either way I hope it was happy!!