I’ve had these adorable tumblers in my stash of “goodies to embellish” for months, (I grabbed them off of Pick Your Plum at the start of the summer!) and was so excited to dig them out for this week’s project. I’ve got a super simple DIY for adding vinyl to them with a Silhouette cutting system and scrap vinyl…no large pieces required! (You’ll also get a super quick intro to the offset feature in your Silhouette software…a great tool for “fattening up” those thin fonts!)
Note #1: Silhouette’s featured product this month is vinyl, so if you’re interested in picking some up Buy One Get One Free, be sure to scroll down for the link to get started shopping. (CAMEO machines bundled with vinyl are also on sale!)
Note #2: I’m giving Silhouette CAMEO®! I know, you may think be thinking doesn’t Nikki give away a cutting system every month? And honestly, the only reason why I get to give them away so often is because of your great responses to the opportunity! I changed up the entry form a bit this month to make things a little more exciting. You can find it at the very bottom of the post! It’s a fun one! Let’s share some back-to-school stories!
Enjoy,
Nikki, In Stitches
1. DIY Back To School Tumblers
These DIY tumblers couldn’t be easier to make, and the best part is the design is done from scratch. No need to buy anything from the Silhouette online store or another graphics site…you can do this one all by yourself!
First, measure the circumference of your tumbler. For me, it was about 8 1/2″…that’s with a little bit of overlap. We’ll work off of that number for this post, but you can adjust it to fit your tumbler or water bottle accordingly.
Note: The part of my tumblers that I am adhering the vinyl to is straight up and down. This how-to will not work if your cups or tumblers are slanted, i.e. larger at the top than at the bottom. You would need to curve your text, and that’s something we’ll save for another post! However, if you can’t find tumblers like these, don’t stress! This same design would look adorable on a thermos (often straight up and down like these tumblers!) or even a lunch box or plastic pencil case!
In your Silhouette software, click on the “Draw A Line” button and draw three horizontal lines, each your desired length. (Again, for me, it’s 8 1/2″.)
Now click on the “Open The Line Style Window” at the top right of your software.
Be sure your top line is selected. Keep your line solid, but adjust the line thickness to 3.75. You’ll also want to be sure that you’ve selected “Corner” for your “Corner Style” and “Flat” for your “End Cap Style.” Take a look at the screenshot below to see exactly how I have my line adjusted. Make these same adjustments to your bottom line as well!
Now select your center line. You will adjust this line the exact same way, except you’d like this one to be dashed. I used the fourth option down in the “Line Style” options box.
Click the “Open The Cut Style Window” from the top right of your Silhouette software. One at a time, select each of your lines, and then select “Cut Edge” from the “Cut Style” options.
Now we’ve got our lines…let’s add some text!
I used a free font I found called Learning Curve. Using that font, or any other you’d like, type the name you’re going to put on your tumbler.
As you can see, this font is a little on the thin side, which is fine, but just not for cutting vinyl. So I fattened it up a bit using the “Offset” feature of the Silhouette software.
To do so, be sure your name is selected. Then go to the top left of your screen and select the “Object.” Select “Offset” from the drop down menu that appears.
With a little bit of playing around, I found that if I adjust the offset distance to .02 (yes, I know that’s tiny!) it gave me almost an exact replica of the name, just thicker!
Delete out the original text, so you are just left with “thickened” name, and enlarge it to your desired size. For me, I wanted my finished name to be about 1 1/2″ high.
Adjust the distance between your three horizontal lines to fit your text!
From here it’s just a matter of cutting and transferring your vinyl. Cut your lines first from white (or whatever color you’d like) and use transfer paper to adhere them to your tumbler. Then cut your name (again, from whatever color you’d like…in my case, black) and transfer it to your tumbler! Super easy!
2. Vinyl Buy One Get One Free Sale
As I said above, vinyl itself is on sale, as well as CAMEO machines bundled with it. Here are the details:
- Silhouette CAMEO®, 2 rolls of vinyl (chalkboard and white) and 1 roll of transfer paper: $269.99 (MSRP: $329.96)
- Buy one get one free on all Silhouette vinyl! (This is the one I know a lot of your will love!)
Ready to start shopping?
Head over to the Silhouette site and get going!
And be sure to use promo code STITCHES to get your discount!
This offer is only good from 8/6/13 to 8/14/13!
3. The Silhouette CAMEO® Giveaway!
I’ve decided to spice things up a bit this month, so be sure to take a close look at the entry form below. As always, entering the Silhouette CAMEO® giveaway is easy…I just thought we’d have a bit more fun and share some back-to-school stories! Just use the Rafflecopter app below. This giveaway is open to US residents only! (If you’re viewing this post in your email or through an email reader and can’t see the Rafflecopter box below, click here to be taken directly to the Nikki, In Stitches site.)
Here is exactly what the winner will receive:
- Silhouette CAMEO® electronic cutting machine
- Silhouette Studio® software
- 51 exclusive cuttable designs
- Power cable, USB cable
- 12″ cutting mat
- Cutting blade
- $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store
- Basic Instruction Guide
PLUS, I’m adding in my Intro To Your CAMEO class for free!
PLUS, I’m also adding in a free membership in the Nikki, In Stitches Craft Academy‘s first program, “CraftingWith Your Silhouette,” which is now open for enrollment! If you’d like to stop by and take a peek at what’s going on there, click here!
Good luck in the giveaway and Happy Shopping!
I always loved shopping for school supplies. I always wanted to be a lawyer so it felt like I was shopping for my office and I would pretend in a make shift office (my bedroom closet). it actually had a little shelf.
The new locker organization things are pretty cool.
I Loved senior year! it was spend doing tons of activities with my best friends!
Ironically I ran into my 7th grade science teacher while out to breakfast this morning – it reminded me how much I valued him as a teacher and what great memories I had from school!
Miss Cox, my English teacher in 9th grade, 50 years ago, was my favorite teacher. Not because she was young, blonde, curvaceous, or even because she owned a little red sports car. i liked her because she first liked me. Not only that, but she liked teaching and was good at it. i will never forget Miss Cox.
One of the things i loved about going back to school was decorating and drawing on my paper bag book covers!!
I never cared too much for school, but my oldest son really enjoys school and that makes me so happy!!
I loved second grade. It really opened the door in math that I had a blast going through. It was probably my favorite year for many reasons Third is a close second because I started to play the violin
I loved school supply shopping! I still have a thing for pens or notebooks. Some fun memories are from high school. We had sororities and during pledge, sisters made us do crazy things. Some that stuck out were not shaving our legs for a week or no makeup. Really??!!! Talk about embarrassing! I wouldn’t have normally been caught without makeup or prickly legs! Ha. Fast forward now and if I have on makeup or wear something other than workout clothes my husbands looks at me like I have 2 heads! Haha. By the way, Id love that silhouette!!! 🙂
Loved going clothes shopping so much fun and then school supply shopping made it even better picking your own personality and becoming you ..kinda sad my kids cant pick their own clothes. School uniforms are boring to shop for!!
I was so privileged to have so many superb teachers! May have been grades more important but the teachers all rocked! And were very creative considering how long ago it was. lol
Hi Nikki,
I loved high school, it was a time were I got to learn and do new things. I took a jewelry class and learned how to cast sliver. I also was in a school play along with learning how to drive and get my FREEDOM behind a wheel. I just learned you had to try new things and discover ME ! I started to learn my interest and talents.
I absolutely LOVE hearing all of your back to school stories!
Many of you know, I was a high school math teacher before I started Nikki, In Stitches…and these memories make me miss my classroom and all of my students!
But don’t worry…I’m not going anywhere 😉
I loved middle school because of all my friends. They are the people that I am still best friends with today. We are going on 20 plus years of friendships. And I still love going they the aisles with all the new school supplies each year. Almost bought stuff I didn’t need at CVS yesterday lol.
A new backpack was always my highlight of back to school.
Loved back to school shopping for supplies and being able to decorate my brown paper book covers and locker. Loved to organize my backback and buy stickers to decorate everything. Nothing like the smell of new school supplies. 🙂 The best thing is I get to do it all over again with my son.
I always loved shopping for school supplies! I still love going shopping for office supplies 🙂 I’m from a small town, so I meet kids in kindergarten and knew them all the way through high school! I enjoyed most of my school years, but I think grade school was the most fun 🙂 Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
I loved going to buy school supplies every year. To this day when I go into an office supply store I get tingles looking at all the cool stuff! Pens, Pencils, Organizers…oh my! =)
Always love back to school…a new start…at least for the first week. Thanks for the chance – your blog is great.
I’ve always loved buying school supplies, even when my children were grown and gone!
I think college years were the best. I finally knew who I was and was much more comfortable with me. I loved the small classes and the class discussion vs lecture. I took 2 extra years to graduate undergrad and really appreciated what I learned. 10 years after undergrad I went back to grad school and loved it. I love buying notebooks/journals and pens/pencils/ect to go along with them. I would love a cameo!
I loved school! I have always been a bookworm, love learning new things! So school was a great place to do that! 🙂 Reading and talking about what we had read were my favorite things! I always looked forward to going back to school in the fall.
I think I love buying school supplies more then my girls. I love to see their faces when I find a new set of pens or pencils their favorite character on a notebook. Shopping for college this year for my daughter has been exciting and a little sad at the same time. Happy she is on a new path sad she’s leaving home.
These are spectacular. I love the versatility of the Cameo and all the fun ideas I am seeing people share with vinyl. A bit “jelly” to be honest, since I don’t have one yet 🙂 but appreciate all the inspiration people share. These are a great idea for a return to school project for my son, Lance Jr., or even for my newest Kindergartner, Ariana! Thanks for the tips Nikki. Loved the “mix up” with the giveaway questions, too 🙂
:O)
Jessica
While I never loved going “back to school” I did love all the colored paper, crayons, notebooks and what all that the stores stocked up with for back to school. I mean who would not get inspiration from all those colors and options??
Hi Nikki!!
I really like back to school because everything is new ~ new supplies, new grade, new teacher, new friends and new lessons to be learned! My two little ones are looking forward to the start of school!
What a cute idea!
I started following you after seeing you on Craft Wars – you’re adorbs!
Happy crafting!
My favorite professor was Dr. Walker. I met her my freshman year in college and when I graduated we went to Puerto Rico for a week! We are still great friends though I am unable to call her by her first name to this day 🙂
I just loved the beginning of a new year and seeing all my friends again
School supply shopping is my favorite!! I am a teacher and I can never get enough colored pens!!
If I could change my life I would have continued on and on in school until the day my body wore out from carrying all of those books. I still browse the back-to-school aisles to see all the fun designs on the notebooks and lunch boxes…brings back such wonderful memories….then I remember why I was glad to graduate! Now I look forward to having a Silhouette to do all of my paper cutting for me!
I loved going back to school shopping for supplies! We always went to Target and I loved picking out new folders for my subjects. The trapper keeper purchase was also very important. =)
i just think teachers in general need a Whoop Whoop!
I hated school!!! I was always shy, did not have many friends. In first grade we were going to have to stand in front of class at an easel to do a painting. The teacher called on me to be first and I was scared out of my wits and said I did not want to be first. So she made a big scene and said if I wouldn’t be first then I could be last. I hated that teacher. The one teacher I did like was in fifth grade–Mrs Frankenwicz. She was an older lady and oh, so nice. In high school, I hated the beginning of every new year, cause all the teachers would say “Oh, so you are Pam’s sister”. I never had a name, I was always Pam’s sister.
I loved what we called smelly markers growing up. So fun to color in different scents. would love to win!
Would love to be able to play with this machine.
thanks for the giveaway…
My favorite thing about going back to school was first seeing all my friends and telling them about the fun vacations that I had that summer. Second was all the awesome new supplies that I would get to pick out. I loved anything with bright colors and had what I call personality. =-)
4th grade, Mr Lucas, East Pikeland Elementary 🙂 awesome teacher.
I still love back to school time! I loved it as a child and I love it as an Instructional Assistant. I love to see all of the eager Kindergarteners as they come to school each year ready for public school. For a lot of our students this is their first introduction to school. We live in an economically depressed area and a lot of our students have not been exposed to preschool or day care. This is truly an eye-opener for them!
I loved shopping for school supplies. My favorite back to school shopping was getting new clothes!!
I just love everything about “Back to School”….Thank you for a fabulous giveaway!
I love getting new 5-subjects notebooks.
I am like a kid in a candy store the minute that I enter the office or school supply section of the store (like Target, or even better Office Depot). I can’t get enough of all of those gadgets, book bag gear, and most especially pens in different colors. LOVE them!!
Love shopping for school supplies!
I still love shopping for school supplies – went today with my college sophomore “baby” to get folders and spirals at Target!
I loved the Crayola markers and stampers!
My favorite teacher was my math and P.E. teacher in junior high. Mr. McCully had a way of making EVERY student feel special. Teachers can’t do this today, but he and his wife had every single one of his math classes over for a class Christmas party each year, complete with presents for all of the students. He was the type of teacher that followed up with you long after you’d left his class, always anxious to hear what you had done with your life. Even this last year, about 25 years after having had him as a teacher, he stopped by my father’s dental office to ask him about how I was doing and what the “lastest and greatest” was. Talk about an inspirational teacher!
I’m waxing nostalgic about my Lisa Frank binders from grade school 🙂
I really loved school! With all of my wonderful teachers & friends, I eagerly anticipated the beginning of each new year. This anticipation & excitement continued throughout my 32 years of teaching k-2nd grades!
To ease nervous little ones at the “Meet & Greets”, I would let them in on a secret about teachers being more nervous than their students because, “Teachers meet a big, new group of children & parents…while they only have to meet me!” This would always get a smile!
Now retired, I miss the hustle and bustle of preparing my room, getting fresh supplies, & receiving all the hugs and smiles from my little ones! School years are exciting years which pass much too swiftly! I’m lucky that my 19 mo. old grand-daughter loves to draw, sing, count, & read books together. I plan to really enjoy it all over again!
There was a candy store across from my elemtary school. The only thing you could take to class was Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops because they were “medicine”. A bag cost a nickel back then. It was my favorite school supply!
I love a fresh pack of sharpies in every color! Especially gold! I’m also partial to highlighters, not sure why – I just love highlighting. giggle.
Aaahhh, the memories. I liked to see how many teachers called me Robert when they did attendance the first week. The forms always dropped the a. Like your robocopter questions. Keeps life interesting!
Really, I loved shopping for school no matter what the items. When my husband went back to school I was super excited to go shopping for him and may have gotten a little carried away.
I think my favorite school supplies were the fun items – the Traperkeepers and Lisa Frank stickers! LOL
I loved buy paper and pencils so much even all the years later and grown kids! i still look forward to buy paper and pencils! I look this time of year when you walk in to the store and you see them all lined up!! Heaven! I think the only thing better than that is fabric!!
Funny what we all love!
LeAnn
My favorite school supply is paper! I love different styles, colors and prints. As a teacher I use them all the time, so you have to switch it up!!!
I loved folders and picking what color would be for each subject!
I went to boarding school and really bonded with my roommates. They became the sisters I never had. Two were bridesmaids in my wedding years later!
I’m a 4th grade teacher…so my love of school supplies continues to grow each year! I think my problem is choosing just one supply I love more than the rest! Thanks for having the giveaway, Nikki!
I will always remember my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Burton. She is the sweetest woman and treated all of us kids like we were her own. She did, and still does, refer to all of us as her “babies” (even though I’m 21 now 🙂 ). She gave me my love of reading as well!
My favorite teacher was my high school english teacher!
I didn’t ever really LOVE school. However my 5th grade teacher was pretty awesome and some girlfriends and I used to go visit her for years after we left her classroom.:)
I loved my 7th/8th grade history teacher. He always came up with silly sayings to help us those tough to remember facts. He made history fun. Since he participated in Civil War re-enactments, he’d bring in his Civil War gear. That brought history to life for us!
Thanks for this giveaway! I LOVE all school supplies!
I had some really awesome teachers, but one that stands out was Mrs. Wolfe. Kids quaked in fear of having her for their teacher, and some actually cried if/when they learned they had gotten her. (I think I almost did when I found out I had her.) However, the year I had her just happened to be her last year before retirement. Talk about a blast. That was the best year ever!
Its hard to pick a favorite school year. I loved school so much became a teacher!
I saw a locker chandelier at the store the other day. That would be cool.
Hands down, my best teacher ever was 1967, first grade at El Vista School and Mrs. Adams. She put me in my own reading group, let me read fifth grade books, and NEVER let me sit idle and bored. She made me so excited to go to school every single day. It is because of her that I have such love for literature to this day.
My dad use to let me buy double so I can have my own office at home.
I loved organizing all of my new supplies! Something’s never change because I spend more thing organizing my craft supplies than I do crafting!
I am the same way! Something about everything being perfectly in place just makes me happy! I wish I could get as excited about organizing laundry or my scary hallway closet! Haha!
Once we were old enough to have them I loved the locker organization/decor supplies!
School was fun only because of my art classes!
I loved getting a new back pack every year.
My mom, sister and I used to make school shopping a big event. We would go to a couple different stores to make sure we found the perfect backpack and lunch box and then would go somewhere to eat. Then my sister and I would come home and play “store” where we would use our stuffed animals as kids and buy all the supplies again! If only that excitement for school and new supplies could last all the way through grad school 🙂
I was always a nerd in school and loved school supplies and still do! I always wanted different color pens. that’s how I organized my notes.
I always loved getting a new lunch box. They just don’t make the great hard plastic lunch boxes with thermoses in lots of characters anymore! My favorite growing up at the original my little ponies on it
I love all the back to school supplies. I take advantage of every great deal I can find, so I have buckets of crayola:) More than we can go through even though we try. I’m so glad my kids are old enough to appreciate crayons so I don’t feel so silly totally stocking up!
I loved all the new books I got to purchase for college. Bibliophile for life (and learning junkie ;))!
My favorite back to school supply is a new planner.
I always enjoyed getting a new book bag each year. I started using it for more than a year as I got older.
I still have a deep love for school supplies lol. My favorite supply was actually binders.. I love them! I had one for each class, one for extra paper, and extra binders just in case! Still love them too. Thanks for the chance to win! 🙂
my absolute favorite supply was always a planner–because im a planner and like to be organized!!!
I loved third grade ~ but I was born to teach kindergarten!
I found Crayola Crayons today 4 24 count for $1.00. It was a good day.
I couldn’t wait to get out of school so my senior yr was my favorite grade. But if I knew then what I know now i would of enjoyed school more
Well for me back to school bring back great memories.My mom and dad would take all four of us,my two sisters and brother shopping for new backpacks,marble notebooks ,yellow pencils,and a box of crayola crayons.I followed the tradition with my kids.My youngest is going to college this year and she will be doing her on shopping.I will miss those days.
I loved the third grade but college was the best. I was able to study abroad and I saw parts of the world that I dreamt of and awed over in films. But shopping for back to school is the best- I love seeing all the new designs and goodies. Awesome giveaway!
back to school shopping is my favorite time of year! is that awkward? lol
My favorite teacher was my 3/4th grade teacher! She was amazing and made learning fun!!
I always enjoyed organizing my school supplies in my backpack and desk! 🙂
I remember getting a large box of crayons when I was in grade school that I was so proud of but one day they got all wet so my mom had a great idea, she put them in a warm oven to dry, well you can guess what happened. I was very upset but was able to get new ones to replace the ones that melted 🙂
My kids got the “letter” today. You know, the that tells you which teacher you have? It reminded me how big of a deal that was…then the calls to friends to find out if you knew anyone in your class. I always loved the start of a new school year-why can’t the real world have a reset every so often?
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