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So far jsteffan has created 11 blog entries.

Home Is My Favorite Place To Be Project

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. The air is still a little cool, everything is green, and new life is emerges. Spring time is also softball and baseball season! The cool but can still give you a sunburn air, hearing the crack of the ball inside a mitt and the ping of the ball hitting the bat have always gotten me excited. When I met my husband we quickly found that we had a common passion for softball. As a result we would spend hours playing catch and talking. We have since played on several co-ed softball teams together. Since our love for softball was what kick-started our relationship I have always wanted to make a sign using a home plate. When I came up with the design home is my favorite place to be for my etsy shop I designed it with the future project of adding this design to a home plate in mind. This home plate sign an easy project that doesn't take too much time and is the  perfect DIY home decor for any baseball or softball loving families home. It would also make a perfect end of season baseball or softball coaches gift. Each of the players could sign it with their name and number. Supplies You Will Need Alright! Lets get to the project. Here is a list of what you will need. Wood in the shape of a home plate. I purchased my home plate off of Amazon. Home is my favorite place to be decal. The design can be purchased at my etsy shop Steffan Design. Since we are using it as a stencil it can be any color. Threads decal. This can be downloaded here. Just like the previous decal since we are using it as a stencil the vinyl [...]

By |2019-05-04T22:09:05+00:00May 4th, 2019|Home Decor Projects, Tutorial|0 Comments

How to use FREE fonts in Cricut Design Space

Did you know that you have access to thousands of free fonts for your home decor and DIY Cricut projects? Yep! Loads of FREE fonts for personal and commercial projects can be found online that can be used for your Cricut projects! This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, at absolutely no extra cost to you. Read my full Disclosure Policy here. My son needed a water bottle with his name on it for school. As a result for this project I will be making a vinyl decal of his name to put on his water bottle. The Contigo water bottle used on this project can be purchased on amazon. These are awesome water bottles for kids! They come with a straw but also work without it. They are easy to clean, durable and most importantly don't leak! As a result we don't go very many places with out it. The font that I will be using has already been installed on my computer. If you aren't sure where to find free fonts or how to install fonts to your computer you can follow my How to Download and Install Fonts to Your Computer tutorial. Some designers allow their fonts to be used for personal and commercial use for free while others ask you pay a small fee for commercial use. It is different for each font so please make sure you follow each font and designers rules carefully. Step by Step Instructions: Use Installed Fonts in Cricut Design Space Once the font you will be using has been installed on your computer head over to Cricut's Design Space. Step 1 Once logged in to Cricut's Design Space click the New Project button.   Step 2 Click on the T (text button) in [...]

By |2019-02-24T00:17:35+00:00February 24th, 2019|Cricut, Tutorial|0 Comments

A True Love Story Never Ends

    Since Valentine's day is tomorrow I wanted to spotlight one of the Valentine's Day/Romantic SVG designs that I sell in my Etsy shop. 'A true love story never ends' is probably one of my favorite designs. Not only would it make cute DIY Valentine's Day decor, this design could be used to make an every day home decor item or be used for a special event like an anniversary or wedding decor item. Cutting out this file with a cricut or silhouette is easy. As a result there are loads of DIY projects can be made with this design. Hear are a few simple ideas to get your creative juices flowing. 1. Print & Place In a Picture Frame Printing this design in black and white and placing it inside a picture frame is probably one of the simplest ways to using this design. As a result of being on a tight budget shopping for picture frames at thrift stores is my favorite route. Thrift store frames are inexpensive and with the help of a little spray paint they can all be made the same color. 2. Vinyl Decal A die cutting machine like a cricut or silhouette can be used to create a decal of this romantic SVG design. You can follow How to cut an SVG with cricut design center tutorial if you aren't sure how to cut out an SVG file. Don't have a cricut or silouhette? Don't worry! Local sign shops can make this design into a decal. Just take the SVG file to them on a flash drive. The adhesive vinyl sticks well to walls but doesn't leave any sticky residue behind. As a result wall decals are perfect for decorating a wall in your house for both temporary or long term use. 3. Home Decor [...]

By |2019-02-13T07:40:05+00:00February 13th, 2019|Home Decor Projects|0 Comments

FREE Printable Valentine’s Day Cards

With Valentine's Day around the corner I am always at a loss as to how to celebrate it. Having a tight budget and a young family makes it hard to exchange gifts or even go out to dinner some years. One of the simplest yet most effective Valentine's Day gifts is a card with a love note or uplifting message. I had a co-worker that told me her and her husband decided that instead of spending money they didn’t have on Valentine’s Day they each picked out a nice Valentine's Day card once and just exchange the same card every year with a new note on a separate piece of paper inside it. What a brilliant idea! Just think if you faithfully wrote a yearly note and saved it in the card. Over time wouldn’t it be so cool to get lots of love notes from over the years? It always feels good to receive a hand written love notes or cards. Cards are also the perfect way to express love and appreciation while on a budget. Sometimes with the chaos of life and kids it is hard to make a handmade Valentine's Day card. In an attempt to try to make Valentine's Day easier for myself I designed these free printable Valentine's Day cards! How They Work These cards can be easily printed a home or at a print shop like Kinkos (Fedex) or Staples if you want a higher quality print. Printing them on card-stock paper would make them feel a little sturdier and feel more like an actual card, but any paper will work. These Valentine's Day Cards are designed to not take up too much ink, but still look cute and thoughtful. The cards are in 3 separate PDF files. After these cards are printed and folded they are [...]

By |2019-01-10T07:38:30+00:00January 10th, 2019|FREE!|0 Comments

Combining Free Fonts for Any Cricut or Silhouette Project

Do you have a project that you are looking for the perfect fonts to use? Deciding what fonts work well and complement each other can be a time consuming and difficult task. I am excited to share with you 6 different FREE fonts combinations for personal and demo use. All of these fonts can be installed on your computer to be used in any Cricut or Silhouette project. Not sure how to download fonts? Follow my step by step tutorial on How to Download and Install Fonts to Your Computer. Once these fonts have been installed onto your computer they can be used for your home decor and DIY Cricut projects in Cricut's Design space. See my How to use FREE fonts in Cricut Design Space tutorial if you are unsure how to do that.   Lightning & Thunder  • Sweet & Spicy  • Bread & Butter  • Hugs & Kisses  • Fries & Ketchup • Tom & Jerry These fonts are free for personal or demo use. If you plan on using them to create a project that you will be selling please make sure that the fonts you use are free for commercial use. If they are not please be sure to purchase the fonts on the designers respective sites. The fonts provided in this list are the property of their respective owner. Tips for Combining Fonts Do opposites really attract? Well, they do when it comes to fonts! Combining script fonts with san-serif and serif fonts provide great contrast. Hierarchy is a very important part of design. A great way to create visual hierarchy is to pair a heavy weighted font with a light weighted font. This makes the heavy weighted and font pop out which creates visual hierarchy. Be careful combining similar fonts. Just because a couple fonts look similar it doesn't ensure they will look good together. Avoid parring [...]

By |2018-11-09T05:45:23+00:00November 9th, 2018|Cricut|2 Comments

How to Download and Install Fonts to Your Computer

My favorite aspect of design is fonts and typography! The possibilities are endless especially after learning how to download and install fonts. All fonts are unique and can easily set a good design or project apart from a bad design or project. By default every computer comes with standard fonts, but when it comes to design and making fun projects the default fonts are very limiting. There are thousands and thousands of fonts available to use online. They are easy to install and use which makes them even better! In this tutorial I will point you in the right direction to find new fonts, walk you though downloading and installing the fonts you have found, and making sure they work properly. Where to Get Fonts There are loads of places to download fonts. Some of my favorite places are: Dafont.com Font Squirrel Creative Market 1001 Free Fonts Font Space Please keep in mind when searching for the perfect font that there are different rules for every font. While most fonts are free for personal use, a lot of them require the purchase of a commercial licence if they will be used on a product that is being sold. Please make sure to do your research when using fonts for commercial purposes. Step by Step Instructions: How to Install a Font Step 1: With your browser navigate to a site with fonts. I am going to use Font Squirrel. Fine a font you would like and download it to your computer. For this tutorial I am going to download Open Sans. To get started click the Download button. Note: Some sites have multiple download buttons to ensure you are downloading the font file you are expecting hover over the download button and watch for some text to pop up in the bottom left corner [...]

By |2018-11-02T22:07:20+00:00November 2nd, 2018|Cricut, Tutorial|1 Comment

Simple Kitchen & Pantry Labels

I don’t know about you, but of all of the rooms in my house I spend the most time it my kitchen. One of my favorite activities to do with my son is making cookies. When it comes time to make meals and especially baking having uniform containers makes it a lot easier. I have uniform containers for my sugar, flower, baking soda, baking power, cocoa, and chocolate chips. Taking my uniform containers a step further and adding simple kitchen labels has definitely increased my productivity. With my toddler "helping" me cook one never knows what can happen in just a few short seconds. This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, at absolutely no extra cost to you. Read my full Disclosure Policy here. Organization Saves Time in the Kitchen Growing up my mom had containers for all of her baking ingredients. It made the baking process go much faster. When I first started baking with my son my baking and spice cupboard quickly turned into a mess! These Snapware containers were the answer to my problem. They are airtight stack-able containers that come in a variety of sizes, perfect for storing my baking ingredients and pantry items like pancake mix and rice as well as my powder laundry detergents and can be purchased on amazon.com. Click on images to view on amazon. Simple and Easy to Use Kitchen Labels Shortly after adding my baking powder, baking soda, and corn starch to the same sized containers I quickly realized that it was hard to tell the difference between the 3 ingredients by sight. So, I came up with these kitchen and pantry labels to solve my problem and better organize my kitchen. These simple looking and easy to use pantry [...]

By |2018-09-24T06:06:56+00:00September 24th, 2018|Homemaking|0 Comments

How to Cut an SVG file with Cricut Design Center

A few years ago my husband gave me a Cricut for Christmas. It have had so much fun with it! Consequently I have made several projects like wall decals, quotes on picture frames, stencils for painting projects and glass etching, shapes for making cards, fabric for iron on onesies, and even a felt quite book. I haven’t even touched the surface with all of the things this machine can do! It has been so much fun to plug in a SVG file and watch my Cricut cut it out perfectly! Today I want to show you how to cut an SVG file out with the Cricut design center. From my experience using SVG files has given me the best quality cuts. Since SVG files are vector based it doesn't matter how large or small the SVG is it will always retain its quality. Step by Step Instructions Step 1: With your preferred browser open go to cricut.com/design. If you don’t already have an account please create one. Once you sign in if you are using the design center for the first time cricut.com/design will ask you if it is okay to install the software. Go ahead and follow the prompts to do so. Occasionally after you have downloaded the software it will automatically update the software after you log in. Step 2: Once you have logged in a screen with the latest cricut announcements and a list of your recent projects will come up like the image below. Click the New Project button in the top right corner or on the tile in the bottom left. Step 3: Click the Upload button in the bottom left. Like the image below. Step 4: The upload screen gives you the option of uploading an image or a pattern fill. For SVG files you [...]

By |2018-09-24T06:06:31+00:00September 24th, 2018|Tutorial|0 Comments

6 Basic Rules of Logo Design

Logo design is a big part of our ever day life even if we don’t always realize it. We see logos on the grocery’s we’ve purchased, appliances in our home, vehicles we travel around, billboards and stores we pass on the way to our destinations and websites we browse throughout the day. The logo mark is one of the most important parts of branding a company. Logos can tell your customs a lot about your company at a first glance. They are the best way for a company to build awareness, loyalty, and give customers an idea of what the company is about. 1. Keep Your Logo Simple Since we see logos everywhere all day long it is important to keep logos simple. For example it is much easier to memorize the title of a book vs the summary on the back. The title is easier to remember because it is short, simple and in most cases describes what the book is about. There is a lot to be said about simple logos. Simple logos are easier to remember and recognize from a distance. In the long run they are more likely to create a lasting impression. 2. Always Design in Black and White First One of the most important rules of logo design is if your logo looks good in black and white it will look better in color. Textures and colors may not always be visible when printed or applied to different mediums. Logos defendant on color or texture it will lose their recognition when printed in black and white. Deigning logos in black and white will also help keep focus on the overall design. 3. Design With Scale In Mind In today’s world logos are placed on a wide variety of mediums from products, receipts, marketing ads, mobile apps, websites, [...]

By |2018-09-10T04:04:03+00:00September 10th, 2018|Branding, Design|1 Comment
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