Light Up Deer Silhouette

This post is brought to you in collaboration with Silhouette. All thoughts, ideas, projects, and opinions are my own.

Happy Friday! Today is the night before Saint Nicholas Day at our house where Sinterklaas comes and visits :) It's a Dutch tradition that we decided to carry along in our house even though we are far from the Netherlands. In our version, we put wood shoes (clogs) by the fire for the little one and then put carrots in it. The carrots are for Sinterklaas' reindeer to eat, but we just have our pup Max do the eating :) Then in the morning, there's a gift by the shoes. It's super fun to have something like this in the middle of December so it breaks up the long wait you have until Christmas.

Today I'm going to share with you a really simple craft that uses a cute deer head silhouette found in the Silhouette Design Store (which by the way, all the designs are 50% off until the 8th!). I don't know if any of you use a Silhouette machine, but these things are so amazing! You'll probably be seeing a few more posts featuring their designs and products. They integrate so well into home decor.

Here's what you need for the project:
Silhouette Portrait
Deer Silhouette
Silhouette Stencil Material
Burlap canvas (found at crafts stores)
Paint
Battery Powered Light Strand (I used just 10 lights)
Razor
Ribbon/felt
Hot glue

First off, get your design and cut it out on your Silhouette Cameo or Portrait onto the stencil material. I made sure the head was as big as I could get it but not too big to fit on the burlap canvas.

Once it was cut out, I grabbed the negative space of the deer stencil and placed it on burlap. I pressed along all the edges really well. The burlap tends to not like stuff to stick to it :)

And since the burlap doesn't like to hold stuff so well, for the painting, I started on the stencil part of the edges and pushed in with the paint, rather than doing the opposite and pushing the paint towards the edges. This helped prevent bleeding. Really though, the stickiness of the stencil was amazing...even on burlap.

I finished the painting, then waited for it to dry and did one more coat. When I took off the stencil, I got all perfect lines with no bleeding. Amazing :)

For the next step, mark where you want your lights (literally or just in your head), and cut a small X with your razor blade. Not too big though, just enough for the tip of the light to stick through.

Stick all the lights through your holes. This is how my back looked:

Now for the scarf. I just grabbed some scrap fleece I had lying around, but you can use any type of fabric for this. I just cut two pieces the same size and then hot glued the ends onto the deers neck and tied them together.

Done!

I love how festive this looks :) Plus, it will still be cute decor outside of the holiday season without the scarf and lights.

If you are still looking for the perfect gift for someone (or yourself) for Christmas, guess what? Silhouette is having an awesome sale extended from Black Friday that ends on December 8th!

• Find awesome bundles on the Silhouette Cameo and Silhouette Portrait at SilhouetteAmerica.com/Black
• Use code BLACK to receive 40% off at SilhouetteAmerica.com (*excluding machines, design downloads, download cards, subscriptions and gift cards) PLUS Free Shipping on orders over $25 for the lower 48 states
• 50% off all designs at SilhouetteDesignStore.com – no code needed!

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”