The sticviews Giveaway and the China Hutch

My recent discovery of sticviews has got my graphic designer/crafter head completely spinning with ideas. I think I could sit here and ramble off about one hundred different ways I would love to use this product, from custom laptop and itouch skins to canister decals and window decor. And can I tell you how perfect sticviews is for using in my home furnishings, such as my very dark antique china hutch. I won’t get into my thoughts on this particular piece of furniture, it’s never been my favorite, primarily because it is so dark, but (there’s a long story behind it...) but I know I will be married to this piece for a very long time. And since painting will never be an option, I decided that if I lightened up the window area I would enjoy it much more. I had, in the past, taped patterned paper from the back, but once I figured out I could use sticviews without any damage to the furniture, the real fun began!First, I took a photo of my cabinet and played around with digitally placing different images into the windows and also played with color. Of course if you’re good at visualizing, you wouldn’t need to do this, I was just torn between which image to use, so this was a good solution.I measured my windows well and then choosing the graphic scanned from a very old trade card, as-is, I placed areas of the card for the two window sections together digitally (I work in Adobe Illustrator, but most all image software programs can do this.) By placing them together as one full image, I saved a little money vs. ordering two separate shapes. I took into consideration the visual break of the wood door frames and cut that section out of my image before joining. I also added a cut line into the image.The ordering from sticviews was a piece of cake, once the image is uploaded you are able to see what you are ordering, make any necessary adjustments and finally purchase your sticviews for shipping.
Typically, when ordering for a window, I would have ordered the design right-facing on white stic (opaque), but because my window panels were beveled, I flopped my image in reverse and ordered it as a clear stic to apply to the flat side of the window from the inside of the doors.

My order arrived right away and came complete with instructions, suggestions, a spray bottle, squeegee and helpful little plastic razor for lifting corners and repositioning the stic.I trimmed apart my two sections,then folded back the tops of the backing.I aligned the top of the sticviews to the top inside of the window frame and using light pressure, smoothed it down as I gently pulled the backing down and away. I opted not to use the water installation option as to not damage the wood frame should the water run down into the cracks. Using the squeegie to smooth out the stic, I also removed any bubbles by sliding them out the edges. Even without the water this was easily repositionable and easy to apply.
Once the stic was applied to both windows, I taped the backing paper, that I had removed from the clear stic earlier, inside the window trim on the inside of the doors.The whole installation took less than a half hour.I absolutely love it!

Now, what can YOU do with sticviews?

THE GIVEAWAY!

Enter to win a $50 worth of sticviews!

TO ENTER: please visit sticviews website and blog, sign up for their newsletter either on the blog or on Facebook and come back here and tell me what you would make if you are the winner of the sticviews giveway! I can’t wait to hear your ideas. But be SURE you leave a way for me to contact you by either your blog or email.

BONUS: When you sign up for the sticviews newsletter, you will receive a 25% discount on your first order!
ENTRY DEADLINE: Friday, December 4, 2009 at noon (PST)
Randomly chosen winner will be announced Saturday, December 5.

ENTRY TO THIS GIVEWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Here is the trade card image I used and a few others for you to download for creating sticviews or any of your projects.