Image Map

Monday, June 9, 2014

DIY Personalized Flashlights Tutorial

by Kristen

Hi ya'll, my name is Kristen and you can usually find me busily blogging away at over at Down Home Inspiration. I am a super busy military wife and mom to three munchkins who loves to DIY, create and cook. I am constantly finding something new to repurpose, remake or redo and love to find inspiration in all aspects of my daily life. You can follow along with me and my crazy adventures by liking Down Home Inspiration on Facebook, following on Instagram or Twitter or catch me pinning away on Pinterest

Summer break is upon us and I don't know about you, but I am always looking for fun and creative ways to keep my kids busy (and quiet!). They love to have their own space and use their imaginations, so this summer I decided to make a super cute fort kit for them. And what is a fort without flashlights? (If you ask my kids, it is basically worthless!) I was so excited to make these personalized flashlights with the help of Belvedere Designs. They were ridiculously easy and quick and my kids absolutely adore them.

I took my kids to the store and let them pick flashlights in their favorite colors, making sure that there was room on the side to add their names. Then I asked what they would like to see when they turned the light on. My daughters chose butterflies and hearts and my son requested stars. Easy enough...Belvedere Designs took my design ideas and created custom decals to perfectly fit the size I needed. Just email them at info@wallquotes.com to have your own set made!

The decals arrived within a couple of days and I got right to work. For the light, I set the shaped decal right on the top and used the corner of the included card to make sure that all of the edges were pushed down. Then I slowly peeled the backing off, listening to my kid's excited squeals.
It was the same process on the side of the light to add the names. Press down, use the card to ensure there are no air bubbles and slowly peel the backing off. My oldest even got in on the action and applied her own name and shapes to her flashlight. So simple an eight year old can do it! Haha! Here is my little guy, Barrett (or "Bear" as we call him), watching with glee while I finish up his personalized flashlight:

The whole process took about 5 minutes per flashlight and we couldn't wait to see the shapes and designs all lit up. We all immediately ran to the dark bathroom to test them out as soon they were applied. And we weren't disappointed!

And here are some shots of these super cool flashlights in use after the kids built their own fort with their kit. As you can see, the closer the light is to the object that you are shining it on, the more in focus the shapes are. The farther away you are, the less focused, but we found that we could still see them pretty well even from across the fort. Here is Emmalynn with her butterflies:
And Grace with her hearts:


And lastly, Bear and his pup Murphy are shining stars on the roof of the fort:


What a great way to kick off summer! My kids will be burning through batteries, I'm sure, but they are having an awesome time using their imaginations and creativity. Not to mention, these are the perfect flashlights to throw in your bag while traveling if your kids are a bit afraid of the dark. They'll be having too much fun with them to worry! To order your own decals, just contact Belvedere Designs and they will work with you on your custom decal! What design or shape do you think that your child would like?

linking to:
tatertots and jello

3 comments:

  1. Hi, where did you buy the undecorated flashlights? I love them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We got them from a local dollar store when we did the project with our kids. You can use any flashlight for this project though!

      Delete