DIY gift with a heart felt meaning -

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This past week my mom was gone to go get my sister (Kristina) and bring her back from England. She was there making a difference in the world with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). While they were gone I wanted to do something special, something that let them both know that I missed them very much but also to let them know they were coming home to my dad as well…

Back in 2014, we lost my father to a brain hemorrhage, it happened very suddenly and without warning and brought us through some trials during and after. Although through it all came out peace and understanding, we don’t know why God did it, and why such an incredible man passed away but we have taken the bad and created so much good.

In my post, before I talked about my dad becoming a donor with Gift of Life, many of his organs and parts of his body helped others across the states. Well, one of the biggest ones was right here in MI and that was his heart and his kidney. The heart saved a man from heart failure and while my mom and sister were gone I asked the heart recipient for a recording? Not knowing what was going to happen, or if they would respond I began to pray. I prayed that if this was what the Lord wanted for our family that it would be sent over.

Sure enough, it was exactly what God wanted and the incredible wife from the heart recipient family sent me a recording. The recording of my father’s heart! Hearing the sound and the seeing the beat just brought tears to my eyes. But this time there wasn’t angry anymore, there was a feeling of peace. A feeling of knowing that my dad is a hero, his heart is beating inside this man and only God know’s why.

I then got on Amazon and ordered PERSONAL Recordable Plush 15″ Talking Teddy Bear , to re-create a special gift for the both of them. Letting them know they did not come home to an empty house, that my dad will always be there with them no matter what. This bear was set on their beds and has made an impact on them that I will never know. This has made an impact on me as well, in ways I cannot even describe, but all in all, being able to do this for my mom and my little sister Kristina was a priceless gift that no money in the world could ever buy. The bear says “I will always be with you” my dad’s heartbeats when they squeeze the bear and his initials, as well as my sisters (for her bear) and my mom for her bear, are on the bottom of its feet.

This is the finished product I made with a little help from Amazon and products I had on hand.

If you would like to make this gift yourself for someone to follow along here;

Products you will need:

This is the bear that I purchased, that worked perfectly! You can choose whatever stuffed animal you would like. This bear also comes with a recording device that is easy to record to and place inside.

For the following steps, I used my Cricut machine and my Cricut items. I will place links below to show you all the tools and items I used. I also designed it using the program that my machine offers as well.

This is the machine that I use, it is the Cricut explore air. This machine does several cutting designs and cuts on several different materials.

The Siser Easy Weed Vinyl is one of the vinyl’s that I use for HTV all the time. This is one that I would highly recommend you use when doing this project. The purple color in this pack is the one that I used on the bear in this DIY project.

This is the basic tool set, that has all the tools needed and then some to complete this project.

The basic Cricut mat will hold your vinyl in place as your design is being cut out.

The first thing you will want to do is create your design and the size you will want on your bear. If you are using a Cricut the program that will be set up for you to use is called design space. You can create everything there and get it ready to cut. Place your vinyl sheet on the green mat, and load it into your Cricut/ other machines. Place your dial on the HTV and press the middle button to start your cut. After the cut is done and your computer tells you that its 100% finished, unload your mat and pull your vinyl off. Take the vinyl that is in your hand and cut around your design. Then take your weeding tool (this is the one that kind of look likes a tool that would be used to clean your teeth at a dentist office). Put the tool at the end of the vinyl and peel the backing off. Take out your design and place it on your bear, then use an iron press down for 15-30 seconds. Then the design should be stuck to your bear.

(If you would like a more detailed step by step of how to create this DIY project, leave me a comment below. Because this is not very detailed this is just a quick how to, and the tools you need to help you succeed).