When Taylor drops a new album, it’s not just a listening party — it’s a whole event. So for The Life of a Showgirl, we decided to make our own tees to celebrate in true Swiftie style ✨
We grabbed everything we needed in one trip to Michaels — t-shirts and the vinyl for the designs — and used our Cricut machine to bring the look to life.
What We Made
We modeled the design after the album cover’s text, used the font and laid it out in a similar manner to the actual album color and back. I created some custom svg cut files that you can use too!
Materials:
Basic t-shirts from Michaels – we used the Canvas & Bella women’s tee in dusty blue
Designed the shirt wording to match the album art’s vibe
Cut the vinyl with Cricut
The SVG has the words already spaced out like the album – just make sure to use the ‘Attach’ function to stop Cricut from moving the words around.
FYI: for the set list, you can ‘attach’ each name in place, to keep the spacing as-is, but it will take up much more vinyl than letting the Cricut save space. If you do this and layout the words on your own, just be careful not to overlap the clear part of the vinyl sheet.
Don’t forget to use the ‘mirror’ setting when using heat transfer vinyl
Weed away the negative space
Pressed it onto the shirts (don’t forget to preheat and peel carefully!)
Wore them proudly while blasting “The Fate of Ophelia” on repeat 🎶
I channeled my inner Phil Keoghan and hosted an Amazing Race for my bestie, Sam, to celebrate her birthday! We called it the Samazing Race 🌎—and it was a total hit. Check out my blog post and full race video!
We had five teams (kids tagging along as the “camera crew”) race around Fort Collins to solve clues, complete tasks, and sprint to the finish line. It took about an hour and a half, and everyone had so much fun!
To pull this off, I created several props and decorations to make the game feel authentic:
A custom logo
Classic yellow clue envelopes
Clue boxes at each stop
Contestant bags
Tasks for every location
Signs to mark the route
Detour, Route Info, and Roadblock folders
And of course—the Pit Stop finish line mat!
Creating the Amazing Race Props
Custom Logo
I used ChatGPT to help brainstorm names and landed on Samazing Race.
To design the logo, I used fonts similar to the show: Open Sans for the subtitle and Orbitron for the word “Race.” It gave everything a polished, on-theme look.
Clues & Yellow Envelopes
The Amazing Race is famous for its bright yellow clue envelopes. I wanted mine to feature our custom logo, so I ordered yellow envelopes and printable sticker sheets on Amazon.
I designed the logo 3-up on a page, printed it with my laserjet, cut them down with a paper cutter, and centered them on each envelope. A little tip: don’t seal the envelopes until the very end—it makes organizing the clues much easier.
Clue Boxes
On the show, clues are presented in sleek black boxes, but I improvised with small styrofoam coolers my dad gets from medication deliveries.
With leftover red cardstock and yellow duct tape (from the Pit Stop mat), I decorated them to look official and stand out at each location.
Contestant Bags
Each team got a contestant bag at the start, which included:
A copy of the race rules
Color-coded notebooks (one per team)
Pens
Water bottles
I used my Cricut to cut vinyl labels for the bags with team names, but I didn’t use the right kind of vinyl—so some of the letters peeled off during the day. Lesson learned: make sure to use permanent vinyl if you want your labels to last! Even so, the bags were a fun and functional touch that made each team feel official.
Tasks & Stops
I came up with 7 race tasks using a mix of ChatGPT brainstorming and my knowledge of Sam’s favorite things:
Old Town art scavenger hunt
Slyce Pizza delivery 🍕
Library Park Detour – trivia vs. coloring one of Sam’s Etsy coloring sheets
Torchy’s Tacos queso challenge 🌮
CSU Library book hunt 📚
City Park pickleball rally
Final Pit Stop at Odell’s Brewery 🍷🍻
Signs
On the real Amazing Race, Phil often says “look for the marked route.” Since we didn’t have a full TV crew to guide racers, signs were key. I made simple signs with red cardstock, yellow duct tape, and yellow yard flags for outdoor spaces.
Folders (Detour, Route Info & Roadblock)
I designed printable folders to hold each clue and task. To save on color ink, I printed black text on colored paper—red, yellow, and blue. (I had extra yellow from a Pokémon Go party, so that worked perfectly!)
Each folder was trimmed down to 9”x4” to fit the envelopes. I’ll share my printable files soon so you can use them for your own race!
The Pit Stop Finish Line
The Pit Stop finish line mat deserved its own post—it really made the ending feel like the real show! Check out my step-by-step guide here.
The Samazing Race was such a success! Racers laughed, competed, and got really into the challenges. Best of all, Sam felt celebrated in a way that was totally her.
If you’re planning a DIY Amazing Race party, I can’t recommend these little details enough—they really brought the whole experience to life.
I’m all about homemade gifts, especially ones that are quick, cute, and useful. This year, I made crocheted wine bottle holders for my best friends, and they were such a fun project!
I found this great crochet pattern on Etsy from CamiCrochetDesigns that was simple enough to finish in just a few days—because honestly, I can’t commit to a crochet project that drags on longer than a week. These holders are small but stylish, and the best part? Each came with a bottle of their favorite wine inside for an extra personal touch.
This was also my first time punching holes in leather straps to add handles, and I love how they turned out! The leather handles give the holders a chic, polished look that’s perfect for carrying or gifting.
I used t-shirt yarn from Amazon, which was my first time trying it out. I really appreciated how strong and durable this yarn is, great for holding a heavy bottle. The only tricky part was that the yarn tended to roll up and was a little hard to keep looking neat while crocheting, but it was worth it for the finished product.
If you’re looking for a quick, handmade gift idea that feels thoughtful but doesn’t take forever, these crocheted wine bottle holders are a winner. Plus, they’re super cute and practical for anyone who loves a good bottle of wine.
