Showing posts with label shirts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shirts. Show all posts

Saturday, June 14, 2014

potato print onesies (baby shower project)

Inspired by a similar project from Martha Stewart Living and the potato printing projects of my youth, these are a fun, fast, simple project for a baby shower. We made these at a shower I hosted for one of the moms from our preschool, expecting her second baby. 

Potatoes make good stamps for printing on paper or cloth. Cut them into simple shapes, use foam brushes to apply fabric paint (we used Kid Made Modern fabric paints from Target's selection of kids' art supplies), then stamp shapes to make pictures or scenes. After dry, heat set with an iron, and they're ready to wear!

 



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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

tie-dye mania !

My sister-in-law always comes up with great birthday party ideas for my niece and nephew; my favorites are the ones that include a little project for everyone to do. A couple of times, we went to one of those paint-your-own-pottery studios; this year, she bought some white t-shirts and a couple of tie-dye kits (similar to this one, but larger, to dye more shirts). Awesome!

We all watched a short video that came with the kit, then went to town.

Here's how our three came out:






We ended up with a huge variety of shirts between the twenty-or-so of us at the party, and each one was beautiful and different.

Some tips for keeping things tidy:

1) Keep it outdoors if possible. Spilled dye is easier to clean up with a hose or the rain.

2) Cover your work surface with a water-proof cover if you care about your work surface staining.

3) Keep clean-up supplies close at hand. This might include paper towels if you use them, or reusable towels you're not concerned about staining.

4) Keep ziplock bags at the ready. Tie-dye needs to sit overnight; party guests can transport their shirts home for washing if they have the mess contained.

This is a pretty awesome party project for large or small groups, and people can spend as much or as little time on their shirts as they like. Thanks for inviting us, M!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

cupcake box baby shower gift




A few months back, I posted here about some little baby clothes I'd printed for my step-sister's baby shower. Because I sometimes like to make the presentation of special gifts look outstanding, I started shopping for ideas on how to package the gifts.

Cruising Pinterest, I found several pins about baby shower gift boxes available on Etsy (and other places) made to look like bakery boxes full of cupcakes. (Try here, here, and here for examples.) Since I already several little onesies printed and ready to go, I just needed to buy a few more things to pull together my own cupcake box, which makes a really lovely alternative to the ubiquitous diaper cake.




Here's how you can put one together, too!

Start with a window-topped treat box, 3 for $4.99 at Joann (buy them with a coupon, and you'll get 40% off).

Also pick up some king-size white baking cups. They come in a package of 24 and you'll pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 for them.

You can buy fancy baker's twine here too, but it's expensive. I had some left from a project a couple of years ago, so I just used that. Make your own using this tutorial, or buy a big cone here for about $10, to avoid feeling like you're overspending for string.

At Target, I picked up a three-pack of elastic headbands for babies for about $3. If you're building a cupcake box for a boy, you can use rubber bands or the same twine listed above. You'll also need four pairs of baby socks (or, if you're really trying to budget, four socks {two pairs} total, but baby socks can be found at Target or Old Navy for $1 a pair) and four onesies or baby t-shirts. My cupcakes were made using onesies.

To make: if you're printing your own onesies as I did, wait for them to dry and heat set them, of course, so you don't mess up your hard work. Fold in the sleeves, then fold each onesie into thirds, lengthwise.

Take a pair of socks (or a single sock, if you'd prefer) and place it at one end of the folded onesie or t-shirt. The toes of the socks will look a little like cherries in the center of your cupcakes, so keep this goal in mind as you roll the socks up inside the onesies. When rolled, make sure the onesie will fit inside one of your king-sized baking cups, then bind with one of your headbands or some baker's twine.

Repeat for all four onesies, then place each inside a baking cup. Place all four cupcakes into your assembled bakery box, then tie the box with baker's twine. Add a tag, and you're ready to go!




This one is packed and ready to ship inside a priority mail box, surrounded by crumpled construction paper.

Happily, you'll have enough bakery boxes, baking cups, and baker's twine leftover for a couple of more gifts, so if you find you suddenly have a baby boom among your friends (or at your office, like we had at mine!), you'll be set to put together a couple of more on short notice.

Of course, I have a couple of other tricks up my sleeve for ways to use these cute bakery boxes. Stay tuned!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

shawn's spiffy shirt



Here's a spiffy shirt I made! Shawn got permission to use the InstantAction mascot from his company's site, InstantAction.com. I submitted the design to Spoonflower, and they printed two yards of the fabric. The gradation on the little flame guys is wonderful, and Shawn's work friends think it's pretty nifty!










Wednesday, March 4, 2009

spring collection up march 21st!


Wands, anyone?

I plan to have the first few items in the spring collection up on the site and on Etsy by March 21st, the first day of spring. Look for new card designs, jewelry, and handbound books. A couple of weeks later, be on the lookout for hats, robot t-shirts, and other goodies.

The daffodils are up, the cherry blossoms are starting to peek out, and things have that electric spring hum . . . So much to look forward to! I've been digging through many, many bins of fabric and supplies, downsizing and clearing room for new treasures, all in the spirit of my New Year's resolution: making life simpler and less cluttered.