Back to School Week - Day 2

Welcome back to my special Back to School Week!

If you missed yesterday's post, you can find it here.

As promised, today I'm going to show you how to spruce up some plain ole t-shirts for the kids. My boys love Star Wars but I haven't been able to find any vintage Ts for them. So I decided to make my own. And it's surprisingly easy.

To start, you need an inkjet printer and some printable iron-on sheets. There are many different types of heat transfers available, and at varying prices, so shop around.
These are just a few:

The one on the right is actually really thin fabric that you can iron onto another piece of fabric. But for this project I used the Silhouette brand of Printable Heat Transfers - for dark fabrics.

My boys each chose an image that they wanted, off the internet. But you could use a picture you've taken or maybe even a picture that your child has drawn! If that's the case, you would just need to scan it before proceeding to the next step. I brought the pictures into MS Word and adjusted the sizes.

Then I print the image onto the heat transfer sheet. They come with instructions on how to do this if you need.

Note: for this brand I didn't need to make the picture a mirror-image but it's worth double checking the instructions there.

Once printed, you are ready to cut around the image and peel off the backing.
Place the image onto the shirt, with the image facing up.

Image source

The instructions for the sheets that I used recommend ironing the image on for about 15 seconds, using a piece of fabric in between. I found that this wasn't long enough to get the transfers to adhere fully. Maybe my cloth was too thick?

If you look closely at the shirt on the bottom, you'll see where I held the iron on too long and it left iron marks (where the image is brighter). Oops!

Once the image was set in place I found it best to turn the shirt inside out and place the iron directly on it, but making sure to keep it moving. It seemed to work better this way for me, and the image didn't peel on the edges. 

Image source

My boys just LOVE their new shirts. I might have to make some more just to get these ones off of them!!

I had to show you this shot because it just cracks me up.
Evan might need a couple of pointers on his tough guy pose....
Thanks for stopping by.

Handmade Back 2 School Week - Day 1

Today I'm kicking off my Handmade Back to School week!
I've been busy working on some fun stuff and I'm excited to show you!

For me, just before the kids go back to school is a great time to go through all their clothes and sort out what fits and what doesn't for the upcoming season. Often the long sleeve shirts from winter and early spring are getting a bit tight so I always check to see what the boys might need for the upcoming school year. And this year there's a bit of extra excitement here because my youngest is starting Kindergarten. He is super jazzed about going to his big brother's school. And I know that my oldest will watch out for him each day, so it's a bit easier for me this time around. He's a really great big brother that way.

So, let's get started shall we?!

My boys need some new shirts.
And I have a thing for argyle so I decided to incorporate it into my boys' wardrobes this year.

I bought some plain (cheap) cotton shirts from WalMart.

And while they were in the wash, I drew and cut out some diamond shaped stencils from freezer paper. 

Then I ironed the stencils onto the shirts.

And painted on the fabric paint. I recently bought a brush specific for stenciling and like it much better than using just a regular brush. I thought it was worth the extra money.

In the end, I added a couple extra diamonds because I felt it needed more.

Then I broke out some of the crochet yarn that my mom brought back for me from Portugal. 

I just love that turquoise colour.

If you wanted to try this at home, embroidery thread would work just as well.

I hand stitched lines through the middle of the diamond shapes, using a piece of tape as my guide.

And here's the end result:

I made another shirt, stitching it with my machine instead. I used Egyptian cotton thread because it seems to be a wee bit thicker (and I just love it). I thought it would be more visible that way. It would also be cute to use a double needle.

I wanted to give this shirt more of a skater look because it's for my older son so I stitched the lines without a guide, and at all different lengths etc. Then I used a brown fabric pastel over the paint to give it a not-so-perfect look. I ironed it using a piece of parchment paper, just to 'set' the pastel, and prevent it from washing off.

Then I finished it off by dabbing a small amount of anti-fray stuff on the ends of the stitching.

And there you have it. Two happy boys with new shirts for the first day of school.

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you how I made the Star Wars shirt pictured here!

baby quilt and school supply list

Just popping in to share what I've been up to lately.

I hope to finish this project soon...

But more on that later.
I have some exciting news to share!

I'm devoting all next week to 'back to school'.

Too early?!

Not really, it's only a month away. So that leaves us just enough time to get started on that supply list. And make our own supplies! 

I'll show you what I've been working on for September. 
I have ideas for clothes, bags and other special goodies in store for you. 
So swing by next week to check it out!

playroom table & chairs

I've been slowly working on updating our playroom.

I have a few things that I've picked up from various garage sales over the years and I've been meaning to give them a fresh coat of paint. I just got around to it recently and am happy with the results.

So here is one of the chairs I bought. It came with another chair just like it and a table that was beyond repair. I paid $10 for all 3 pieces (and tossed the table). The chairs were vintage and super heavy duty. Yup should do for my boys!

Then I came across this Ikea bench. You can't tell from the photo but it was in rough shape. The paint on the back was all scratched and chipped. 

I paid $5-$10 for it (I can't remember now).

Next I bought this sturdy little table for $10. I don't have the before, before picture. This is after I had painted a small chalkboard area on the top.

I freshened up the chalkboard paint and painted the legs white. Actually I was going for cream... it looked so much creamier than white in the store. Honest!

I painted the chairs blue and the bench all one colour. 

Again, you can see that I'm 'paint colour challenged' because I was going for a more cherry red but got a rusty-brownish red instead. Sigh.

I love the way the chairs turned out though so I might just paint the bench to match.

That's a peek at our little 'work bench' as my boys like to call it. All the pieces fit together as a great set, ready for hours of entertainment - even for fort building. 
Not bad for $30!

top refashion

A while back some of my girlfriends arranged a clothing swap. 

We got together with our clothes that we no longer wore and swapped them for new ones. It's a great - free - way to mix up your wardrobe.

This is one of the tops I picked up that day:

I really liked it but it was a bit tight. 

Since I'd been wanting to try out some 'refashioning' techniques I thought this would be a great start. 

I decided to turn this top into a fun little bag for summer. 

I turned it inside out and cut some fabric to line the inside of the bag. I used jersey because the shirt had a bit of stretch to it. I also stitched a little pocket onto one of the panels.

I cut off the elastic from the built-in bra...

...and stitched the jersey to the lining in the top.

Then I stitched the straps to the other side to make a strap/handle.

And that's it! A cute top converted into a simple bag.

And voila. A free bag!

 

our summer vacation

As you may have noticed, I've been away for a few days. My hubby and I packed up the kids and headed to beautiful Montreal. I don't know what it is about that city but it is so easy to fall in love with, every time we go.

We spent a bit of time in Montreal and then we drove down to Parc Safari, just south of the city. For those of you not familiar, the main feature there is a 4 to 5 km park that you drive your car through and feed 'wild' animals. It's super cool and something that I'd always wanted to do myself. I may have used my kids as an excuse to do it. Just maybe.

So we drove through the park, stopping along the way to feed the animals, having wonderful 'family bonding' moments. 

And then it happened: Evan announces that he has to pee. 
And when a 4 year old says he has to pee, it means it's already just about coming out and you need to get to that bathroom 5 minutes ago.

Did I mention that at Parc Safari, you're not allowed to get out of your car?! We had only driven about a kilometer of the 5 kilometer trail so at this point, I had think fast. 

I contemplated speeding through the rest of the trail at the risk of plowing down some poor innocent hungry animal. 

My husband suggested opening the door a crack and letting him pee out the door.  
Umm. Have you seen the aim of a 4-year old boy?! 

At this point we were desperate. 
But there were other carloads of people nearby so THAT was not an option.

Then I had an idea. 

We had no other choice.

"Do we have some kind of cup that he can pee into?"

We scanned the back seat and there it was. The gloriously empty MacDonald's cup from the the day before.

I was in disbelief that this was actually happening. I sat there holding the cup while Evan stood in front of me peeing into it. 

I prayed he wouldn't pee on me.

And man that kid had to pee. He filled half the cup!

Once he was done, I put the plastic lid back on so it wouldn't spill. I looked down at it, still with the straw sticking out and then realized I should have taken it out before putting the lid back on. Now one of the kids was going to forget and drink the pee.

I put the pee cup in the cupholder in front of me so I could keep an eye on it. 

It felt so wrong to put it there but I was NOT going to hold a cup of pee for the next hour.

We continued on, feeding the animals, acting like nothing had happened.

The kids were hanging out in the front of the van so they could reach the animals and the whole time I just KNEW the cup was going to get spilled and there would be pee in my van.
 

The pee cup with a straw was stressing me out!

ONE OF MY CHILDREN WERE GOING TO EITHER DRINK OR SPILL PEE IN MY VAN!

My hubby pulled ahead a bit faster, grabbed the cup and dumped it out the window when there was no one around to see. My hero!

We still had a yucky cup to deal with but at least it wasn't going to get spilled. In my van.

We drove about another kilometer up the trail and discovered a bathroom with snack bar. 

Would have been good to know before!!

All I can say is, thank God for little boys. 

Oh, and next time I'm packing pull ups :)

two wheels

Today marked another proud mommy moment...

And a proud Evan moment. 

Today he learned how to ride on two wheels! 

He is so proud of himself. 

And I'm sure it won't be long before he wants to put an engine on that thing....

I may have married the best Dad in the world - he ran along with Evan tirelessly until he got the hang of it (on a pretty hot day).

Oh, and happy Canada Day friends!