Train Play Shirts are in!

I'm excited to have my Train Play Shirts designed and ready to sell in my Etsy shop!  These shirts were designed with the little train lover in mind and provide a fun way to interact (and relax!) with your kids.  Just in time for Christmas!

The Alphabet Tracing Shirt

 I am so excited about these Alphabet Tracing Shirts!  I just posted them in my Etsy shop today.  Who doesn't love a little back tickle, right?  Wear it to the park, at home, or after a long day, then sit down with your kids and relax :) 

Arrows and numbers show the correct way to write each  letter.

I got the idea for this shirt after watching my kids write letters on their daddy's back.  They would write a few letters, then he would try to guess what they were spelling.  The kids thought it was fun, and my husband loved how it felt, it was a win-win!

I'm selling a women's shirt, that is fitted, and a men's shirt, that is a standard-fit size.  Both have the same design on the back with nothing printed on the front.

The colors I chose for this shirt were inspired by the classic chalkboard.  I chose a heathered dark grey for the shirt, and crisp white lines for the letters.

Enjoy interacting with your kids in a new, creative way!

And don't forget about our other shirts!  Also available in the Shop.

From left to right:

Car Play Shirt WITH SIGN that can be customized

Car Play Shirt

Car Play Shirt OUTLINED, for kids to color in and make their own

And coming soon... A TRAIN PLAY SHIRT!

Father's Day garden rock

Gifts for the grandpa's are always tough for me.  Men in general are always harder to buy/make for, and it seems most grandpa's are at the point in their lives where they have everything they need/want and a lot of what we could give them are just going add to the clutter.  So I try to think of things that are thoughtful and useful.

Pete's dad (and mom) loves to spend time in the yard, so we decided to make a rock that could be put in the garden.  We collected rocks to spell out "PAPA ROCKS" (our kids call him Papa John).  Kind of cheesy, I know.  In hind sight I may have just had the kids make a cool design with the rocks.  Oh well.

I used concrete mix (only costs a few bucks) and used a flat rate shipping box as my mold (because we'll be shipping it... talk about getting your money's worth, this thing is heavy!)  I simply put the box together, sprayed it with cooking spray, then poured in the mix.  Then I wrote the letters with a stick and had the kids place all the little rocks.

Once it dried, I painted over the rocks with mod podge a couple times to make them stand out a little more.  And that's it!  I'm crossing my fingers that it can get to him without cracking :)

Car Play Shirts for Father's Day

There's a reason I haven't been posting on this blog much lately (besides keeping my 4 children alive and somewhat happy).  I've been working on the design and production of my Car Play Shirt!  It's been a lot of fun (and a lot of work) designing this shirt and working out the logistics, and I'm excited to announce that these shirts are now for sale in our Etsy shop!  The Car Play Shirt is the shirt that lets daddy stretch out and relax while playing with the kids.  They make great Father's Day/birthday/Christmas gifts and offer a unique and fun way to interact with your children.  

A couple years ago I posted my tutorial for the car shirt and since then have had an overwhelmingly positive response.  So I decided to redesign the shirts and sell them to those who want one but do not have the time, resources or desire to actually make it.

I made two different versions of the shirt: one in full color that is ready to be worn and played on the moment it arrives, and a black and white version that can be colored in with fabric markers or paint, then given to dad/grandpa as a semi-homemade gift.

Both shirts have a welcome sign that allows you to personalize the car shirt by writing in the last name of your family.  "Welcome to Jacksonville!"

With the black and white version the kids can make it their own.  Kids always love playing with things that they put time into making, right?  

And my kids love giving gifts that they help create.  They could hardly wait to get their hands on this shirt.

Start by putting a piece of cardboard or poster board in between the front and back of the shirt so the markers/paint won't bleed through.

Pull the fabric tight around the board and use clothespins or tape to hold it in place.

Pull out your fabric markers and let the kids go at it!

Within seconds of showing the kids the shirt they were choosing the buildings they each wanted to color.  John picked the store and one of the houses, Dan the gas station and the other house, and Joe was assigned the hospital by his brothers.

And I couldn't let the kids have all the fun!  I helped by coloring the fire station.

Give to daddy and let him rest and relax while the kids give him a message with their cars :)

Birthday crown

Friday was Will's birthday.  1 year old!  I can hardly believe it.  We didn't do anything too grand or glorious apart from the traditional present opening and cake gorging.  But we did make him a crown.  I really like the idea of helping the kids make gifts for each other.  It helps them think about the person, and is fun to watch how excited they get when they give the homemade gift.

For this crown, I sewed white fabric onto some vinyl and sewed velcro at either end.  Then I had the kids use fabric paint to decorate it.  I decided to go with something a little longer lasting than just paper.

And here's the birthday boy in all his glory!  It looks like he's super excited to be wearing his crown, right?

Well, truth be told, I think it stayed on his head for a total of 3 seconds before he found it, pulled it off and dropped it on the floor.

 

We did this about 20 times so I could attempt to get a picture of the beautiful crown, with pink hearts and all.  I guess if nothing else this crown gave us a good game to play.  He certainly liked it (the game).  The velcro makes the crown adjustable, so maybe we'll save it for next year.  I'm just sure he's going to love it.

A favorite gift for GIRLS

Yes, girls!  Most of my projects, crafts and time is spent on boys, so I love when I can squeeze in some time to make girlie things.  These wrapped leather bracelets have been one of my favorite things to make for Christmas/birthday gifts lately.  They're fairly easy once you get the hang of it, can be strung up in about an hour, and only cost a few dollars per bracelet (depending how much you spend on the beads).  I originally got the idea from my friend Alison and used the tutorial from Rings & Things.  I have only tried making bracelets that wrap around your wrist one or two times, but Alison made a couple that wrap around 4 times, and they are beautiful.  They make for a fun, thoughtful gift.  Now I just need to make some for myself!

Wood crayon holder

For our Christmas homemade gift exchange, Dan picked Joe's name.  When the kids are a bit older, we'll let them go at it on their own, but this year Pete helped Dan with his project.  They made a wood crayon holder.  I had originally seen one of these at an art fair and thought it would be easy to recreate.  It's simply a piece of wood with holes drilled into the top.  Dan made it a bit more personalized by writing on the side, then Pete traced his letters with a wood burner.



Now when Joe is coloring, he can see all the colors at a glance.  And taking them out of the holes and putting them back in is half the fun! 

Introduction to tie-dye

On Memorial Day we went over to my friend Alison's house, and she invited us to do tie-dyes.  We might just have to make this a Memorial Day tradition, I LOVE how they turned out.  A great way to give old shirts with stains a face lift.



The older kids all huddled around as Alison demonstrated how to make them.  She bought her dyes from Dharma Trading Co. and followed the instructions on their website.



John and Dan were more than excited to wear their shirts.  They wanted to put them on as soon as they had been washed and dried.  Then they insisted on wearing them to bed, and Dan even pleaded to wear his the next day.  We might have to make some more of these.



Tie-dyed onesies could make a fun baby gift.  But we'll be keeping the ones we made for Will :)



I was super excited how my Moosejaw shirt turned out.  Pete had just recently bought this shirt for me, and I went and got some bleach on it the first time I wore it when I was cleaning the sink.  I was so mad at myself.  So it got the tie-dye treatment in an attempt to cover up the bleach stain.  And now I think I like it even more than before!

Mother's Day gift: homemade bookmarks

I knew I wanted to get my mom a book for Mother's Day.  I recently read The Pearl by John Steinbeck (has anyone read this?).  Not really a fuzzy, warm, feel good book, but a great story with a great message.  So I got that and decided to have the kids help make some bookmarks to go along with it (kind of a repeat... oh well... these are new and improved!)



The kids each designed one bookmark.  Then I scanned them into the computer and printed them with colorful borders.



I got them laminated like I did last time at Kinko's, then cut them out.  This time I cut out a little hole at the top and tied some embroidery floss on.



For some reason having cute bookmarks makes me want to read that much more :)

Mother's Day gift... garden markers

Living away from family forces me to be on the ball with things like Mother's Day gifts.  Normally I would be whipping something together the night before, but now I have to actually plan ahead so it has time to get there.  This year I tried to think of gifts that were thoughtful but also useful.  Gifts that the kids could help with but that wouldn't just clutter up the house.  My mother-in-law loves spending time working in the yard, so we came up with the idea to make garden markers for her vegetable garden.




I wanted to keep it as simple and natural looking as possible.  I cut the wood and nailed the pieces together, John wrote the letters, Pete used a wood burner to trace the letters, and Dan stained the wood.



I think they turned out pretty cute!  I love little kid handwriting.  I can't wait to see how they look in her garden.



Now I want to make some for our garden!