Silhouette Project: Canvas

On of the many ways that I've put my kids' silhouettes to use was in a quick and easy canvas project. 

Here's how to do it:

1.  Print or trace the silhouettes onto contact paper (cut to a 8.5" x 11" sheet and run through the printer just you would with paper.)
2.  Cut out the silhouette using an exacto knife.

 

3.  Adhere paper to canvas (I had to spray some extra spray adhesive to the edges to make sure it stuck good since contact paper is meant to not be super sticky.)

4.  Spray paint canvas making sure to get a good coat around the edges of the silhouette. I faded it out to the edges though it's hard to tell in the pictures since I used a metallic paint.

5.  Let dry. The edges of my stencil curled up as it dried making it easy to remove.

6.  Hang your canvas for all to enjoy. I plan on adding the kids names to their canvas, but haven't decided yet how I want that detail to look. So for now they simply hang above our dresser, and I love seeing their cute cheeks, noses, and chins each time I change E's diaper.

I think this would be really cute in a shared kids room or in a playroom with each child's canvas sprayed with a different fun color.

I LOVE Sibling Shirts

Ever since I created my I Heart Sibling shirts for my kiddos back when baby #2 was born, I've had lots of requests for custom sibling shirts. It's so fun to come up with fun color combos to make the shirts coordinate. Here is the latest set I created for a friend's two adorable little girls.

I was on a fabric flower kick back when I made these shirts, so I threw in some little hair clips to match.

I love the playful fun colors of this set! Happy colors for happy girls.

Not Just About Baby

Just because a new baby was coming, didn't mean that the older two weren't included in the crafting madness. Both big sister and big brother got their very own shirts to proclaim their status of Big Sis & Big Bro.

To make these shirts, I used the same process as I described HERE in a mini tutorial post.

They wore these shirts to the hospital when they met little brother for the first time. Both are happily adjusting to their new roles. Big sis is a big momma's helper- holding baby more than anyone in the house, burping baby, finding burp cloths, throwing away dirty diapers, and most appreciated- entertaining brother. So my older two wear their shirts with pride, just as they hold and love their baby brother with pride. Love my kiddos!

Grandma's 80th Quilt

This past June, my maternal grandmother turned a beautiful 80 years young. My mom took part in organizing a party for her out in California. Part of the celebration was to be the presentation of a family heirloom quilt. Each descendent - child, grandchild, great-grandchild - contributed a square for the quilt. Then my mom pieced the quilt, had it quilted, then bound into one beautiful piece of art. One of the greatest parts was seeing the individuality of the squares. Some had pictures, some had patch-working, some had embroidery, some had drawings- together they made one unique quilt filled with the love of those who took time to show our mother/grandmother/great-grandmother our love for her.

Here are the squares that I made to represent our family:

For our family square I painted the shape of Texas. Then I cut little pieces of fabric to be our clothes, then I embroidered our bodies & our family name. For the 3 children's squares, I made a stencil and painted their silhouettes. Below each child's silhouette I embroidered their name and birthdate. (I blurred it for privacy.)


I wasn't able to be at the party when my mother presented the quilt to my grandmother, but I do have pictures. I love her facial expression as she lovingly touches the quilt.

I hope that every time she sees this quilt, she will know of the love her family has for her.

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

Snowflake Shirt Stencil

When I'm at a store and find plain t-shirts, (a pet peeve of mine is that you can hardly find a child's shirt without some crazy graphic on it, or even a simple graphic on it... I'm talking plain, solid, no embellishment shirts) I buy a couple because I never know when I might want to bust out a little craft project, and embellish it myself.

About a month ago, I had one of these urges. So I pulled out one of the plain, white, long-sleeved shirts I bought at Walmart (for $3.50!) Here's what I did.

1. Printed out a snowflake design onto the paper side of freezer paper. Just cut your freezer paper down to a standard paper size and run it through your printer as you would plain paper.

2. Using an exacto knife, I cut out the snowflake, being sure to keep the little circles and pieces.

3. Then, I iron my freezer paper onto my shirt with the waxy side down. Iron long enough that the wax melts and makes the paper stick to your fabric.

4. Paint your stencil. I just used regular craft paint. I love using the fabric paint because it washes up nice and soft, but if you don't have any on hand you can always use regular craft paint. It isn't as soft, and it may crack, but I don't mind the look it creates.

I did a layer of creamy beige, and then a layer of pearl finish to give it sparkle.

And a close up of it painted. 

5. Wait for it to dry. I always get excited to see the results and peel it off before it's entirely dry, and it doesn't seem to hurt- just peel off slowly.

6. Once completely dry, no rushing it on this step, heat set your paint by pressing with a warm iron for 30 seconds over each portion. If you are afraid of paint transfer, use a pressing cloth in between painted design and iron.

The results: 

We love this shirt because it's cute, yet neutral enough to wear with a lot of different things. Plus it works great as a layering shirt too. This is our little way of bringing a little snow to Texas!

I'm Back!

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I posted. 4 whole weeks! If you didn't already know, we had the baby and he is almost a month old already! I've packed my sewing machine away for the time being, but have actually pulled it out once since being on "maternity break." Although I am taking time off from sewing, I have managed to wrap up one little project. Here is another matching shirt set for my kiddos. I made big sister's shirt before baby was born and then just stenciled his name once we picked it- nothing extensive to do after baby was born. I'll have to post of pic once I get one of them wearing these cutesy shirts!I'll be posting a picture of the one sewing project I've done in the last four weeks as soon as I deliver it! (Them hopefully I can finish a friend's baby shower gift... whose shower was WEEKS ago!)

Howdy

I had tried some stenciling before, but now I finally put it to work on this onesie for K. I decided to force a little southern Texas pride on my babe- thus this pink cowgirl hat onesie! Now all she needs are some little boots!