Kids Fashion Art Project: How to Make a Tiger T-Shirt

It's funny where inspiration comes from.  It's everywhere!! The other day while I was watching one of my daughters practicing her dance number for our local Little Miss Pageant. And I had a thought...the song was Katie Perry's "Roar!" and I thought it would be fun for her to paint her own tiger shirt to wear to her practices. (Tigers are so on trend right now!)

My kids love to create as much as I do! So that's what we did. A quick trip to Wal-Mart for a couple of
 $ 3.00 white T's. (I already had the fabric paint and fabric markers.)

To make one of these you will need:
White T shirt
Fabric Paint, I chose black and gold glitter
Fabric Markers, I used Sharpie brand
Big Black Fabric Marker, (to make most of the stripes)
Parchment paper to line in between the shirts
A picture of a tiger, I pulled up a picture of a tiger on the internet so the kids could see how to color it
A black and white picture off the internet of a tiger that you can trace or just draw your own!

How to do it:
First you need the drawing of the tiger, in black marker and on white paper. This is inserted inside the shirt so you can trace it onto the front of the shirt. I hung mine up in a big window, taped it into place to make the tracing easier. Then once traced I removed the picture. Inserted a piece of parchment paper (to block transfer of paint to back), then we began to color and paint the tiger. Using fabric paint with sponge brushes fabric markers, and then using a set of alphabet templates to spell out the words "ROAR" and "EYE OF THE TIGER" using black fabric paint and sponge brush. When the kids were done with all the coloring, then they sponged gold glitter fabric paint over the whole thing to make it extra sparkly!


Here are some pics from our project:

Supplies!

Shirt hanging in the window to trace the face onto the shirt.

Here's a better pic of seeing the face through the shirt.

Here's the picture I drew working from one I found online, and the orange one is the one I traced onto the shirt. Then it was the kids turn to color and paint!

Adding color.

On the right are the alphabet templates we used for the large lettering, also from Wal-Mart on a previous supplies trip.To use the template just place it down on the shirt where you want it, and using a sponge brush wet with the paint you want, dab the paint on and then carefully remove the template and allow to dry.

When we craft...we all craft!

The kids all had such a great time creating these shirts! (They even made up a silly dance to go with it! If you want to see that you should head over to my Instagram Feed @fancyewe. Do you remember making up silly dances and skits when you were young? Yep, me too! Some of my funniest memories!!)

Hope our creating helps inspire you to create some fun stuff of your own. See ya all later. Love from our little "Patch-A-Heaven!"

Kids Project: How to Make Heart Shaped, Hanging Bird Feeders

Valentine's Day is close and I love finding different craft projects to do with my kids. Today's project is
super easy, but quite messy! So if you are a non-mess making mom, you better steer clear of this one! But if you are okay with a little peanut butter and sprinklings of wild bird seed...well...read on!

It's cold and wintery here, but there are still a few little birdies around. So we thought we'd show a little love to our birdy friends this Valentine's Day, by making some heart shaped bird feeders to hang around the yard.

Like I said, they are messy, but fun, and my kids really got into it! They enjoyed making and hanging them, but they really loved watching for the birds. They were glued to the window with their binoculars (not that they needed them, but they brought even more fun!)

To make these, you will need:
Old Bread
Heart Cookie Cutter
Peanut Butter
Wild Bird Seed
Ribbon to hang

Directions:
We began by cutting hearts out of the bread with the cookie cutters. Poured some bird seed out into a 9x13 pan. Then we spread peanut butter onto the front and sides of the bread heart, then dropped it (peanut butter side) into the bird seed to coat, then spread peanut butter on the other "naked" side and coated it in bird seed too, so the heart was now completely covered in bird seed. Then I used a butter knife to make a small slit in the bread to thread the ribbon through. (Make the slit at least 1 1/2" from the top, so it won't pull through.) Then we tied a bow at the top of the ribbon and they were ready to hang.

I was really surprised that these held up so well! I was afraid the weight might pull it through, but it has been raining and windy here the past few days, and they are still going strong. I saw a lot more action on them from the birds today! (It may take a few days for the birds to realize what they are and come around)

One of my little loves using the cookie cutter.

Cute little bread heart!

Ready for the dip into the bird seed.

Spreading PB on the "Naked" side.

Many hands make light work (or big messes) But much fun was had!

Thoroughly sprinkled and ready for ribbon.

Hanging them in the trees.

Little Bird Watchers!

One hanging from my favorite little tree!

Valentine's Day Gift Idea for Kids

"Valentine, You make my head spin! Today I'm sharing a Valentine's Day gift idea. This is what my girls will be giving to their girl friends this year. I have lots of fabric scraps around at all times, so I make lots of headbands for my girls! I bought some Valentine's Day themed fabric last year and had leftovers. So I made a few for their Valentine's. I packed a hand made, fabric headband and some candies in the Valentine's Day Themed Cellophane bags. Then stapled a home made heart Valentine that says "Valentine, You Make My Head Spin!'  (we printed on Microsoft Word on white paper), then glued it to another larger red construction paper heart, hole punched a hole in the heart, threaded a Valentine's Day ribbon through, made a bow and ta-da! The headbands I make are plain and simple. They tie in a bow under their hair. You could very easily use store bought headbands and the idea would still be way cute and different. I'm always up for ideas that aren't all candy!

Here are some pics of our project:

We hope you have a "Head Spinning" Valentine's Day this year! Happy Valentine's Day from our little "Patch-A-Heaven!"

How To Make a Valentine's Day Wreath, A Tutorial

Love is in the air! And I can't get enough of Valentine's Day Decor!! So today I bring you a fun and easy 
Valentine's Day, fabric wreath. I made another wreath similar to today's project out of old, denim jeans if you want to see that project you can click here: Diminishing the Denim Pile, Wreath

I love the challenge of trying to make something using what you already have lying around or buying minimal supplies. So today's project challenge was to see if I could re-create a wreath like the denim one I made, but using only 1 yard of fabric. Because good quality, designer quilting fabric costs around $10/yd retail, I wanted you to be able to make one using just one yard of fabric! And I was able to do it!! Below is how I did it.

To make one of these you will need:
Fabric of your choice, 1 yard at least 42" wide (you can look on the bolt to see if it's wide enough, most fabrics are around 45" wide)
Foam Wreath (I got one at Walmart in the floral dept.)
Ribbon
Mosaic Mirror Tiles
Glue Gun
Card stock Paper
Sewing Machine or Serger
Thread
Scissors/Pins
Measuring Device (I used a measuring tape)

Directions:
When I made the Jean Wreath, I made it out of 2 pant legs so I measured them together and got a length of 93". So that's about how long I wanted this fabric tube to make the wreath to end up. I measured the width of the Jean Wreath, that tube was 9" wide. But, my fabric would not allow me to do that wide without using more than 1 yd. So I improvised! (You could certainly make a wider, more full wreath if you widened the strips, but you would use more fabric.) My fabric measured 21" wide (folded) and 36" long. I wanted to get 3 pieces or stripes out of it (to make it the length I wanted) I divided 21 (my fabric width) by 3 (number of strips I wanted) and I got 7, so I made each strip 7" wide. (Again, each strip is 36" long) So I cut the fabric ( while folded) into 3 strips that were 7" wide by 36" long. One of the strips has the fabric fold and the other two (which are doubled) do not.

Here are the 3 strips cut. (These are doubled, so there is one on the back of what you see)

So next you will need to sew the strips without the fold, together the long way. So take one cutting of strips (2 identical pieces of fabric) lay them on top of each other (right sides together) and sew them together along one of the long sides. I used my serger. Then repeat this on the other strip pieces.

Here I am laying the strips (without the fold) on top of each other right sides together before they are sewn. I pinned them in place also.

Here is one of the two strips without fold sewn together, using serger.

So now you have 3 strips of fabric. Open up the strip with fold. Lay one of the just sewn together strips on top of the folded strip, right sides together and sew them together (short ends) so they are end to end, creating one long strip. And repeat this step using the other strip you sewed together at first so all 3 are now one long strip.

Here I have laid the strips I have just sewn together onto the strip with the fold, right sides together ,and pinned the ends together. I will now sew a seam with serger to join the strips end to end.

 Now you should have them all sewn together in one long strip! I used my serger to finish the raw edges on both ends (short ends.)

Here is that long strip I was talking about. It is all 3 strips sewn together, end to end.

Here shows the serged edges of the ends. This way they won't fray with time.

And now fold your long strip in half the long way, right sides together. And sew along the entire long edge. This makes the strip into a tube. Then turn the tube right sides out, trim the threads and you are ready to put the fabric tube onto the foam wreath!

To thread the fabric tube onto the foam wreath you must cut through the foam. I used a knife and made one cut all the way through the wreath. Then gently pull it apart to thread the fabric onto it. Pull one part of the wreath forward and one part back, not putting pressure on the ring or it will break apart. (If it does snap, you can tape it back together and no worries!) To thread, I felt it was easier to have the foam facing up and fabric coming on from bottom. Gently work the fabric onto the foam and slide it all the way around the circle until it's covered. Then even out the gathering to please your eye.

Here I am just starting to put the fabric onto the foam. I am gently pulling the bottom part of the foam towards me while threading the fabric onto the foam from the back. 

Here the fabric is all on the foam. 

Here I have folded one of the serged edges to the inside and then I will stick the other (not folded over edge) inside the folded edge.

Here is what the edges look like one inside the other.

The finished fabric wreath, not to embellish!

To embellish:
To make the wreath more of a Valentine's Theme, I made a heart out of the Mosaic Mirror Tiles. To do this I used a piece of card stock paper for my base. I pieced a heart shape together out of the tiles and then glued them into place on the card stock, using hot glue.

I love these Mosaic Mirror Tiles, I have a thing for shiny!!

Here I have my card stock and my planned out heart, not glued on yet. If you look you can see how shiny and reflective these little tiles are! (See my iphone?!)

Once I had the heart how I wanted, I glued the tiles in place with my hot glue gun. One tile by one.

Then I cut off the excess card stock paper that was around the mirror heart. And I traced the heart to make another heart out of card stock paper for the back.

Cutting off the excess card stock around the tile heart.

Traced the heart, cut it out. 

Here is the shiny, finished heart! Isn't she purdy?!

And now you need the ribbon, make a loop around the wreath and then put the ends together at the bottom. (The length of ribbon is up to you, I just made it so the heart hung in the middle of the wreath) 

This is the ribbon from which the tile heart hangs. You just want to adjust the ribbon length so it hangs in the middle of your wreath.

Glued the ends together.

Then you will glue the ribbon ends to the back heart. Then glue the mirror heart on top. So that the ribbon ends are sandwiched in between the mirror and card stock (back heart.) Now I used another ribbon to loop through the heart ribbon and then wrap around the top of the wreath, to hang it and made a bow. So now the heart ribbon is hanging from the bow ribbon.

Glued the ribbon to the card stock heart we traced for the back. Then put hot glue all over this heart/ribbon area and placed the tiled heart on top.

Here she is all finished and hanging! 

This was a fun, one yard of fabric project! Hope you enjoyed it!! Have a "Fancy Day!"

Did you know you could do this with hot glue?!

And there I was in my kitchen at about 8 o'clock last night hanging out with my kids and trying to finish up the craft project I was working earlier that day. The project was almost done, but it was missing something. I wanted one last little touch to go on the tile heart! Just the word LOVE...That's all, I don't ask for much! But, I didn't have anything that would work. I didn't want to go out in search of something this late in the evening. (It was approaching bed time for heaven sakes!)

And then....I blew my own feeble mind with what came next! I thought to myself, I said "self, what if you wrote the words out in hot glue and then it dried?" But, I didn't want to write it directly onto the tiles, because I had never tried writing words with hot glue before. I didn't want to ruin the tile project I had just pieced together, if it looked bad. So here's the epiphany folks!! I decided to try and write the letters out using hot glue, but onto a piece of parchment paper. Because my food doesn't stick to it, so maybe hot glue won't stick either, right?! And guess what? It worked. It totally worked!! It worked so good I almost freaked out!!

I was able to write the lettering I wanted, let it completely dry/harden. And then gently peeled it off...and (in my best Belt from the Crood's voice) Duh-Duh-Duh!! I had the lettering I wanted. Then my obsession with gold spray paint got the better of me and I spray painted the letters. And then my crazy desire for glitter kicked in, and I tried some glittered ones! And then my kids saw what fun I was having and they joined in. And at the end of the night I got a "You are the best mom ever!" statement from my 6 year old. And I love that!! What a little glue, glitter and spray paint, and a half an hour won't do to make little girls (and big girls) happy!

Here are some of the words I did and then spray painted or put glitter on while the glue was still wet. For the glitter you need to sprinkle while the glue is still wet. But for the spray paint, let the glue dry completely first, then spray.

And here is the LOVE lettering right smack dab in the middle of shiny tiles!

Now for the tips/tricks for doing this with hot glue:
Parchment paper is what you pipe the glue out onto.
Use the longest glue sticks you have (so you don't run out of glue before you finish your word) it works best to keep the glue coming out as evenly as possible. You don't want stopping and starting a lot. And you don't want globs.
Try to keep even pressure and movements.
Practice makes perfect. (or good enough!)

Stop back by tomorrow to see the whole project! There's a tutorial and a challenge to make a project using just one yard of fabric!

For now I'm going to take my feeble, blown mind off to bed! Happy Crafting Peeps!! Love ya much.