Hello Monday! And Last Weeks Projects.

It's going to be a busy week. 

School.  

Gym class.  

Doctors appointments.  

Playdates.  

Errands.  

Mile high To-Do list. 

 I'd like to just go back to the weekend.  The nice, leisurely weekend we had together as a family. 

We planted our garden.  We took a walk.  We drank iced tea and played with the kiddos.  

Back to reality.  And last weeks list.  I intended to make a lot of things, but ended up with just a few.  Besides the backpack, I made these...

Pj's for Lucas.  The shirt was made from one of my old Gap long sleeve shirts, and pants from a soft mens polo. 

I'm working on perfecting the neck.  I have a long way to go. 

Also made these pj pants, out of a pair of yoga pants that were headed to Goodwill. 

90 Minute Shirt

Here is my first version of the 90 Minute Shirt.  I was inspired by this shirt back in February when one of my favorite blogs, MADE, co-hosted a month long series called Celebrate the Boy.  It was a month of boy crafts, tutorials, and projects to drool over.  When I saw how easy this shirt was to make, I knew I had to try it.  Hop on over to Dana's site and check out the tutorial for yourself.  She gives instructions of making your own pattern, and creating this shirt.  I'll be making a few more soon, I need to work out some issues in my pattern and perfect the sleeves... 

Aren't they SO super cute?!  Next up are a couple striped ones made from thrifted shirts!

Fabric Dyeing = Accidental Hippie Onsie

 
I got the crafty bug awhile ago and have been itching to do some projects.  Step one was my first attempt at fabric dyeing.  I have to say the results weren't quite what I was hoping for, but I had fun in the process! 

I started with some old shirts and some plain white onsies...

Mixed up the dye (I used the powdered RIT dye) in two separate containers.  I chose blue and brown.  Then I submerged the fabric. 

The instructions said to soak for a half hour, but who am I to listen, plus I wanted a very dark color... so I soaked them for FIVE hours, outside.... because the smell was giving me a headache.  It didn't help that it started to rain. 

When I finally pulled them out I realized my first mistake - too small of a container.  They looked tie-dyed!  But, that was actually kind of cool.  Hippie shirts, right?  The blue looked great, a light/dark combo.  The brown on the other hand, was a little bit purple.  Not going to work on my stylish little boy.  So...  my soon to be second cousin (Baby Girl Danger) is probably going to get a cute brown and purple hand dyed onsie.

Ryan's Very Own Father's Day Shirt

For father's day this year Lucas and I got together with friends and made special t-shirts for the dads... Here he is after the masterpiece was created, he is posing with his painted blue toes. (Thanks Olivia for the picture!)

And here is proud Daddy, who wore the shirt ALL day! What a good dad!

Mother's Day Painted Picture Cards

For Mother's Day this year we decided to hand make some cards for everyone. The paper was designed and created by Lucas. Here are some photos of his first attempt at finger painting.

We started at the kitchen table, but ended up with paint on the chair, the wall, and all over him...

So we moved it outside where we had a little more space and room for messiness.

Ruffy and Gizmo were very curious as to what we were doing as well.

Lucas loved squishing the paint between his fingers and toes.

I had to hold on to him to direct his hands to the paper, otherwise we would have had a rainbow colored back yard.

We smeared color after color, made hand and foot prints, and had so much fun!

When it was time to clean up, Lucas wanted to head in the house....

We attempted a quick cleanup, but that didn't work.

This kid really needed a bath!

Sorry, no pictures in the tub, but I'm sure you can imagine what color the water ended up when he was all cleaned off!

Here are some photos of our masterpieces!

No Sew Tie Blanket

I am so proud of the blankets I made today! One for Lucas for his birthday, and one for soon to be baby Alek, Luke's cousin... These were so easy and fun! The only annoying thing was that Joan Fabrics sale signs were misleading, so I ended up spending a lot more than I planned.... lesson learned.

Here are the instructions for anyone interested...

You will need 2 yards of fleece material each for the front and back of the blanket.
You can choose two solids, or mix it up with one solid and one print.
Lay your material on top of each other making sure it is lined up perfectly, you may even use pins to secure it but pin the material away from the edges at least 4 inches.
Once your material is lined up cut out a 4x4 inch square from all four corners of the fleece material.
Now you will begin cutting around the edge of the material. Use your thumb as a guide and cut lines the width of your thumb and then up 3 inches-4 inches. Make sure the cuts are even around the entire edge.
Once this is done begin Knotting the material. On the corners do not, knot the material too tightly. You will be tying the material from the front to the piece in the back. This will create a neat, knotted fray around the entire blanket. If you use a buddy it will take you about 30 minutes to do one blanket .
If you used pins to secure the material together, remove them. When you are done you can roll this up and it looks really neat with the different colors. You can even wrap with a bow or leftover material.