More projects

I've been going crazy on Pinterest projects!  Here are the last few for now! :)

Project 1: EASY t-shirt transfer!

I saw a really neat idea to use plastic bags as iron ons!  I didn't have any cute shopping bags around, but I found these loot bags at Big Lots for 50 cents for 8 bags.  I'm seeing fun birthday party favors in our future!  Literally, the longest part of this project was cutting out the pictures!  (And then Aidan asked why I didn't include the web!)

How to:

• Trim plastic bag to desired size. Note: Try to keep each piece smaller than the surface of your iron.  If you look closely at SpiderMan, you'll notice that his head is a bit deformed. When you first put heat on, the plastic will seize up and shrink.
• Place pieces of plastic on shirt (or bag or ?!?!?!?) and cover with parchment paper. Note: Don't try to reuse the parchment paper. My princess shirt has some stray marks in the shape of Spiderman.
• Heat with iron.  This step is very quick!  It doesn't take long.
• Leave parchment paper on for a few minutes to set. Note: I noticed the paper starting to peel away from the shirt. That's when I lifted the paper.
• If the decal seems to be lifting, put the parchment paper back down and iron some more.
• I haven't tried washing these yet, but they say it's supposed to be permanent.

Project 2: Quick Scarves

I am not a scarf girl, but I found this tip to make a scarf out of t-shirts.  

My co-worker made one yesterday (from a t-shirt I picked up from a thrift store for a quarter!)

Tonight, Heather I did a "Mommy and Me" project.  We started with these shirts.

Heather modeling hers....

Both of us with our scarves.

Word Scarves

I was looking for a birthday present for my partner at work. We've been a team for most of the 7 1/2 years I've been there.  For the past year and half, we've shared an office. (Prior to that we ALL shared an office!)  Diana shares my faith (and is even a member of my church).  As soon as I saw these word scarves on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one (well...two!) for Diana. 

Steps:

• Select Scripture passage, quote, lyric, or poem.
• Gather scarf and fabric pen/s. (I used Elmer's brand that writes on "anything" including fabric).
• Start writing. Note: This will take awhile! My fabric pin kept catching on the weave.
• Let the paint dry. Note: Some crafters choose to go over this with a paint brush for a more distinct look. I didn't do this.
• Heat set the paint. I tried using an iron, but I wasn't sure it was helping.  So I threw the scarves into the dryer for about 5 minutes.  

Scarf #1

I decided to make one with a collection of "one another" passages.  Something like 60 times in the New Testament, the church is told how to treat each other: "love one another"; "bear one another's burdens"; "forgive one another"; "be kind one to another"; etc.  This one was a narrower red scarf. I wrote most of the words in black.  I left a space (which just happened to be exactly the width of the $5 bill that was on the counter!) for the "one another"s which I added with a white pen.

Heather was happy to model for me!

     

Scarf #2

I debated on what to put on this one. I thought about songs (old hymns as well as KLOVE currents were considered); the Serenity Prayer; and scripture passages. I decided on Psalm 91. "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty".  Even though I usually read the NIV or Message versions, I decided to go with the New King James Version.

This scarf is off white and the text is written in blue. I had room at the end, so I added the benediction blessing from Numbers. ("The LORD bless and keep you...")

This picture is the scarf spread out of the living room sofa.

Sharpie Tie Dye Shirts

Sharpies + Rubbing Alcohol + T-shirt = Cool, fun designs!

As soon as I heart about making tie dye with Sharpies, I had to dig a shirt out of my closet to try it!  I put a plastic cookie sheet inside the shirt, and told Heather to draw me a design. We experimented with various pattern types.  We used Hot Pink, Blue, Yellow and Green.

Steps:

• Draw a design on the shirt with various Sharpie colors. Note: Don't overlap too many colors or it will turn brownish.  Experiment with various shapes, line thicknesses, etc.
• Add rubbing alcohol and watch colors run together.  With the first one, we used a small dropper (very tedious!)  On the later ones, I got a 97 cent spray bottle from Wal-Mart. (Note: Clearly label! You don't want to spray your kids' hair with alcohol tomorrow morning!)
• Let it dry completely.
• Throw it in the dryer for a few minutes to heat set.
• Wash shirt before wearing.

Closeup of area with shapes.  Lines stayed dark.

My favorite ones were the graduated shapes (like this heart) made with dots instead of thick lines.

Heather's 2nd design.  She was disappointed that it looked "tie dyed". I told her that is what it was supposed to do!  I love this one!

My co-worker decided to try one. (Note: "Los Pasitos" is the name of the early intervention agency we work for. Los Pasitos means "baby steps".)

I decided to try and see if I could do this a dark shirt.  The shirt is actually turquoise (like in the bottom picture!)  I did about 8 layers of nesting hearts.  (I'm not sure why the "before" picture is such a different color?!?!?!)

Thrice Baked Cinnamon Rolls

A couple of weeks ago I bought some frozen bread dough to try a couple of recipes. Yesterday I took it out to thaw, but it was too late to use for dinner. At 11 pm I realized I needed to do something with it. So I scoured the Internet (and, of course Pinterest) for ideas. I settled on cinnamon rolls. It would be perfect. I'd get up a little early and feed my family homemade cinnamon rolls.

Well, I'm determined to share my successes, as well as my failures, as I take this journey to learn to cook. Today's experience falls somewhere in the middle.

The rolling the dough and doing the butter, cinnamon and sugar was easy. Even cutting and putting into a pan went smoothly. I covered them and put them in the fridge to rise over night.

If you are a baker, you probably noticed the problem: too many rolls--too close together.

After baking about 20 minutes, they looked (and sounded--tap, tap) perfect. I covered them in homemade glaze (did you know the glaze is just powdered sugar and milk?!?!).  I did intentionally leave that left side unfrosted.

Unfortunately, the yummy goodness only went skin deep.  More than half of the dough was still raw (yuck!). After several make a few changes (separating some out, flipping all of the rolls) and 3 times in the oven, they looked like this:

They may not look as pretty as Cinnabons, but they tasted good.

Rag Curls Revisited

When I was a kid, my mom used to tie my hair with rags to make ringlets. I never learned how she did it (I'm gonna have to have her show me next time I see her) but this is what it looked like:

I've seen several posts on Pinterest about "no heat" curls. I tried the sock bun with little success. (I don't think my technique was right.)

Last night I tried another sock method. The blogger suggested using men's dress socks, but I figured if I was gonna tie socks in my hair I should use cute ones!

This is right after I took the socks out. (I know....I'm not quite awake, but I did think to grab my phoen to take a picture!)

With my face (but not glasses) on.

This last picture is 6 hours later.  After church I put my hair in a clip. Then I fixed and ate dinner. I took this picture after the kitchen was cleaned up.  That's a lot of curl left (for me!)