DIY {BE...} Appliqued Tees

This is going to be one of the very few tutorials I post over the summer and I'm really excited to share it with you. My good friend Laura of Laura Winslow Photography and I were chatting over dinner a few weeks ago how our little guys (both just 5 years old) are *already* starting to feel pressure from friends and classmates to act a certain way, hang out with certain kids, or do certain things. We both feel strongly (really, I'm sure most parents do) that it's our job to give them the confidence and sense of self worth that they need to be comfortable with who they are. We came up with these designs and this super fun shoot to help our kiddos learn to embrace who they are and let their unique personalities really shine. 

Laura is not only an amazing photographer, but she is the one person who can really get my kids to be themselves in front of the camera.  They had such a blast with this shoot and it was so fun to see Laura in action. I'm pretty sure her mantra is BE AWESOME - because she totally is. To see more photos from our fun day (and to read a far more eloquent reasoning behind this idea), you can visit Laura's blog here. Take your time. It's pretty amazing.

We thought it would be fun to create a tutorial of this and share these three designs with you all. Yay for you! Aside from the designs you see in these photos, you can create so many others...BE UNIQUE, BE YOURSELF, BE HAPPY, etc. I kept these designs short so I didn't have to sew too many letters. 

What You'll Need:

Blank t-shirt, one piece, or tank (pre-washed)

Felt or fabric piece for the applique (I prefer to use eco-fi felt by Kunin - it holds up great in the wash)

  Sewing Machine or embroidery floss and needle

Scissors (small scissors with a pointy tip work best)

Fusible webbing

  Templates for the applique (download here - BE RAD, BE COOL, BE KIND). Adjust the size of your template as needed. 

 Since I use Heat n Bond, my instructions will follow Heat n Bond's instructions. If you are using a different fusible web, simply change out my instructions with the instructions on the package. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me and I can help you. 

Getting Started:

The first thing you'll want to do is take the template and place it under a sheet of your fusible webbing. Take your pencil and trace your letters on to the webbing. Any time you applique letters or numbers, you'll want to trace them in the reverse since you will flip them when you adhere them to your garment.

 Next you'll want to iron your webbing onto your felt or fabric. For Heat n Bond, set it on the "wool" setting (NO STEAM). Iron the design onto the felt or fabric for about 3 or so seconds so it looks like this:

Carefully cut out your letters. Peel off the paper backing.

Place the letters exactly where you want them on the t-shirt with the glossy/fusible webbing side face down. Iron the appliques on to the t-shirt pressing for about 10 seconds. I ironed BE first and then KIND second. Again be sure to use the wool setting with no steam. Check to be sure that the appliques are firmly adhered to the shirt.

At this point, you can either hand stitch the letters using a basic straight stitch (great tutorial here) or you can use a sewing machine. I usually prefer to hand stitch but for this project I used my machine. If you use your machine, you'll do a running stitch just inside the border of each letter.

Once the letters are stitched, trim the thread and you are finished.

Easy, fun, cute, encouraging.

 As always, if you get stuck on a step, feel free to let me know so I can help!

A HUGE thank you to Laura Winslow Photography for these amazing photos and designs.

Camping at Big Lake

This past weekend we took the boys camping up at Big Lake (near Eagar, AZ). This is one of the few areas of Arizona I've yet to visit and I was absolutely blown away at the beauty. If you've never been to Arizona or you've just stuck to the Phoenix area, you might not know that there are rich, green pine forests and rolling meadows covering a lot of the state. Although I love the raw beauty of the desert, it's nice to escape (especially when it's 110+ degrees).

I grew up camping and used to be able to hang with the best of them but since I've gotten older, I've learned that I appreciate a few camping "luxuries" like flush toilets and showers. I did my research and found the perfect campground for us - Apache Trout Campground right next to Big Lake. Gorgeous. As soon as we arrived, the boys dove right in and started exploring.

Sticks and dirt. Life doesn't get much better for Oliver.

Once we got settled, we headed down to the lake to check it out. We could have stayed there for hours but it was getting super cold so we headed back for dinner.

Unfortunately, I decided it would be a really fun idea to come down with strep throat after a five hour drive to go camping so we had to cut our trip short after just one night. I did manage to pump enough ibuprofen so we could spend the next morning exploring roads to nowhere, giant skies and giant clouds before we headed home.

 

Thankfully, I am on the mend and looking forward to another adventure this weekend. More on that soon. I hope you are all staying healthy and enjoying summer!

Blogging Over at All for the Boys

As a mom of two little guys, All for the Boys is one of the few blogs I read daily and I'm excited to be guest blogging for my friend Allison today while she's on vacation with her family. It's a tutorial you may have seen here but in case you haven't, pop on over there and check it out. And while you're there, check out all of the other guests posts she's lined up so far - fun, fun stuff.

Thanks for having me, Allison!

Slowing things down...

I am going to be slowing down things on the blog just a little for the summer. I'll have a tutorial here and there and the occasional BOY style post but I'm planning to spend my days having fun with the boys and helping with Jason's company. I'll be posting about our summer adventures but don't want the pressure of "regular" features while F&O are out of school.

And totally off topic but today Jason and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. I'll spare you our cheesy wedding photos and share this oldie but goodie taken in a photo booth at the beach 19 years ago. So, so young.

Happy Anniversary to my love and Happy Summer to you!

Searching for gold and the eclipse

We took the boys to the Lost Dutchman State Park at the base of the Superstition Mountains this past Sunday afternoon for a little exploring. Legend has it that there is an old gold mine somewhere on the mountain. We filled the boys in on the details on our drive to the park and Oliver became obsessed. Whenever we ran into someone on the trail, he made sure they knew that the gold was his and that he was going to find it. I love his adventurous spirit.

Our little adventure happened to coincide with the solar eclipse. Because we didn't have the appropriate eye wear, we didn't tell the boys about it - we were worried they'd fry their eyeballs out trying to see it. Lucky for us, just as the sun was starting to set, we were treated to the tail end of it. Spectacular. (I didn't have a tripod or a telephoto lens so these photos aren't the best).

Such a treat for us to see that magnificent event surrounded by the mysterious beauty of the desert.

Mini Bedroom Makeover

After my dad passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, Jason and I asked my mom if she'd like to move in with us. About a year later, she decided to take us up on our offer. We thought it would be a good idea to buy a bigger house with a nice sized yard for gardening, chickens, etc. The original plan was to build a guest house in the back for mom. However, we found the perfect home with a split plan. Since I'm a minimalist by nature and don't need or want a lot of living space, Jason and I offered the master suite to mom and we took up residence with the boys in smaller rooms on the other side of the house. The situation has been ideal for all of us.

We've lived in this house for three years now and I have hated our tiny room from day one. It was an ugly beige color, had zero personality, and although I don't mind a small room - it was not functional for us in the least bit. I could never bring myself to take "before" pictures so you'll have to use your imagination. I painted the room a few months ago and had been putting off the rest of the project until recently. With some sweat, labor, and just a few dollars, we managed to transform our little space into my dream room.

The first thing we did was build the pallet headboard. You pinners had me fooled that this would be an easy project. I thought the hardest part would be finding pallets to use but Jason assured me that there wouldn't be a ton of crafty chicks at the local hardware store fighting over them in the wee hours of the morning. Our biggest challenge with the headboard was the construction of it. We get the occasional scorpion here in Arizona and those nasty little things love to hide behind wood. My number ONE requirement was that the headboard not touch the wall. Too many scary thoughts about scorpions crawling into bed with me. And since the headboard isn't entirely secured to the wall, we had to make it super durable - the thing weighs as much as a mini cooper.

The headboard has only three points of contact with the wall and I keep telling myself that scorpions won't crawl across a slippery bolt. ;)

The headboard took the better part of two weekends but was well worth the effort. I love it. I think my favorite part is the gorgeous mirrored bunting I ordered from Flux Glass. So fun.

The other challenge we had to address were the ugly, closet style built in shelves lining the far side of the wall. It's nice to have a ton of shelves but they aren't really finished so they were an eyesore. We got a quote from our carpenter to build doors for the shelves in our room and the boys room but it's just not in the budget so we settled for these great drapes from IKEA to cover them up. Now that they are covered, they are way more functional and we're able to use them more.

We put in some inexpensive LACK shelves from IKEA for nightstands, some reading lights, and we're finished for now. (Please overlook the ugly ceiling fan. In Phoenix, fans are a necessity).

Simple, tiny, perfect for us.

DIY Neon Gift Bags

I have a ton of muslin drawstring bags left over from my clothing line and I love to use them for gifts. They can be a little "blah" on their own so I've been doing some embellishing - in NEON no less.

This is a simple and quick project with really fun results.

What you'll need for the polka dot bags:

Muslin drawstring bags (any size is fine) - find them on Etsy or do a google search for a list of suppliers

Neon fabric paint

Circle sponge applicator thing (pictured below - super cheap at craft stores)

 Steps:

1. Place a piece of cardboard in the bag so that the fabric paint doesn't seep through.

2. Dab your sponge in the fabric paint - make sure you don't overdo it on the paint. It's better to have too little paint on the sponge than too much. You can practice on paper to gauge the best amount.

3. Press your sponge onto the bag to make your dots. Reapply paint on your sponge every dot or two.

4. Let paint dry completely.

5. Place a piece of scrap fabric over your bag and press with a hot iron to set the paint.

I made a ton of these bags up so that I can grab one whenever I need one for a gift.

What you'll need for the chevron bag:

Muslin drawstring bag

Neon fabric paint

Paint Brush

Freezer paper

Chevron template - available here

Exacto knife or small pointy scissors

The chevron bags are a bit more labor intensive than the polka dot bags but still don't take too much time. (It would save a ton of time if I could figure out a way to make a reusable template rather than cutting out new freezer paper for every bag.)

1. Print out the chevron template. Place it underneath the freezer paper and trace it.

2. Use an exacto knife (place a cutting mat or cardboard down to protect your surface) or use small pointy scissors to cut out two of the zig zags.

3. With the waxy side of the freezer paper down, iron it on to the bag. 4. Again, put cardboard inside the bag and use the paint brush to paint the fabric paint onto the design. Be careful not to use too much paint. You need just enough to cover the surface.

5. While the paint is still wet, carefully peel off the freezer paper. 6. Wait for it to completely dry and then heat press it with an iron (place a scrap piece of fabric on top of the bag to be safe).

Super easy. Not only do these make great gift bags, they can also be used for toys, crayons, party favors, etc. Endless possibilities here.

Muslin bags come in all sizes and quantities. You shouldn't have any problems finding them online but if you do, let me know and I'll help you out. Cheers!