Painted, Peronalized Dinosaur T-Shirt

My three year old daughter, Addy, has been invited to a dinosaur-themed birthday party at a wonderful local science museum.  The party is tomorrow morning.  Tonight, as we crossed today's date off on her calendar, she noticed the dinosaur drawn on tomorrow's calendar square.  "Usually I have to wait a long time for birthday parties to come," she observed, "but this time, I don't have to wait!"  Gleeful leaping ensued, followed by a pensive pause.  Then, she said, "Hey, I have a great idea!  Maybe you can make me a dinosaur shirt to wear to the party!"  I smiled and said, "Well, maybe one day I can make..."  She interrupted to say, "And then in the morning, I'll go into the art room, and there it will be just waiting for me!"  That settled it.  Sleep shmeep, I was making the shirt.

I hopped on the Internet to find a DIY shirt method that didn't require any fancy products or..well, skill.  I found this post on Make and Takes which reminded me that acrylic paint is permanent on its own (after it has been heat set) and does not require fabric medium as most people may assume.  

I really should have known this about acrylic paint already, thanks to a cringe-worthy homemade Wonder Woman Halloween costume that I made when I was in my early twenties. Why am I not including a photo of said costume, you ask? I'll spare you the Liz Lemon-esque details; suffice it to say that my Wonder Woman ensemble included some navy blue cotton underpants--purchased for this express purpose--upon which I painted white stars with acrylic craft paint.  Readers, I actually wore this costume!  Out of my house!  To a Halloween party!  My mom and sister saw a photo from the party and laughed so hard about my costume that they had tears in their eyes.  Cool, I am not.  Don't ask whether, thanks to my practical nature, I wore those (perfectly functional) star underpants--grown up Underoos if you will--as regular underwear for years after that.  Do not ask.

Moving on.  Here is how I made the "Addysaurus" shirt in the photo above.  (Get it?  Addysaurus, because my daughter's name is Addy?  See, I'm getting cooler as I age.)

I found the free dinosaur stencil on All About Stencils.com.  The dinosaur on Addy's shirt is actually an Alamosaurus.  I printed it out just as I saw it on the screen, and then I used our home photocopy machine to enlarge the image to 140%.  I traced the outline on the paper with a dark-colored marker to make it more visible.  Then, I tucked the dinosaur picture into the shirt, wrapped the shirt tightly around a book to have a smooth writing surface, and used a Sharpie (extra fine point) to trace the outline of the dino:

 

Next, I mixed green, blue, and white acrylic paint until I had a teal that I liked.  Using a tiny paintbrush, I filled in the dino.  The most challenging part of this step was taking this photograph with my non-dominant hand:

 

 Finally, I used a stamp set to write the word ADDYSAURUS.  I used a little paintbrush to brush the paint onto the stamps instead of dipping the stamps in the paint.  Also, I used a ruler on the shirt so that my letters would be (reasonably) aligned.

Once the paint was completely dry, I ironed the image to make it permanent (I used a piece of plain white cotton fabric between the iron and the painted shirt so that the paint wouldn't melt right onto the iron.)  Voila!

While we're on the subject of dinosaur birthday parties, here is a shot of the handmade birthday card that we're giving to Addy's friend tomorrow:

 And here's a gift bow that we made out of strips cut from a magazine.  This is not my original idea.  I wish it were; it's brilliant!  To make a bow like this, just cut thin, uniform strips from a magazine page, form them into figure 8's, and then stick the 8's onto a brad until the bow is as full as you want it to be.

Diaper Cake for a Baby Girl

If you've never seen a diaper cake before, you may be surprised to learn that a diaper cake is not, in fact, an edible cake made to look like a diaper, but rather, a bunch of diapers made to look like a layered cake!

I made this diaper cake as a gift / centerpiece for a baby shower that I hosted for a dear childhood friend. The cake was very simple and fun to assemble--my three year old daughter helped me. Given my tendency to bake real cakes that stick to the pan, crack down the middle, and crumble to bits when I try to ice them, I can confidently say that this is the best looking cake that I've ever made.

I used the "folded diaper method" rather than rolling the diapers. My pregnant friend had mentioned that she needed Diaper Genie refills (which happen to come in a ring-shaped package), so I built my bottom cake layer using the Diaper Genie at the center. I found very clear DIY instructions for assembling the cake in this post on momaroo.com. The only thing that surprised me was that the Pampers Swaddlers--the newborn diapers that I used to assemble the cake--had a mild chemical odor that I found a little bit irritating over time. This is something to keep in mind before embarking on this project if you tend to be very sensitive to odors.

I covered a circle of cardboard with fabric to create a "platter" for the cake. It pained me that the mauvish-rose colored fabric on the platter fought with the color of the pink ribbons on the cake, but I had forgotten to buy fabric for the platter when I was buying my project materials, so I just used fabric that I already had on hand and tried to swallow my decorator pride.

These sweet roses made from baby socks were my favorite element of the cake. I learned how to fold them using a tutorial from a site called Plan the Perfect Baby Shower. For the record, I found this tutorial by Googling "baby sock roses" and not by Googling "plan perfect baby shower", since the latter would have made me gag just a little.

To make the bird cake topper, I rolled up a onesie to create the nest, tucked in some pink tulle, and then added a hand-sewn bird which I made using a free PDF pattern called "Mister Bluebird" from Spool Sewing. I've made several of these birds, and they are a great while-watching-a-movie kind of project. My daughter loves to play with them.

The cake was a fun conversation piece at the shower, and my practical pregnant friend confided that she appreciated receiving diapers and Diaper Genie refills! In my next post, I'll share a photo of another handmade gift that I gave to this same friend at her shower.

DIY Baby Shower Greeting Cards

I love making handmade greeting cards. With my well-stocked "stash" of pretty papers and paper crafting supplies, I like to think of myself as a greeting card "homesteader". I don't raise chickens or keep bees or spin my dogs' fur into sweaters, but I do get a little thrill out of being able to produce a greeting card for any recipient and any occasion on demand. No last-minute trips to the Hallmark store for this gal! In fact, though I love and appreciate receiving cards of all kinds, for myself as a card-giver, I've started thinking of store bought cards as kind of a cop-out.

The cards above are two that I made to accompany baby shower gifts. I added the source notes to the first card photo just to illustrate why, if you like to make greeting cards, you should consider hoarding pretty/colorful papers of all kinds. (I use the term "hoarding" loosely here folks--one small desk drawer full of paper can easily supply you with many years worth of card-making material). I liked how the layered layout turned out in this set of cards.

The scrapbook paper is from DCWV Mini Stack 3. The hearts were cut from paint swatches using a Paper Shapers Small Heart craft punch (discontinued) and are elevated using Mini Pop Dots. For the record, wrinkles were smoothed and re-glued after these photos were shot.

Five Little Pumpkins--From a Trader Joe's Cereal Box

I made this last year as a home school preschool teaching tool to go along with two different Halloween-themed poems. It's made from construction paper and a Trader Joe's "Joe's O's" cereal box, turned on its side and inside out.

The pumpkins can be folded down one at a time--lots of fun for toddlers and preschoolers! The little witch is mounted on a Popsicle stick so that she can "ride by" in the first poem.


Here's what the back looks like--the long, skinny cardboard flaps anchor the pumpkins in place once they are folded down and back.

I use this little visual aid in conjunction with two fun Halloween poems for young children. The first is one that I remember from my own preschool days!

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sat on a fence,
and a witch came riding by (witch rides past the first 4 pumpkins).
"Oh, ho, ho, I'll take you home to make a pumpkin pie." (Fold down 5th pumpkin.)

Repeat with 4 little pumpkins, 3 little pumpkins, etc., folding down one pumpkin each time.

Final verse:
No little pumpkins sat on a fence,
and a witch came riding by,
"Oh boo-hoo! There are no more pumpkins, so I'll have no more pie!"

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sat on a gate.
The first one said, "It's getting late."
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"
The fifth one said, "Isn't Halloween fun?!"
Then, "Whooooo" went the wind and out went the light.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight. (Fold down pumpkins as you say this line.)


For more Halloween poems, songs, and finger plays (including several other poems starring 5 pumpkins), check out this great page.

Happy Halloween!

Make a Single Serving of Chocolate Cake...Now!

Craving chocolate? I found this recipe from Eggland's Best in the back of a magazine--you know, in that section of the magazine where they advertise mail-order, elastic-waist pants? Hmm...come to think of it, maybe the proximity of these two ads was no coincidence! I might need to order some of those pants if I keep making this recipe!

If you've got 5 minutes, some basic ingredients, a mug, and a microwave, you can make a single serving of decadent chocolate cake! Right this minute! One caveat: the mug will get messy, so plan on a little scrubbing!

Here is a link to the recipe--no need for me to reinvent the wheel by reproducing it here. Enjoy!

And yes, all of you culinary eagle eyes, that is basil in the photo. I didn't have any mint and had to improvise. And no, I didn't eat it the basil--at least not with the chocolate!

Lego / Duplo Flowers

You never know when you're going to need to make a flower out of Legos. If you ever find yourself in a tricky predicament that only a Lego flower can remedy...well, here you go! No tutorial required. Just stack the Duplos up, hand the finished flower to your toddler, and watch her expression of delight as she pretends to inhale their fragrance.

Babysitter Thank You Gift

Around the holidays, I put together a gift basket for my mother's helper, a junior high aged neighbor who comes over to play with my toddler once or twice a week while I work on projects around the house. I thought I'd share the contents of the basket with you here just in case it might give you some ideas for gifts for your own babysitters. Here are the contents of the basket (unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the assembled basket...):1. A stainless steel water bottle (this was the first item that I bought, and its shapes and colors offered inspiration for the rest of the items in the basket).

2. A pair of brightly-colored slipper socks.

3. A journal and some pretty pens.

4. A fabric-topped jar full of gumballs.

5. Fun stickers

6. A French memo board (not pictured)

I think she liked it. She said it was, "Cool". Does cool still mean cool?

Posted at: It's So Very Creative