"Hello" stamped pants

Since I've been making tons and tons of stamps, I thought I'd take a short break from card stamping and decorate a pair of pants for Chuck.

They were really easy to make, but I'm just going to include the tutorial down below in case anyone feels the urge to stamp "hello" on a bunch of clothing.

Materials:
- pants
- fabric paint
- pencil
- paper
- scissors
- craft knife
- glue
- cardboard
- paint brush
- craft foam

Directions:

1.  Create your stamp.  I just wrote out the word "hello" on a piece of paper in a font that I liked.  Then, I cut out my word, traced it onto a piece of foam, and used my craft knife to cut it out  Then, I glued the word backwards (mirror-image!) onto a piece of cardboard.  Then, I just trimmed my cardboard. After letting the glue dry overnight, I had a lovely "hello" stamp.

2. I followed directions on the fabric paint bottle to properly prepare my pants for painting.  (Ooh!  Alliteration.)

3.  I slipped in a piece of cardboard into my pants leg to make sure that my fabric paint didn't go through to the other side.  Then, I painted fabric paint onto my stamp, and pressed down onto my pants.

4.  Hmm. The initial results weren't quite as bright and vibrant as I had hoped.  So, I took out my paintbrush and carefully painted over my word.

5.  Then, I just followed the directions on the bottle and laid the pants flat to dry.

We've already worn the pants once and put them through the wash.  The paint stayed put  and still looks good.  Phew!  Now Chuck has some happy and friendly pants to wear around town.  Easie-peasie.   I'd like to decorate some other clothes.... once I emerge from my card-making dungeon.  (Ack! Is anyone even going to buy my cards?  Freak out time!)

Bleach Pen Decorated Scarf

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday.

I'm semi-stressed about the upcoming craft show (ahhh! It's this Saturday!), so I won't be able to post lots of crafts this week.  However, I'll try my best to upload something every day ... (even if it's just a photo of the stamps that I'm working on) so that you'll get a glimpse into my harried card-making world.

Anyway, here's a fun craft that I made last week.  I finally took the plunge and tried my hand at using bleach to decorate a recycled t-shirt scarf.

Ooh.  Looks nice, right?  (And btw- can you see that pimple?  Well, it ain't the only one.  Curses, acne!)

Materials:
- Scissors (I used fabric shears)
- Old t-shirt (<--crap!)
- Cereal box (<--crap!)
- Bleach Pen
- Rubber gloves
- Pen

Directions:

Step 1:  Cut an old t-shirt horizontally under the armpits.  (This medium black shirt shrunk in the wash, so it was perfect.)  Now you should have a fabric loop.  Stretch your loop so that it's longer.  Save your unused material.

Step 2:  Doodle some possible designs.  (I debated between two designs, but ultimately chose to doodle flowers because it seemed easier and more fun to draw.)

Step 3:  Place a piece of cardboard between the top and bottom layers of your fabric loop.

Step 4:  Shake your bleach pen very well.  Then, draw on the topside of your t-shirt loop.

Note:
- You must shake the bleach pen.  Otherwise blobs of oozy bleach water will leak out of the pen.
- Even after shaking, I still found the bleach "ink" to be pretty runny.  It had the consistency of watery Elmer's glue.
- Bleach fumes are strong.  Don't work in a tiny, stuffy room.
- Be careful and don't touch the bleach.  (Yeah- I learned that one the hard way.)



Step 5:  Once you've completed one side, let your bleached fabric sit there for as long as you want.  When you get the fading that you like, put on your rubber gloves and rinse the bleach out.

Note:
- I was impatient.  Once I noticed the bleach changing the black cloth, I ran to the sink to rinse it out.  So, my flowers probably don't look as vibrant as they could.
- Rinse your cloth well.  If you don't, the scarf will slightly burn your neck when you wear it.  (Again, another lesson that I learned the hard way.)

Step 6:  Let your cloth dry.  Then, repeat Steps 3-5 with the non-decorated side.

Step 7:  Once both sides of your fabric loop have been decorated, rinsed out, and dried, cut your loop into two thinner loops.*

Step 8:  Now you're going to attach the two loops together to create the illusion of a very long infinity scarf wrapped around your neck.  (Sorry I don't have a photo of this process.)  First, you'll have to make one loop shorter than the other.  To do this, I cut apart one of my loops (making it a long strand.)  Then, I placed this strand on top of the other fabric loop, curving it to make it a shorter loop.  (Does this even make sense?  Is anyone still reading at this point?)  I tied a long thin strip of t-shirt material (taken from the discarded scraps) around the strand and the loop to attach them together.  Finally, I trimmed off any excess fabric bits so that I had a nice clean knot.

And that's how I made this scarf.

(*Psst- Want a thicker, fuller-looking scarf than mine?  Hubby and I think this scarf would have been cuter if I used two shirts.  Then I could have decorated two very thick loops and tied them together.  That was initially my plan, but my bleach pen died after drawing one loop.  So if you want to try that out, you'll need 2 bleach pens.)

Let me know if you try this craft out!   I'd love to see your results.

What's up, Chuck?

Guess who struggled with a cold, teething, and a tummy bug? 

  As you can guess, Chuck and I stayed indoors for most of the week.

Here are some photos (and a video- ooh!) of the little guy playing at home.

  

P2261691.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Bridal Shower

I can't believe I've known these girls since college

.

Life is certainly one crazy, wonderful, beautiful, and scary adventure.  

Thank goodness we're not making the journey alone.

Make a Sharpie decorated plate

I never know what to get people as gifts.  Maybe you're like me?  I walk through the entire store several times.  Each time around, I find different treasures and then mentally debate the pros and cons of the item for several minutes.  Then, I inevitably change my mind and movie onto the next item. Then, after about 2 hours of mumbling to myself like a crazy lady, I finally leave empty handed, with only a grouchy hubby and fussy baby to show for my effort.

So when I was invited to a friend's bridal shower, I knew I was in trouble.  If buying gifts for the building's superintendent already caused me grief, buying a gift for a longtime friend should have sent me into cardiac arrest.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?), Chuck's been having a rotten time with teething, so this time around I just took the easy way out:  gift card.  Packaged money.  And honey, who doesn't want money?

As I walked towards the cash register that nagging voice started whispering in my ear, "Leslie.  Is this really the best gift?  You've known her for how long?  Isn't this a bit impersonal?"  I tried responding back, "Shush. Chuck's actually behaving nicely.  If we leave now I can get good parking.  And I don't need to buy wrapping paper."

But the nagging voice continued, and I finally succumbed.  But this time a crafty idea also came to me and I took a quick trip to the kitchen section and grabbed a plate.

Because after seeing the gorgeous DIY Anthropologie knock-off mug from Home Heart Craft, I had to get into the Sharpie plate decorating market.

And after a couple of hours, I came up with this lovely plate:

I really like how it turned out.  It's beautiful, personal, quirky, useful, and *fingers crossed* long-lasting.  (I didn't try washing it... so I'm hoping the marker holds.)

Want to use Sharpie markers to unleash your creativity on some unsuspecting pieces of china?  Read on!

Materials:
- Oven
- Plate (I got mine at Target)
- Sharpie markers
- Paper
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Tape
- Q-Tip

Directions:
1.  Trace your plate onto a piece of paper and cut out the resulting shape.  Now you know how big to make your design..

2.  Come up with your design.  (This was super hard.  I knew I wanted to practice my handwriting skills and include something romantic and slightly naughty.)

3.  Turn your paper over.  On the back, rub your pencil over the back of your design.  (Guess what?  You've essentially made your own carbon paper!)

4.  Tape your design to your plate.  Trace over your design with your pencil.  Lift up your paper and you'll find a faint imprint of the design underneath.  (Magical!)

5.  Use Sharpie to trace over your design.  I have shaky hands, so I did this very slowly and carefully.  Some parts of the lettering came out a big uneven, so I retraced over parts to make sure that everything looked uniformly black.  Once my Sharpie dried, I brushed off any visible pencil residue with a Q-tip.  Feeling inspired, I also free handed a design on the back.

6.  Pop your work of art into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  Then, admire your handiwork and wrap it up.

(Have you ever tried to draw on plates or mugs with Sharpies?  Did the Sharpie marker stay on even after you washed the item?  I'm hoping my design stays on.  Hubby received this lovely mug decorated with Sharpie from his students last year.... and the message they wrote washed away after several rinses.  Luckily we took a photo of the mug before everything disappeared... but it was still pretty disappointing.  *Crosses fingers*)