DIY Duct Tape Child's Dress Form

You've probably seen these around. I wanted to create a dress form for my 3-year old so I could make sure things fit as I work on them. She's not much for trying things on or holding still. I thought this would be a great place to start. I started with this tutorial by Prudent Baby.

Attempt #1 wasn't so great. I put a t-shirt on her and then the duct tape, and it was too big. When I tried one of her skirts on it, it didn't fit. Too thick. So I started over. This time I put a too-small old t-shirt on her. Trying to get my ADHD child to hold still long enough to tape her up a second time was just asking too much. I put on her favorite show, but I still had to wrap it up a little sooner than I was ready.

I think that if I had immediately reinforced the form as soon as I cut it off of her, it might have held it's shape a little better. But instead, it took me several days to add tape to the inside (I didn't want it to end up too thick again, so I reinforced the inside mostly). I also thought it was still just too weak, so I added paper mache to the outside and the inside. I wanted it good and firm. Then I spray painted the whole thing.

As you look at the side views, you can see that the form slumped a little and became pretty sway-backed. But the size still works and the clothes don't hang too badly on it, so for now it will suffice. With how fast kids grow, I'll have to make a new one next year anyway. Here it is with one of her swimsuits on.

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Baby Shower Invitation

Recently my friend Camille and I threw a baby shower for a good friend of ours. I made these invitations for the event (with some name changes for the web).

She is having a hard time finding a name that she and her husband like, so I made this cloud decoration with paper rain drops for people to write name suggestions on.

 Camille has a "Midas touch" and everything she touches turns to gold. She made these darling paper strands and garland, and conveniently her walls even matched. (She just painted this fireplace white, isn't it fabulous?).

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Polar Bear DIY Graphic T-shirt

I had a $4 red t-shirt for Ezra that needed some personality. I decided to try a 2-step 2 color process with the freezer paper stencil this time. And I will tell you, I didn't go very well. I managed to make it work with some touch up, but I probably won't be doing that again. And I forgot to put the middle in that back wheel, oh well. Its still better than it was as a plain red T-shirt.
I based this design loosely on a pen and ink illustration that I did a couple of years ago.

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Gold at the End of the Rainbow Pretzels

I don't generally keep sugar cereals around, but when I saw these Rockin' Xtreme Colors Fruity Pebbles, a light bulb went on. They are very brightly colored, almost neon even. With St. Patrick's Day coming, I thought these would make a fun little treat. This holiday can get over-greened very quickly, so this is a fun way to add some color, and the kids can help too!
With my 3-yr old and 1-yr old eagerly climbing up the counter, I was able to snap a few quick photos. This is the quick version.

1. Melt the yellow chocolate.
2. Dip (this is my 3-yr old helping)

 3. And roll in the pile of Fruity Pebbles (you can crush them a little if you want a finer texture). Lay on wax paper or parchment paper until dry. (Now Ezra is getting interested too).

 4. Share. They have a fun fruity flavor. I almost felt like I was eating Pop Rocks!

And if you have a little more time, you can sort the colors into separate piles. After you dip the pretzel in chocolate, sprinkle and lightly press pink cereal bits onto the chocolate. Repeat with each color in rainbow order, leaving a little "gold" chocolate at the bottom.

 

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Valentines Cupid Krispie Treats

This week has been crazy, so Ava's Valentines needed to be fairly simple. And what is simpler than Rice Krispie Treats? (I mean as far as homemade goes....) I used pink marshmallows and some heart cookie cutters.

You could make a pan of Krispie Treats and cut out the hearts with the cookies cutters, but I didn't want those rough edges. So after stirring the cereal into the marshmallow mixture, I just spooned it into the greased heart cookie cutters and packed it full, one at a time. Add some stripey paper and toothpicks, and violá.
Happy Valentines Day to you all!

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More Chalkboard Art (Plus a Free Printable!)

Last night I participated in a church youth event called New Beginnings, and the theme this year was Stand in Holy Places (taken from a scripture). So once again we hauled out our oversized chalkboard and I drew up some lettering. I forgot to get photos before the tassels were up, so you get tassels in this picture too.

We had some giant pink balloons flanking the dessert table as well, and they were super cool. I want to fill my house with them. My friend, Camille, made all the tassels and always does a fantastic job with decorations.

I drew this up digitally as well, so that we could use the same image for our programs. You are welcome to use it for any non-profit purposes as well. For the link, click HERE.

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DIY JCrew Heart Tee

A while back I saw these cute purple and red oversized-heart shirts at JCrew and they were super simple. (Now they've moved on to sequins). So being the DIY kinda girl I am, I decided to just make one. JCrew had the solid colored kids shirts on sale for like $6, so I bought the purple shirt from them. Then it was just a matter of another freezer paper stencil and some fabric paint!

Here's a tip: I bought 2 different colors of red fabric paint because I couldn't decide, but one turned out to be a "pearl" finish. Fortunately I put down one layer of the matte red color first, because the pearl paint is a bit transparent. I wish I had put down 2 layers of matte and then a layer or two of pearl over top. I like the shimmer/glitter the pearl gives, but it took about 6 layers of the stuff to get an even, solid, professional-looking finish.
Ever since this project, Ava is obsessed with Valentines Day and asks me every day to show her on the calendar when it is! Pin It