Grandma Camp!

I have the best parents in the world. Every summer my mother hosts a week long Grandma Camp for the grandkids. Yes, a whole week with just the kids. This year we decided to do it in shifts with an overlapping weekend for the grandkids (and kids.)

To celebrate I decided to make shirts for the grandkids. I wish I'd thought ahead and made one for Grandma too, but there is always next year. I originally was planning to use freezer paper to stencil the words and design. I jumped on the computer and played around with some ideas in PowerPoint until I created something I liked. First I came up with the saying. I kept playing around with the idea of Hanging Around with Grandma, but ended up settling on Monkeying Around at Grandma Camp. After choosing the idea of a monkey, I looked at different clipart. While looking at them, I decided to applique the face of the monkey in the middle of each shirt. I knew I would need some brown and tan knit. When Hobby Lobby didn't have any tan, I thought I would try Savers. I could always use the rest of the fabric for a future project. So I bought two t-shirt in the right colors to cut up. Thank goodness that Savers is color coordinated. Next I scoured Walmart to find the shirts. I wasn't able to find ones that I like for all the kids so I dyed white ones instead. While at Hobby Lobby I did pick up some dye just in case. I like how the color turned out slightly variegated. I didn't stir constantly so the dye soaked in differently across the fabric. (It is hard to tell in the picture, but trust me it's cute.)

The one and two year olds have matching plain t-shirts. For the almost five year old I bought a single shirt with a little more detailing. The top is a little gathered giving it a feminine feel. I was not getting the look I wanted with the freezer paper for the letters so I choose to embroider the words instead. This also allowed me to curve the letters around the face of the monkey. I think they were a big hit!

The kids all wore them to the animal park. It did rain on us while we were there, but who lets a little rain ruin their fun? I think the rain was Joel's favorite part.

Now I just have to figure out next year's shirt. Any good ideas?

Blessing

A few months ago we attended an event at our church designed to help families make their homes the first place their kids are exposed to God. Every age has a different theme. Since we have a one year old, that's the one we went to. The topic was praying blessings over your children. One suggestion they had was framing one and putting it close to your child's bed. I liked the idea, but didn't want to use paper so I embroidered one of my favorites on a linen like fabric.

To start with I printed the verse off on the computer in a font I liked. Then I added the embelishments. Since the verse was about not being afraid, I went with the moon and stars. Next I traced it on to the fabric with carbon paper and a knitting needle. Since it was such a dark fabric I ended up going over the lines with a fabric marker. I think I maybe should have used a brighter contrast for the blue thread, but overall I like the way it came out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Guitar Hero

I found the cutest pair of shorts at a consignment shop for my son Joel. Even though I did not know what I would pair them with I went ahead and got them. Later I found some plain onesies at Target that I picked up, but I still wanted to spice up the outfit. My sister-in-law had recently given me the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad with all these super cute embroidery patterns. I decided to use the guitar pattern in coordinating colors to the shorts. Now I have a little rock star.