Tried It - Tie Dye with Sharpies

A week ago I posted about the discovery of Tie Dying with Sharpies. The project impressed me so much I had my sons to try it, and they absolutely LOVED it.

Here's some more pictures from them doing their shirts.

This is Daniel's Saturn you can see it at the very bottom left of the very top picture.

Christopher adding rubbing alcohol to his.

Christopher's shirt, this is at center bottom of his shirt.

Christopher adding more alcohol with a syringe to his crosses, crosses are at top right of his shirt.

Daniel's cross, it is at bottom left of his shirt

 The only thing we changed was we used coffee cans instead of dinky solo cups. Also the boys used the alcohol sparingly to get just the right amount of bleed for their artwork.

Cost of this project:

Shirts we had on hand: No cost

Sharpies 8 pack primary colors: 8.49

 Rubbing Alcohol 65%: .99 cents

----------------------------

Total 9.48

Why not to buy double

Buying two or more of the same pattern for your kids because they are not the same size, don't, only buy one! If the envelope has all the sizes one is all you need, if it does not go ahead and buy one for the next set of sizes.

Here is why,

I learned this only by trial and error and making the mistake of cutting out a pattern that was the wrong size. With all my boys their sizes change often and I needed a way for my pocket book not too change size. By tracing the size/s you need, you can keep the master pattern for a infinite number of uses and not just one per envelope. Rarely does the pattern get the waist and leg length right so this allows for adjusting the traced pattern with out messing up the master. I keep traced individual sizes that I have altered on file to keep track of what works for my boys and what alterations didn't. This is also a easy way of expanding your pattern collection with different styles from the same base pattern.

You WILL save money and some sanity by using this method.

Simple Soda Can Labels

Anyone that has kids that drink soda knows that it is hard to keep the cans from getting mixed up and confused for an others drink. The other day my boys were screaming at each other (yes, my kids are not perfect) about who's can was who's and it just about drove me nuts to hear them go at one another. They had a system going where one would pull the tab off every other drink and the other boy would leave his on so they could tell which one was theirs. This is a great idea but one son takes two days to finish a can, the other can at times get through one in a sitting. The unfinished sodas go into the refrigerator after they drink what they can and then are saved for the next day to get finished. It happens often that both boys might be on the same no tab marking at the same time and they get mad at each other because the both want to have the tab off. Something had to be done where the tabs could stay on and the cans could still be marked. So, I thought about the project I did two weeks ago to label all of my computer electronics, that's when the light bulb hit me. Why not use the bread tags for the cans too! I was still saving them for more labeling so I had them on hand for the next soda.

(Normally the cans are the exact same, I could not find another green can with tabs on still, so I used one of my cans.)

This has worked wonders for my boys and there is no more fighting over which one is who's.

Dutch Braided Halo

This is a new hair style for me and I did it with no help, tutorials, or prompting.

 I have looked this up after I did it and could not find the exact name for it, but I do know that it is a dutch braid.

 I used one clear elastic and three hair pins to do this.

I found this Youtube video that shows how to do the "Dutch" braid, but it does not go all the way around the head like mine does.

A "Dutch braid" is the same as a "French braid" except it crosses over the opposite way to make the braid pop out more. It is a simple braid to do once you learn it.

Here is how to do my version:

- Only take hair in from the bottom!

- Start braiding at your right temple and braid to your left.

- Braid all the way around until you reach where you started.

- Braid the rest of the hair all the way out with a regular braid and secure with the elastic band.

- Tuck the remainder of hair under the hair you began with. 
- Use hair pins to secure the hair you tucked in.
- Spray your hair with hair spray to finish.

Freezer Paper Stenciling

photo: sir bubbadoo

I have been doing this for awhile myself but never made a how to for sharing. Kristina at Sir Bubbadoo has put together a great tutorial on how to do freezer paper stenciling and it covers every thing you need to know. The only thing she does differently than I do is she irons afterwards (I never do that, I think should start), but the rest is the same. I love her the onesies she has made.

Braided Top Bun

More experimenting with hair up dos, this time it's a braided top bun. This is super easy to do, it didn't take me but two minutes to get my hair to do what I wanted it to do. I don't know if I like it yet, maybe only for goofing around the neighborhood or maybe a girls afternoon out . It does feel real weird when I move my head forward because of the extra top weight on top. 

 It might be one I add to my bag of styles! I will see how it holds up to playing water guns with my sons before I make the final call.

A CUP OF JO has a Braided Top Bun How To.

Paper Bag Decorations

Ours Not Martha's

 Wanting to do something crafty with my boys we decided to do some Martha Stewart paper bag decorations. This is so easy my 5 year old got to really help out with the cutting and taping. We pinned ours up under our vine covered shelter in our yard to display it. I plan on doing up some more of these in other colors for a summer back yard party like Martha's below.

Martha's

Tutorial Here on Martha Stewart

Chestnut bun

 I was searching for a new way to do my hair to get it off my neck and out of my face, also it had to be something that did not look like all I had time for was a pony tail. My search came to an end with this site A CUP OF JO and her tutorial on How To do a Chestnut Bun, I am a smitten follower now!

 It is a great tutorial but my hair is really long and extremely thick so her version didn't quite work with mine. I added a step for those with my hair type. On step 7 instead of wrapping your hair around your hand bend it in a accordion fold (only the hair to be hidden) and rubber band it. Rubber banding it also helps keep the extra hair in place (if you have a lot of hair like me) Then do step 8, it works just the same as if you had thinner hair. 

  

My version with the extra hair banded

Excuse the lack of makeup, this was my Monday crafting day.

This has officially became one of my favorite hair styles.