Fancy Flip Flops

Fancy Flip Flops for less than $5!

I just LOVE how these turned out.

My little Tater-Bug turned 4 at the beginning of June. 

She is a fancy little gal, so we had to have a fancy little party for her.

I set up a Fancy Flip Flop Making Station as one of her party activities.  I think all of the girls loved that they were creating their pretty flip flops to wear.

Supplies Needed:

- Flip Flops

- Silk Flowers (I used daisies that easily pulled apart)

- Jewelled Brads

- E6000 Craft Adhesive

  

Directions:

1)  Prepare Your Petals

Remove your silk flower from the stem, and discard.  Many silk flowers are not held together with glue, so you should be able to remove the petals from the flower center at this point.  One flower will give you several petals.  Have fun mixing and match different flowers or colors.  Set your petals aside.

2)  Build Your Flowers

I found these awesome little brads at Michael's.  They come in several different colors, and they were perfect for the little ones to use when building their flowers.

Once you have chosen a brad, begin layering your flower petals onto the back of your brad.  Encourage the little ones to layer smallest petals to largest.

Another benefit to these brads, is that you can test out your flowers and easily make changes before committing to your final flower.  When you're happy with it, just bend the back of the brad open to hold your petals in place.

Here I am working with a couple of Tatum's friends at the party.

And here is a friend building her flowers.

Make sure to make a flower for each flip flop!  I won't say, make them matching... because who am I to say anyone should color within the lines! :)  But I will say two flowers are always better than one.

3)  Glue Your Flowers On

Note to self... .hot glue isn't always the best choice.  So yeah, I tried the hot glue.  Only to find that as these girls were running through the house we were losing flowers left and right.  I was SO bummed out!

So, my solution?  I re-glued the flowers onto the flip flops using my new best friend, E6000 adhesive.  Have you used this stuff?  Oh my gosh.... LOVE.  Seriously, in love.  When I glued the flowers to the flip flops, I was sure that the brad itself was sealed between and not poking out where it would scratch little feet.

The verdict.... the flowers are still sticking strong after weeks of wear!

Here are the girls showing off their Fancy Flip Flops.

So cute!

I'm really thinking I need a pair.

Diaper Cake Tutorial

My sister's expecting a baby in August.... her 4th GIRL!

A perfect excuse for me to finally make one of these diaper cakes that I've been admiring for a couple of years now.  So here you have it...

I was thrilled with how it turned out, and that it really wasn't that difficult to put together.

There are SO many tutorials for diaper cakes out there, that I really wondered if I should bother adding my own.

Hmmm..... 

Yeah, I think I will.

My diaper cake contains the following:

(Keep in mind, you can add or omit pretty much anything you like.)

- About 145 Size 1 Diapers

- 6 Baby Wash Cloths

- 4 Onsies

- 1 Hooded Towel

- 4 Flannel Receiving Blankets

- 1 Bottle of Baby Shampoo/Baby Wash

- 1 Tube of Diaper Rash Cream

- 2 Sets of Baby Nail Clippers

- 4 Pacifires

- 1 Super Soft Blanket Toy

- 1 Baby Rattle

Other Supplies Used:

- Ribbon

- Curling Ribbon

- Rubber Bands (about 220)

- Silk Flowers

- Glue Gun & Hot Glue

- Cardboard (Many people use a cake tray instead)

- Cellophane (not pictured, but I used this to wrap the diaper cake up when finished)

Directions

Step 1: Get Rolling!

Begin by rolling each of the diapers you intend to use in your diaper cake.  I thought it would be easiest to secure them with rubber bands than with ribbon like I've seen some people suggest.  Begin rolling on the open end of the diaper, with the back-side of the diaper facing up.  Tightly roll all the way to the end, and secure with a rubber band.

  

Next, roll some of your smaller items that you can closely match to the size of your rolled diapers.  Here you see the set of baby wash clothes all rolled.

I folded the onsies so that I could roll them to a similar size as well.

Once everything is rolled, you can begin forming your cake!

Step 2: Form Your Cake Base!
Ok... so this may seem really strange, but I found it quite helpful to use my spring form pan to help me get started.  You want to choose a taller item for the middle to add some stability to your cake (and allow you to attach the next layer).  I used a bottle of baby shampoo here.  I then began to tuck my rolled diapers in around the bottle until everything seemed nice and snug.

I tied a piece of curling ribbon around the diapers and knotted it tightly, removed the beginning of my cake from the pan, and added another layer of diapers to those I'd already secured together.  I was working with so many diapers, that this just made it easier to keep them all in place without whipping out the glue gun (which I would have SO DONE had it not rendered the diapers totally useless for my sister at that point).

For the outer layer of diapers I added in a onsie and a couple of the was clothes, to add some color to the cake.  Again, I secured the entire layer by wrapping a couple lengths of curling ribbon around the middle and knotting tightly.  My bottom layer had 91 diapers, 1 onsie, 2 washcloths, and the bottle of shampoo.

Step 3: Form Your Second Layer!

I decided to hide my hooded towel and receiving blankets inside the diaper cake.  So I rolled each of these into similar heights, and tightly secured them around the shampoo bottle from the center of my cake base.  I had to stick an extra diaper into the middle of these to make up for the extra height above the bottle in the center of them all.

Once you have your middle in place, you can begin adding your diapers and other small, rolled items around them.  Again, you will tightly secure them in place using a couple lengths of curling ribbon around the middle.

My second layer had 33 diapers, 2 onsies, and 2 washcloths around the center blankets and hooded towel.

Step 4: Top it Off!

Before I added diapers to the top layer of my cake, I stuck some of the smaller items inside.  I added diaper rash cream and some nail clippers.

And... just as before... add your rolled diapers and other rolled items around until you are happy with the size.  Secure with a couple lengths of tightly knotted curling ribbon.

Step 5: Decorate It!

If you ask me, this is the fun part!!!

I decided to use this yellow ribbon to wrap around the middle of each layer on the cake.  It hid the rubber bands and the curling ribbon, and gave some nice color.  I used hot glue to secure the two ends together.

I then used hot glue to add a thinner ribbon to the middle in a nice contrasting color that matched some of the items I used in the diaper cake.

I had some left over silk flowers from another project which looked so cute.  I hot glued these to the ribbon, and used a softer, light pink ribbon to tie the other items to the diaper cake (the rattle and pacifiers).  We stuck the little blanket toy on top with another silk flower.

Step 6: Add Some Support!

Yeah.. you could do this first.  I chose to do it last because I didn't want my base to dictate the size of my diaper cake.  I wanted to get as many diapers in there as I could.  So I slid my cake onto a large square of cardboard from a box I had on hand.  I traced around my cake, and cut the cardboard to shape.

And here you have it!

And, in case you were curious, my sis loved it :)

Hope you do too!

Freezer Paper Shirt Stencils

Happy Father's Day!

Each year it has been a tradition for us to make dad a special t-shirt for Father's Day.

See what we've done over the past years HERE.

This year, I thought it would be fun to do something different.

We made shirts for dad AND the kids using freezer paper stenciling (my first time).  

Let me just say... How COOLl!!

I found an amazing freezer paper stencil tutorial at MADE.

Find it HERE.

Please refer to the tutorial above.... but I'll give you a quick run-through.  It really is simple to do!

Freezer Paper Stenciling

1)  I typed the words in a font and sizing we liked in a Word document.  Printed them out... and laid a piece of freezer paper over top (shiny side down).

2)  I then used an exacto knife to cut out the letters to create my freezer paper stencil.

3)  Iron the freezer paper stencil onto your shirt using a dry heat setting.  It doesn't take long for it to adhere.

4)  Add some acrylic paint!  Not too much.  Set it aside to let it dry.

5)  For the girls' shirts, we brushed a thin layer of washable fabric glue, then sprinkled some fine glitter over top.  I lightly pressed it down with my fingers to make sure it stuck well.  Again, set it aside to dry.

6)  When completely dry, peel off your freezer paper.. and Viola!

7)  MAKE SURE TO HEAT SET YOUR PRINTS!  You do this using the iron.  This is very important if you want your prints to look their best!

On Tatum's and Wesley's shirts, I blended blue and green paint which I think gave it a really nice look.  Very subtle, but some added visual appeal.  Tate's shirt has green glitter over top of the paint.

Charlotte's shirt has purple paint with orange glitter over top.  It left a really neat effect, I think.  More of the purple shows through around the edges of the lettering, which looks really cool.

Now.. we're just waiting for daddy to return from a business trip so he can wear his too!

 Wishing all the dad's out there a wonderful Father's Day!

Have some fun with your kids!

We love you Christopher!

Father's Day Shirts

Do you have a special Father's Day gift tradition?

Well, we do!  We have made dad a special t-shirt each year since we first became parents.

I hope to make this year's shirt soon, but in the mean time I thought I'd share the shirts we've made in the past.

Please note that these have been well loved, worn and washed several times...

the oldest being 7 years!  So some of the images aren't the greatest.

First Father's Day T-Shirt, 2004

Charlotte's baby footprints (I thought that would be easier than getting a hand print).

I used acrylic paint, brushed her feet, and carefully pressed them onto the shirt.  Easier said than done with a baby... ha ha.  I then added some fabric glue to make wings on either side, and added some sparkle.

I used a fabric marker to do the writing.

Father's Day 2005

          front of shirt                                                               back of shirt

Acrylic paint for the prints, and fabric marker for the names and heart on the front.

Charlotte used fabric markers to draw on the back (I made the heart with a heart-shaped stencil).

Father's Day 2006

front of shirt                                      back of shirt

Used fabric markers for this one.

Charlotte wrote "Dad" on the front, though it is quite faded now.  She also wrote the numbers on the back of the shirt, while I wrote each item they came up with for their "Top 10 Reasons".

Father's Day 2007

 front of shirt                                                               back of shirt

Acrylic paint for the prints, and fabric marker for the names and drawing on the front.

I had Charlotte draw her picture on a piece of paper.  I traced over her lines with a black marker, placed the drawing under the shirt, and traced her lines onto the shirt.  The fabric is hard for the little ones to draw on, so this gave us a nicer finished result.

 Father's Day 2008

Overlapping hand prints using acrylic paint.  Each in a different color.

Father's Day 2009

                             back of shirt                                                  front of shirt

Acrylic paint for the prints, and fabric marker for "we love dad!" on the front (written by Charlotte).

Father's Day 2010

  

                                      front of shirt                                                           back of shirt

Acrylic paint for the hand prints on the front.

The kids used Sharpie markers to each draw a picture on the back.  Sorry the back is so hard to see.

Not only do we make these for daddy...

but Papa sure loves to wear his custom shirts!  These are some we've made him.

Acrylic paint for the hand prints.

Charlotte wrote using a fine-tipped Sharpie marker, that I also used to outline the hand prints.

                                    Can't remember what the front of this one looks like... 

The kids used fabric markers to each draw a picture on the back.

 ...and my personal favorite!

the front

Painted with acrylic by Charlotte

the back

I used iron-on letters, the first letter for each kid.

Some of the transfers didn't come off completely... ack!  But a little white paint fixed that pretty easily.

I then added a print of each kid's hand on their initial, and painted their name over top of each print.

Some Tips for T-Shirt Decorating...

1)  Place newspaper or a plastic place mat inside the shirt prior to decorating!  This will keep your paint or marker from leaking onto the other side.

2)  Always pre-wash your shirts!

3)  BE PREPARED with paper towels, wet washcloth... near a sink perhaps... kids stripped of clothing... outside might be good.. haha.. anything to minimize the risk of getting paint or permanent markers where you wouldn't want them.

4)  Heat set your shirts when finished.  You can do this by using a hot iron or throwing them in a hot dryer.  This will help lock in the colors and paint prints.

Soon I'll have this year's shirt to share!

If you are trying to come up with some Father's Day ideas, perhaps one of these shirts will catch your eye.

My kids LOVE making them each year, and are so proud to see daddy and Papa wearing them.

Happy Father's Day!