No Sew Child's Patriotic Shirt TUTORIAL

I really love to sew, but every once in a while it's nice to leave the machine in its box and do something on my own! This project is simple enough that, if your kids are old enough, they can definitely do it with supervision.

This project is inspired by projects I've seen others do, so this idea is definitely an original thought of mine. I'll share what I did anyway, though. I had a bit of a hard time finding a plain white t-shirt for Tiny One that was the right size, so necessity gave birth to invention, with the tied sides. I think it's fun! Here's what you need:

A t-shirt a couple sizes too big (white)
A t-shirt that fits (pink - just for a reference for size. This shirt won't be altered in any way)
Blue fabric paint (I used the Tulip brand Soft fabric paint)
Fabric glue (I used FabriTac - I think it's fabulous!)
Red Rick Rack

First, take your scissors and cut a straight line up each side of the shirt. Mine had side seams, so I cut along those and cut the serged part out. If you have a t-shirt without side seams, grab the shoulder seams and shake the shirt out and lay it as flat as you can, then cut along the folds.

Now take the shirt that fits and carefully lay it on top of the other one, matching up the neck and shoulders.

Cut off the sleeves to about the length of the shirt that fits, or however long you want them. It may seem weird, but you can cut it about even with the sides. When you tie it, the sleeve will come out further than the side of the shirt again.

Cut strips, stopping a little bit away from the edge of the shirt that fits. Cut through both layers of shirt at the same time, so that they're the same. I did about 3/4" inch cuts. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just eyeballed it.

Now tie the bottom pieces to the corresponding pieces. I tried to use all square knots, but it's really hard to keep track on these! A double knot of some kind will do fine. :)

Here's how it will look when you're done. I cut the bottom of the shirt off so that it wasn't so long, but I left it longer than the shirt that fits. When you tie this, it will pull it up a little bit.

Now for the paint! Make sure to put enough paint on that hand so that it doesn't dry before you get it onto the shirt. I learned the hard way... We had to do it twice.

Put the handprint in the upper left, where the stars on a blue field would be on the flag. I had to take some paint and a brush afterward and make the blue smudge look more like a hand. A 17 month-old doesn't exactly have a desire to hold still enough to put their painted hand onto a shirt multiple times. Hence the random smudges...

I cut pieces of Rick Rack and laid them on the shirt, trimming and arranging until I was happy.

Then, one at a time, I lifted each one off, drew a line with the glue, and replaced the Rick Rack. Once I was done gluing them on, I went back and made sure the ends were glued down, so that they don't get snagged on anything. This glue sets pretty quickly, while still being re-positionable.

I grabbed some star-shaped buttons and glued them on for good measure. Why not? Now I can't wait for Independence Day so that Tine One can wear it!

Painted "Chevron" Maxi Skirt TUTORIAL

Hello! I'm glad you stopped by! Today we're going to add some zigzag to a Baby Maxi Skirt! 


Doesn't it sound just thrilling? And it only took about a half hour to do! Look at it!

Adorable, right? Well, here's what you need:

Baby Maxi Skirt
Fabric Spray Paint
Masking Tape

Got your stuff? Let's go! First, you will take your tape and make the zigzag, trimming corners so that they line up,

I even had fun and made them irregular, and the space between varying. I admit, if I get caught up in a trend at all, I try to put my own spin on it. It's no fun to be the same as everyone else! Anyway, now that you have the masking tape on there to your satisfaction, it's time to paint!

I wasn't sure how far the paint would saturate, so I stuck newspaper between the layers, and I went outside with newspaper underneath my project. Obviously my newspaper needed to be a little bigger. Luckily it came off of the concrete without too much work! 

The best way to ensure that your paint is even across your project is to start spraying off of the project, go across evenly, and stop off of the project. I went back and forth across until it looked how I wanted it. I went inside and gave it a little while to dry. About 15 minutes later I came out, flipped it over, and repeated! After I was satisfied with how dry it was, I took it inside to survey my handiwork. (The paint on the tape takes longer to be dry to the touch than the fabric, so I waited until the tape was dry, just to be safe)

Peel off the masking tape. It should come off quite easily, and it shouldn't have been on there nearly long enough to leave any sticky. 

I let mine dry for a couple more hours, and then I put it on Tiny One! I couldn't wait any longer to see it modeled! She loved it, too!

 Here's the back:

And the front:

Love it!

NOTE: Make sure you follow the instructions on the fabric spray paint you purchase. Mine said to allow the paint to set 72 hours before I washed it. I'd rather not mess up anything, so I did what it said! You should, too!

This method can be applied to any article of clothing, or accessory. It just has to be fabric paint for fabric, or an appropriate paint for whatever else you want to do! And it's certainly not limited to zigzag! Be creative! If you have any questions, or if you want to special order one of these, send me a message!

No Bake Cookies RECIPE

It's been a while! I have a lot to share! I made some simple No Bake Cookies recently, and it's such a great recipe. I found it in our family cookbook, and we've been using this recipe for years and years.

ALLERGY ALERT: This recipe contains peanut butter

Here's the recipe:
 No Bake Cookies
2 c sugar
4 T cocoa
1/4 t salt
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c quick oats

Combine in saucepan sugar, cocoa, salt, peanut butter, and milk. Bring to boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla and oats. Mix well and drop on cookie sheet or parchment paper. Refrigerate.

Easy, right? That's the recipe exactly as it's written in the cookbook.

Here are my notes:

An easy cleanup way to measure the peanut butter is to drop it into the milk. Here's what I mean:

Measure out your 1/2 c of milk.

Drop spoonfuls of peanut butter into the milk, small amounts at a time, until it measures up to 1 cup.

If it's not exact, it's totally fine! It won't affect how well the cookies turn out. When you get that measured out, dump the whole thing straight into the pan with the dry ingredients, and start to cook!

Don't boil it on the highest temperature, and stir it CONSTANTLY because it will cook to the bottom of the pan very quickly!

Time it for one minute. During this time the sugar will melt and the mixture will get smooth. When the timer's done, remove from heat and add the oats and vanilla.

As for oats, I've used all sorts of oats, and they do just fine: Rolled, steel cut, baby, old-fashioned. Just any old oats are great!

I usually use a mini ice cream scoop to measure them out, or you can just drop spoonfuls. I use waxed paper just on the countertop, not even bothering to put them into the fridge. Nobody wants to wait that long! They will be gooey at first, and then gain more solidity as they cool.

They usually don't last long past cooling anyway!