Mister Roboto T-Shirt

Anytime I think anything robot, I sing these words to the oh-so-famous 80's song. The Robot Birthday Party we just threw was no exception, and I found it necessary to incorporate the well known words onto a t-shirt for Little to wear to the party.

Funny thing is I have actually never heard the whole song. I just know these words and upon singing these words I find it absolutely necessary to break out not only my robotic voice, but also my robotic dance moves. One really can't be done without the other.

So while making this shirt, there was an awful lot of robot singing and dancing.

This led to Oldest having a thought or two.

None of which were how awesome and unbelievably cool his mom is. What does he know anyway?

One of the thoughts he had was, "What the heck is this song?" Another one that he voiced quite readily was, "Uh, I don't think that is a real song."

With indignation we let him know "It is too a song!" No we did not stick our tongues out at him, though it was tempting.

Then Hubby played it for him.

That is when it was determined by all that the song was pretty stinkin' weird.

Oh well, that certainly did not stop me from using the phrase for this Mister Roboto T-shirt.

Here are the quick details about this shirt.

I like to buy my plain t-shirts at Walmart...aka The Mart. The Mart has a great selection of Hanes t-shirts and they are under $4.

The vinyl for the shirts is flocked heat transfer vinyl, and I buy mine from Expressions Vinyl. I love this blue color, but you will want to make sure to wash it inside out in cool water (otherwise it can bleed).

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the words and the robot. The words are in the font bauhaus. The robot image is also actually a font. It is a Robot dingbat font that I downloaded to my computer. I went through the alphabet and picked a dingbat that I like most.

After this dingbat of course.

 The result was this very cool Mister Roboto T-shirt on this pretty cool kid.

Stay tuned for some more fun projects from Little's Robot Birthday Party, including a party wrap up.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Dyed Twill Boys' Belt

I have this tendency to get into my head exactly what I want...especially where my Little Men's clothes are concerned.

Last year I posted about wanting a certain belt for Oldest's first day of school outfit and then I shared a tutorial on how to make his Twill Parachute Clip Belt.

We recently just had our family pictures taken (more to share about that coming soon). We do not have that done a lot and because it is such a special occasion, I was super freaking out about what the boys should wear. I mean stressing of epic proportions.

I know that is surprising, because I seem so even keel...

Are you laughing?

So okay, I am a stresser-outer...hence the whole freaking out about not finding the right clothes...and in this exact scenario...

A belt.

Yep, folks this is all about a belt.

I really, really wanted green belts. Our family photos were mostly khaki, blues, white and faded reds. I also really, really really wanted light green accessories.

Don't ask me what goes through my head, because I can absolutely not tell you. Partly because most the time I don't know. Then also, because I can't let all that crazy out or people might judge me.

So on my search for the green belt, I came up vastly disappointed.

So two days before pictures, I ran to JoAnn's and I picked up the necessary supplies to just make my own.

I picked up:

a yard and a half of cotton twill white belting
D-rings (I ended up just using the 1 1/4" ones)
Apple green Rit Dye

on hand I had:
pleather scraps (left over from this lovely project)

First, I dyed the belting per their sink instructions except I used less dye and less water because I was only dyeing the belting and I wanted it to be a lighter green.

After about 35 minutes, I rinsed it out. Then I ran it through the wash all by itself. Yes, yes that was a very inefficient use of my washing machine. Oh well, what's a gal to do?

  Once it was dry I measured my  boys' waists and then added about 6-7 inches.

I then cut my pleather pieces to about 1 1/4" x  2 1/2" for the end of the belt with the rings. Then I cut a 1 1/4" x 1" for the other end.

I put the D rings folded into the larger piece of pleather and then sandwiched one end of the belt between the pleather.

Then I sewed a rectangle with a 3" stitch fastening the leather buckle to the twill belting.

Then on the other end, I folded it in half  and again sandwiched in the other end of the belting. Then I just ran a 3" stitch along the bottom.

 
Bam! Belt done. Easy! So stinking easy.

Plus, it was a perfect edition to these faded blue chinos that Little wore. So very Hamptons if I do say so my self.

I have another little tutorial coming for another accessory I made for him for pictures. So excited to show you!

Have a very peachy day!

Thanks for reading!

Star Wars T-shirt

We love, love, love ourselves some Star Wars. After all we do have a houseful of loud, rowdy light-saber wielding boys. Our Halloween Costumes of 2012 show just what a big deal Star Wars is around here.

I loved I Am Momma's Subtle Avengers Tee. I loved it so much I made not only one but two of them. One for Middle and one for a Superhero Birthday Present.

After I made them, I kind of had this light bulb moment.  I decided I would take the same concept and make a Simple Star Wars T-shirt.

The hardest part of the making the shirt was making the design for the shirt.

I made all of the images using PicMonkey by morphing together different geometric shapes until they resembled the well-known Star Wars images.

It took a little time, some hair-pulling, and a smidge of chocolate, but I got the design how I pictured it my head.

Then I cut out the image using my Silhouette and flocked heat transfer vinyl (my new favorite product) from Expressions Vinyl.

I ironed it on to a blank t-shirt.

Bam, instant Simple Star Wars T-shirt.

I think he likes it.

Even if he was growing weary of the photo shoot.

This look says, "OK Mom I am done!"

I seriously love this shirt. I had an immediate request from Oldest for one too. In no time at all I whipped out another one. Now that the image is saved, the shirt is super easy to make.

Do you have any Star Wars fans in your house? Would you like to make them a shirt?

Well, here let me cut out the difficult time consuming part by giving you the images to download. There are two different sizes for a small or larger shirt.

Download HERE

What is that you say?

I am a gem!

Ahh...why thank you.

May the T-shirt Force be with you.

Hehehe...sorry I had to.

Have a glorious day.

Linking Here:

Lolly Jane
Sugar Bee Crafts
Lil'Luna
High Heels and Grills
Your Homebased Mom
Be Different Act Normal

Hugs and Kisses Valentine Day T-Shirt

Only two more day until Valentine's Day.

After a lot of patience, my Little finally has his own Valentine shirt. He saw me make Oldest's Love In NYC shirt and Middle's Heartstopper shirt.

Every day he asked me, "Is my shirt done?" "Are you making my shirt now?"

Today he got his shirt. Yippee! Doesn't he look excited?

 I knew I wanted something simple. I had more flocked t-shirt vinyl from Expressions Vinyl. I loved working with it so much on the Heartstopper tee, I started brainstorming how I could use it again.

I came up with this Hugs and Kisses design.

I very simply just typed "XO" five times in one row. I made five rows. I then made sure the image was the width and height I wanted. Mine measured 9" tall and about 7 1/2" wide.

Since this is for a t-shirt vinyl, before you can cut the image out you need to flip the image horizontally.

Then the image gets cut out of the vinyl with the Silhouette. I cut away one set of "XOXO" from the bottom corner.

So when I peeled away the excess this is what the main image looks like.

Then I took the cut away piece and peeled out the letters, creating a stencil.

After ironing the main image on according to the instructions, I put the "stencil" part down and ironed it very, very briefly. Basically iron it only long enough to get it stay in place but not to be permanent.

Just using it for a stencil.

I wanted a little Valentine's red pop.

So I painted the stencil "XOXO" red. Tap, tap, tap-a-roo. Tap that paint in place.

Now here is a "get real" moment.

After the paint was on, I went to pull up the stencil and I had a little mishap. I was just a tad impatient and didn't wait for the paint to dry. Some of the red paint got on the white shirt.

FOR THE LOVE!

Oooh I was so mad. So, so mad.

Thank heavens for teeny tiny brushes, a somewhat steady hand, and white fabric paint.

It is not perfect, but it hides my little faux paux.

With my oops practically invisible, Little's Hugs and Kisses shirt is all ready for Thursday.

 So super duper cute.

The t-shirt is kind of cute too!

Man I could just hug and kiss that Little guy all day.

A perfect tee for my huggable kissable Little Man. I am not sure I can convince him to wait until Thursday to wear it.

Thanks for reading.

Heartstopper Valentine's Day T-shirt

I know that I just said how excited I was for the In Love in NYC Valentine's Day tee.

I am pretty much just as excited for this t-shirt.

This was such a fun shirt to design and complete thanks to my handy dandy Silhouette and the very lovely people at Expressions Vinyl, where you can pretty much find vinyl for all your creating dreams!

I had a vision for this shirt from the very beginning. I know that sounds silly, but you guys know what I am talking about.  I know you do the same thing with your projects.

I thought it out in my head. I drew it on paper. I knew I wanted a retro vibe to it. I basically had it all thought out, but I still needed to execute it.

I was so happy when Expressions Vinyl gave me the opportunity to try some of their flocked t-shirt vinyl. Flocked t-shirt vinyl is that awesome fuzzy vinyl. I was so excited because the fuzzy texture totally helped create the retro vibe I wanted for this shirt.

T-shirt vinyl is so cool. It allows you to create your very own pretty legit shirt. Have idea. Have t-shirt. Have t-shirt vinyl. You are set.

I mean for reals people, do you see my Little Man in his heartstopper t-shirt?

Gawh! Love it.

I have said it before, boy's Valentine's shirts can be hard to find. Especially as they get older. I have enjoyed putting my noggin' to work coming up with some ideas for my adorable future Cary Grants.

I used my Silhouette software to create the main EKG image. I wanted the EKG squiggles (yeah I am pretty sure I could have been a nurse) to flat line, implying a heart stopping.

You get it.

My image measured 10" across and 6" tall. The image has to be reversed before cutting it.  The font was Bauhaus 93 and sized at 128.3

Whenever you work with t-shirt vinyl you need to flip the image horizontally so it cuts with the image backwards.

Expressions Vinyl has some great video tutorials showing you how to use their products.

Then peel, place, and iron.

BAM. Instant one-of-a kind Valentine's Day boys' t-shirt.

I know I already said it, but "GAWH!"
 

The best part...

He was more excited to wear his shirt than I was about making it.

Two down. Two to go.

Have a great day friends!

Linking:

The 36th Avenue,
Tatertots and Jello,
Be Different Act Normal,
Your Homebased Mom

Love in NYC Valentine T-shirt: How-to

Oh I am just so excited for this t-shirt.

I have a really hard time finding Valentine's Day shirts that aren't too hearts and flowers for my Little Men or that aren't too "I Am a Ladies Man"...which no Little Man needs to claim. Momma's Little Man, sure, Ladies Man, uh no.

It is especially hard finding Valentine's shirts for my almost-nine-going-on-fifteen-year-old Little Man.

I was trying really hard to come up with a "cool" more subtle love-day shirt.

I might love An Affair to Remember. I also love, love, love Sleepless in Seattle. I didn't think that he would appreciate me plastering Cary Grant on his shirt, however I immediately thought about about the Empire State Building.

Once that light bulb went off, it seemed only obvious what I was going to do for Oldest's t-shirt.

A NYC skyline with the Empire State Building with windows "lit up" in the shape of a heart.

Pretty stinkin' cool Valentine threads if you ask me...or him.

 This shirt was so easy to make.

All you need is a white t-shirt, iron on printable transfer for stretchable material (I used Avery).

Then you need a NYC image. I did a google image search to find a NYC skyline with the Empire State building in it. When you find an image you like you can save it to your computer.

Then edit it in an online photo program, like PicMonkey. I enlarged the photo and made the image a little darker.

Then I opened it in a Word program. When working with fabric transfers you want the image flipped to get the mirror image. If you go under the page layout and click on the rotate option, you can flip your image horizontal.

Then your image will be reversed.

Print it off.

Trim it down to size.

Follow the instructions...basically iron it on.

Since the image is larger it takes about 3 minutes. Then let it cool for another couple of minutes before you peel off the backing.

While you are waiting for the shirt to cool, go ahead and chisel yourself a little window stamp out of a pencil eraser.

Peel off the backing. Grab some red fabric paint.

Carefully stamp out windows in the shape of a heart.

Here is a close up look to see the number of rectangles and how I placed the "windows".

Let it dry, or you can be like me, impatient, you can whip out your hair dryer and speed up the drying process.

Oh I just love it.

Just what I wanted for Oldest. A cool, subtle shirt he can wear on Valentine's Day...

...or any other day he wants to get his cool on.

Or getting your silly on.

I hope you find this helpful and just in time for Valentine's day.

Happy Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by.

Linking Here:

Todays Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife,

Sugar Bee Crafts,

Lil'Luna,

The 36th Avenue, Tatertots and Jello,

Be Different Act Normal,

Your Homebased Mom