Copy Cat

It's been a while since I last blogged.... sue me!  I hardly have any time or energy during the school year to get anything else done.  But, one one of our first days of summer Diddles made me this laundry basket shelf I have been wanting for months!  We have a good sized laundry room and there has always been a big empty section and I really wanted a shelf of some kind to store stuff in.  We have cabinets above the washer and dryer, but they aren't tall/deep enough for some of the things I needed to tuck away.  I added a shower curtain rod above this little nook to hang clothes to try and what not.  I think this is the perfect piece to use to store pool towels and such.  I originally had a vision of nice green or blue laundry baskets and a white shelf....  HOWEVER, I could only find white laundry baskets and the only paint color we already had enough of was this lovely blue from our bathroom at our previous house. I don't have any during pictures.  But here is what we ended up with at the end of the day (try to ignore the excessive amount of hangers that are waiting to be returned to the cleaners)...

And just to prove that I'm not being lazy and just sitting around on my bum...  I have been working on numerous shirts - like this one:

Seven Weeks.....

I can't wait!!!!  We get out for the summer in SEVEN WEEKS!  I have been ridiculously busy!  Some nights we don't get home from work until 8:00 or 9:00 (and we leave the house at 6:00 every morning).  I looooove my job, but it is hard work.  We have been doing standardized testing this week and it really made the week drag.  So glad that is over. Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the fun stuff we did at school during our "TAKS Camp" the kids (and teachers) had a ton of fun preparing and participating in camp.

We did that reverse bleach effect to make camp shirts.  Each class was a different "camp" and had a unique color and camp name.  My kids chose CAMP AWESOME.... because they are pretty awesome.  I think our shirts turned out wonderful!

Here you can get a look at how my room and hallway was is decorated.  We worked soooo hard on this and used just about all of the butcher paper that the school had (and that is not an exaggeration).  Therefore, it will be up until the last day of school.  And we have a second round of camp before the science test at the end of this month.

Not your momma's iron ons!

OMG!  Have I told you that I am slowly becoming smarter than my Cricut!  I can't believe it's finally happening.  I've actually made a few gifts and things for my house using the vinyl.  And just this week was college week at school.  AND we were able to wear jeans EVERYDAY as long as we had on a college shirt! **For those of you who don't know - Wearing jeans to work is a big deal for teachers!**  Anyway, I graduated from college 4 years ago and my SFA spirit shirts are starting to look a little worn.  So, I needed another shirt ASAP.  And Diddles over here didn't have one at all (and he just graduated like a year ago).  His only college shirt has now become mine b/c it is much too small for him.  Anyway...  Thanks to my handy dandy Cricut and some iron on vinyl I was able to whip up these babies in a matter of minutes:

Yes, I know they are super plain.  I was in a hurry and this was just my first experiment with the wonderful world of iron on vinyl.  I looooooove it!

Upcoming Project

So...  My BFF sent me a link to what appears to be the EASIEST t-shirt craft I've ever seen.  I must admit I'm a little sad/embarrassed that I didn't think of it first.  You can see the idea here or here.  Now I went to JoAnn's several times this week and stocked up on thread, scissors and other goodies they had on sale + I used my teachers 15%off ALL purchases ALL the time!  Yay!  Definitely my FAVORITE crafting store.  Anyway..... After being inspired I went back again yesterday and got a few more supplies seen here (and yes I know I really didn't need any more thread, rotary cutters or scissor/nippers, but at 40 and 50% off I just had to):

I decided to try this idea not only on colored shirts with bleach, but on white shirts using dye - I know!  I think this is going to be genius idea.  So, I got all sorts of fabric dye and I'm still thinking about going back to get more when the hubster isn't with me.  I'm sooooo excited to try it out (as soon as my CRICUT comes in that is)!  For my t-shirts I drew letters by hand and I have them all thrown in a drawer and I pull them out and trace them every time I need them.  I'm hoping my Cricut will help me out with this issue.
And yes I know I don't need a Cricut to do this.  However, after years of creating patterns and cutting them out by hand I refuse to do it anymore.  That's why I bought myself a Cricut for my birthday.... just one week ago and now I just have to wait a couple more days for it to arrive via UPS.  But, I've already got all of the materials laid out and I bought a few different brands and types of dye to test out.  Here are the ones I've decided to experiment with:

As much as I hate don't really care for the color red it is our school color so I went ahead and got some to test out for a spirit shirt.  I purchased red and turquoise (my fav) in powder form and pink and purple in liquid form.  I have really high hopes for this project and I hope it is a success b/c I really think it will be by far one of the easiest crafts ever crafted!!!!

Applique T-Shirts....My BIG Business

Ok, so I first saw these cute applique t-shirts at Canton and I thought they are the best FridaySpiritShirtWearWithYourJeansTeacher Shirts I've ever seen.  Then, I looked at the price tag and I wasn't really willing to pay $25-$30+ for a t-shirt to wear to work.  So, I examined them carefully and did a little research only to realize they are sew easy to make.  So, I got blank t-shirts, fuseable web and fabric and I was ready to create!  After making my own letter patterns to trace I was off and I made myself about 10 spirit shirts for the new school year for about $50 bucks.  Not too shabby.  Well, when I started wearing them to work all of the other teachers seemed to enjoy them as much as I did.  Several people asked me to make them one.  I agreed - now I would love to just give these away, but you've got to remember I am a teacher and my husband is also a teacher.  I'm sure you understand why that is not possible.  So, I decided to charge a reasonable fee and before I knew it I had a list of 30+ shirt orders.  And this has gone on for about a year and a half now and I continue to make them.  I have a stack of about 15 waiting to be delivered when we come back from the Christmas break and about a dozen more in the works.  Plus about 10 others that I have yet to start on.... see what I mean?  BIG Business!  I love making them too.  Here is a quick explanation of how it is done:
1.  Apply fuseable web to fabric using an iron.

Now, I did this fabric down b/c it was sequin fabric and if your iron is on that stuff too long it will melt and then when your husband wants to use the iron he might cry when that stuff ruins leaves a just a tiny, little residue on his work clothes....

2.  Trace shapes/letters on fabric and cut them out.
Sorry I don't have a pic of this step... I'm sure you can figure it out! 
3.  Use a damp cloth to wet letters on t-shirt and iron them on.

4. Sew around all of the fabric letters.

5.  I apply fray check around the edges of all the letters to prevent fraying and your DONE!

See?  Isn't it easy.... Just don't tell anyone - this is my BIG business after all!  ;)