The Big Reveal! I'm Letting You In On My Little Secret.

Last night I teased you all with a short sneaky post, dangling a big secret that would be revealed today.  And guess what?  It's today!  And since we're BFFs and all, I'm cluing you in.  I've been MIA the last couple of days, but I've been REALLY busy.  And it was all for you.  Well, mostly.  
In all of my recent craftiness, I decided to make myself a pair of leggings that said "This Is The Life I Have Chosen".  If you're not familiar with Zazzle, you can upload images/artwork and they will screen or imprint them on to myriad different things and send them off to you. Things like leggings. I do yoga a lot.  A LOT.  And I practically live in leggings, so I figured why not advertise my little blog a bit for an hour and a half on Thursday nights or Friday mornings at the Kerr YMCA in Kelly's class or Tuesday mornings in Monica's class, or as I'm getting the oil changed in the car. . . . you get the point.

So, I made my leggings online, ordered them and they should arrive today (very excited!).  But then my bestie that I've known since eighth grade took a picture of a shirt she owns and she told me she loves the saying on it, but she's not very giddy about a pink bow that sits right above the phrase.  She asked if I could tie-dye a shirt for her with that saying on it.  And I thought, "Sugar, I can do one better than that.  I can make you a totally cool shirt with a totally cool original photo on it and your saying on top of the photo." And so I did.  That's the shirt at the top of this post.  And then I made this notebook.  Because I love the quote and I love the picture I took on a London street just before Christmas last year (even if I did have a really awful blister on the bottom of my foot from walking so much.  It's still a great picture).

And then that little light bulb in my brain went off.  There are tons of products available through Zazzle, just waiting to be customized with my cool pics and some sayings.  I have both!  And maybe, just maybe, other folks would like some of this stuff too.  
So, I got to work. And created my own "storefront." It's easy to get to. On my newly formatted blog website (if you haven't checked it out and you only read my posts via your email inbox, you really should go take a look - Tanya at TheArtSheMakes (on Etsy) did an amazing job!), you'll find a tab at the top that reads Shop! Shop! Shop!.  If you click on it, guess what happens?  You're whisked off into cyberland right to my store!  And there you could find this coffee mug.

And this iPad case.

Or this hoodie.  

Or this dog sweater (sorry - they didn't have cat sweaters, or I would have made you one).

And even this makeup case.

Annnnddd this t-shirt I made for myself (seeing a pattern here?  The Hubbs is.), which I then decided to share with everyone.  I mean, why should I hoard the shirt and not let others spread Buddha's wisdom?  He was a pretty smart guy.

This stuff is just the tip of the iceberg (just ask The Hubbs - I've made him look at EVERYTHING I've created so far) and if you give me a couple of more days, there will be stuff for dudes and kids and a really cool bumper sticker too (soon, Dan Weinman, soon).   With only 119 more shopping days until Christmas (and fewer until Hanukkah and Kwanzaa but many more until my birthday) you need to get cracking on that shopping list.  Some might say I've just made the holidays that much easier for you.  You're welcome.  
And thanks for checking out my store!

Kids and Clorox - Who Knew They Mixed Together So Well?

If I were to say to you, "Hey, let's give the kids Clorox pens and see what happens!" you would probably shoot me one of those "she's lost her ever-loving mind" looks, turn on your heels and walk away.  But I'm rogue like that.  I like to toss a tiny firecracker into the crowd (figuratively speaking, folks) to shake things up a bit.  
We've been highlighting (mostly) crafts this week and I've mentioned that my friend Jody came up from Atlanta a few weeks back.  She is the queen crafter (no really, you should see the embossed note cards she made me - amazeballs!) and she brought up some really fun crafts for the bonus daughters to make.  The koozie/coozies (never will know which is the correct spelling) were all her idea.  And a big hit.  She also brought up a lucha libre mask kit (click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about, of if you'd like to order a real mask of your own) and we ALL made them (pretty sure the ensuing photo will make the front of the Christmas card this year).  

Rocks can be helpful for holding the shirts down.  So they don't fly away. (????)

But I also had a trick or two up my sleeve and told the bonus daughters and the lake neighbor kids to get a colored tshirt and be thinking of a phrase or saying that's important to them (the shorter the better).  I bought Clorox bleach pens and we were set.  
Turns out these handy pens aren't just helpful in the laundry, but also keep bored kids under the age of 15 occupied for at least a solid half an hour.  

You can use other markers to enhance your design (see bow tie above).  And yes, that's wine in that glass.  For the grownups supervising the bleaching.

Here's how:
We took their shirts and put a piece of heavy cardboard between the front side and the back side, inside the shirt (just like with the tie-dye shirts, which we did the same day).  Now take your pen and carefully write your saying or message on the shirt.  It looks like this at first.

The Clorox looks very white while on the shirt, but on black at least, turns the fabric gray.

The key here is (once again) patience while it dries.  Which is harder than it sounds with ten (I think it was ten - there were tons of them and they move quickly, so it can be hard to count them) kids running around.  That's why we had the second craft - the tie-dyes.  Once the Clorox is dry on the shirt (about an hour or so), you very carefully take it to the sink and quickly wash out the bleach by running cold water straight through it at first and then a quick general soak.  Have the washing machine ready to go, so you can pop the shirts in there to get any trace of leftover bleach out.  

It almost looks Halloween-ish with the orange outline around the letters.

Key tips:  
1) Make sure you know how to spell what you want to write. 2) It may be a good idea to "sketch" out what you want to write on your shirt first.  We did it  with our fingers, just to make sure the words would fit, but you could do it with a pen or pencil. 3) You can't really do the front AND back, so choose carefully. 4) Bleach is still bleach.  Even when crafting.  So, be careful with whatever clothes you're wearing. 5) 100% cotton shirts work best.
Now, go turn your kids loose with some bleach pens, get a glass of wine and call it a day.  A win all around.  You're welcome.

Let's Go Trippin' Like It's 1977

It's Tuesday and we're taking a trip. Not that kind of trip (this is a drug free house, buddy).  A trip back in time.  To the 70's.  Back when things were psychedelic and wild.  So, buckle up and get ready.
On the rare occasion that I have some spare time, I use it to read some of my favorite blogs (The Bloggess and The Whole Smiths are two favorites).  And on the very rare occasion that I've gotten to read them AND I still have some spare time (i.e. The Hubbs is out of town and the bonus daughters aren't here), I cruise Pinterest.  There's so much cool stuff you can find on there! 
One night while cruising the P, I found a crafting idea that I pinned to try with the bonus daughters.  Really, I wanted to try it, but I'm a damn grown up, so we're not supposed to try kids crafts, right?  So, I decided I would "help" the bonus daughters craft it out.  
Remember tie-dyes?  The bonus daughters don't, other than seeing them on Cool Neighbor Matt next door or at the Wake Forest downtown festival.  But I remember making a tie-dye t-shirt in art class in grade school.  It was one of the only times I liked art class until I got to college.  
Anyway, this Pin on the P showed how to make a "tie-dye" without all the rubber bands and the buckets of dye.  A huge bonus when kids are involved.  
Off to Michael's Crafts I went to buy supplies:

White all cotton t-shirts, Sharpie markers in a zillion colors (note: I also found the markers at Staples for HALF the price), and some rubbing alcohol, an eye dropper and white cider vinegar at the grocery store.  I dug out some cardboard boxes from our recycling pile and I was set.

Siblings that craft together stay together. 

So, we crafted up at the lake, and then one of the mom's and I crafted at the lake on big, white flour sack dishtowels, I had everyone make a t-shirt at the Camp CallaSamp sibling's weekend up in Canada, and then I made a few dishtowels for home and friends and t-shirts for my nieces. Lots of crafting. Because it's FUN.  And what a great way to be a super cool, mom/dad/aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa/neighbor.  The dishtowels make great hostess or housewarming gifts or it's also just a good way to pass time while you're on endless conference calls.  Wait, that's just me.

Step one - the design.

Anyway, on to the instructions.  First: get your t-shirt laid out on the table, with a piece of thick cardboard between the front and the back, inside the shirt.  If you're using something like the dishtowel, just put the cardboard underneath.
Now take your markers and start designing. I actually found a paper plate while we were up at the lake that had a super cool design.  And another on the yoga mat of a woman next to me in yoga.  And then I just started googling stuff for designs.  It's amazing what's out there!  

Step two - add alcohol and let it "tie-dye".

Once you have your design on your shirt, take your eye dropper and fill it with rubbing alcohol (with the cardboard still in place).  Now drop the alcohol right on your design and let it start to run!  Do that with the whole design.  Let it dry (it dries quickly because it's alcohol and it evaporates more than it dries, but don't take the cardboard out until it's totally dry).  

Step three - wash and dry.

Fill up your (clean) sink half way with cold water (I even add some ice and let it melt) and a cup of white cider vinegar.  Take your shirt and carefully soak it in the cold water for a few minutes, while get your washing machine filling with cold water and detergent.  Transfer the shirt to the washing machine and let it run (make sure all cycles are set on cold water).  You can either let it air dry or dry it on a gentle cycle.  And now you're ready to wear it!  Or use it (it's hard to wear a dishtowel).  
I may have gotten a little carried away with the whole idea.  A little.  Maybe.  Here are some of the other designs I've come up with

Our lake neighbor did this one. Isn't it cool!

before applying the alcohol

after applying the alcohol

And before you get all judgey, I spend a LOT of time on conference calls each day for my real job.  And I'm an excellent multitasker.  What?  Oh, sorry - I was making another dish towel.  ;-)
Now go be a cool dad/mom/aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa/neighbor/friend and get to crafting.  And drop me a note in the comments to let me know how it went and show me your craftiness.
You're welcome.