Tutotrial - DIY Iron On Transfer T-Shirt

Since coming back to Rhode Island after two glorious weeks in San Diego for the Christmas holiday, the first thing Charlotte asks for in the morning is her cousin.  Where's Vivi, she asks me?  When the phone rings, she asks, "Vivi?"  It's really heart-breaking.  She is just obsessed with her older cousin and I so wish we could go back home so they could play together again.

So, inspired by this adorable cousin friendship, I decided to make Charlotte this photo t-shirt using some iron-on transfer sheets.

 

Want to make your own?  It's SUPER simple and fun.  First off, you'll need the following supplies:  

• iron-on transfer sheets (there are a lot of different brands on the market so shop around)
• ink jet printer
• white t-shirt
• iron

1.  Design your t-shirt image.  I created my design using Adobe Photoshop but I'm sure any program will work.  I simply embellished a photo of the cousins with a digital border frame that says "friends."  I resized the image to fit onto Charlotte's t-shirt and then flipped the whole image horizontally.  This creates a mirror image. 

2.  Print your image.  When you print your image onto the iron-on transfer sheet, make sure you change the printer settings according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Then trim very closely around your image.  (NOTE: I DO NOT recommend the brand of Iron-on Transfers photographed below.  It works fine but I noticed that it fades a bit after the first wash.)

3.  Iron your image onto the T-shirt.  Once you figure out where you want your image on the t-shirt, place the image face down and iron it on!  It is seriously that easy.  I personally set my iron to the cotton setting and ironed back and forth for about 3 minutes.  Just check the manufacturer instructions.

4.  Wear and Enjoy!  Viola.  Just like that, you have a totally custom t-shirt to show off to all your family and friends.  Charlotte kept point to her shirt and saying, "Vivi.  That's Vivi."  So ridiculously cute.  I showed my sister and since she loved it so much, I made another matching shirt for Vivi too.  :)

I also used this same technique to make Charlotte's birthday shirt to perfectly match her invites and birthday banner a few months back.

Hope this shows that you don't need a fancy die-cutting machine or a ton of crafting supplies to go DIY.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Project 100 Update:  33 down, 67 to go.  Since I already had these iron-on sheets and they utilized my digital scrapbooking files, I'm counting the two cousin t-shirts as two projects. 

Project Life - Week 3

Here is my Project Life spread for Week 3 (January 16-22).  To embellish the photos and journaling spots, I used a lot of word and image die cuts (cut from my Silhouette Cameo).  I really love how they look, especially when placed directly on the photos.  No additional inserts this week. 

Week 3 Highlights.  Charlotte's toy kitchen from Pappy and Grammy.  My Take 12 layout featured in both the Ella Publishing blog and at Two Peas in a Bucket.  First snow.  Uncle Doug's visit (with yes, another 10 pounds of lobster). 

Project 100 Update:  31 down, 69 to go.

The One With Some Cards

It seems like the scrapbooking has taken a break this week for some card making.  Lots of things to celebrate - babies, engagements, birthdays...

1.  Addie B Designs Baby Cards.  Here are three custom ordered baby cards inspired by those amazing baby bibs, burp clothes and head bands made by Addie B Designs.  

"Welcome Baby Violet" Card.  Supplies:  Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye); Cardstock (American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn); Letter Stickers (Cosmo Cricket); Floss (We R Memory Keepers); Die Cuts and Flower Embellishment (Sassafras); Digital Files (Lettering Delights).

"Hey Little Miss" Card.  Supplies:  Patterned Paper (Imaginesce, My Mind's Eye); Cardstock (American Crafts, Walmart); Stamps (Lawn Fawn, Unity Stamps); Letter Stickers (October Afternoon, Echo Park); Floss (We R Memory Keepers); Brads (Oriental Trading Company); Digital Files (Lettering Delights).

"Welcome" Headband Card.  Don't those gorgeous headbands also make the perfect card embellishment!  Supplies:  Patterned Paper (Imaginesce); Cardstock (American Crafts).

2.  "Engaged" Card.  This is a simple, happy engagement card with some bold Valentine's Day  colors inspired by this card.  Since these cards were so easy to make using my new Silhouette Cameo, I went ahead and made three! 

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts); Embossing Folder (ProvoCraft - Swiss Dots); Digital Files (Silhouette Store - Jamie Koay).

5.  "Happy Birthday, Captain" Card.  Finally, here is a sailing-themed birthday card specifically requested by Justin.  The concept is that you're looking through a porthole to see the boat sailing away.  

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts, Walmart; Core-dinations; Bazzil; Martha Stewart); Stamps (My Cute Stamps); Digital Files (Silhouette Store - American Crafts, SnapDragon Snippets LLC).

Whew!  That was a lot of cards!!  Thanks again for stopping by and for all the support with this blog and the new etsy store.  It means the world to me.  And just for kicks, here's a little peek at how we ship our homemade creations to people all over the country!  

This was our shipment of Owl Hair Clip Greeting Cards to my fabulous friend (and founder of Beyond Jack and Jill) in California.

And here is our custom designed snowflake banner ready for baby Fiona's birthday celebration in Maryland!

Project 100 Update:  30 down, 70 to go.

Project Life - Week 2

Here is my Project Life spread for Week 2 (January 9-15).  Again, I reached for bits and pieces of my January Counterfeit Kit to put the photos and journaling cards together.

I'm still using 8.5 x 11 page protectors for larger memorabilia and other photos.   This week - a place mat from Newport Creamery and a map from Mystic Aquarium.

 

Week 2 Highlights.  Charlotte's belated birthday cake.  Mystic aquarium (despite the freezing weather).  Ten pounds of lobster. 

Project 100 Update:  22 down.  78 to go.

A Love Story at the Hermitage {a scrapbook layout}

One of my favorite stops during our cross-country drive was Andrew Jackson's personal residence, the Hermitage.  The grounds were simply stunning and, while the home itself was relatively modest, it was filled with period furnishings and artifacts original to President Jackson.  Amazing.

Now this is pretty uncommon for me but for this layout I focused my layout on one of the stories we learned about during our visit to the Hermitage.

The inspiration for this layout was this sketch from Practical Scrappers. 

 

Since the layout was about the garden and Jackson's love for his wife, I wanted to focus on using floral embellishments.  Thankfully, my January Counterfeit Kit had plenty of Sassafras foldies and blooms.

For the title, I used a combination of American Crafts Thickers and Basic Grey alpha stickers.  I also stitched across the actual letters, a technique my amazingly talented and crafty friend, Brenda, frequently does and I always swoon over.  I also wanted to incorporate some memorabilia into the layout so I printed a map of the grounds on vellum and adhered behind the photos.  

I reached for the vellum again to do the journaling.  I wanted it to look like the words were typed right onto the lined background paper.  Since I physically can't print on 12x12 paper, I instead printed the journaling on vellum, cut them into little strips and then adhered it directly onto the paper.  

I also wanted to share a card that I made using my January counterfeit kit.  This is for a dear dear friend who lost his father recently.  

Project 100 Update:  21 down, 79 to go.