bike :)

Ji test-riding St's new bike....inside :)

simple bias tape holder

i love the new pretty "stripes" of color on my sewing-corner of my desk :)...instead of being in a stacking container on a shelf!


need:
- piece of wood
(mine was a piece of scrap wood i had lying around :)
- wooden dowels
- drill + bit(dowel size)
- empty paper spools
or
- make little paper rolls

tips:
- i cut the paper spools using a saw
- when you run out of spools like i did :), you can make little paper rolls - cut strips of paper and twirl around a dowel (or something that has a little larger circumference than your dowel holders), applying glue to the outside "beginning" end(before twirling) and the inside "end" end

 

....and if you don't have one yet, make a holder for your spools of thread too :)!

fun at the fair :)

Jičín město pohádek

 

crabapples

bottoms-up-cup!

turn your cup upside down and draw on the bottom!

 

 

i used:

- dishware-safe and dishwasher-safe PEBEO markers (these require "baking" )

- and these really(!!!) cheap IKEA cups

important!: you need to make sure that your cup/dishware has a raised rim, otherwise when in use, you will end up scraping off the drawing. the ikea cups have a raised ring, but warning! - they also have their labeling on it, but it didn't bother me and i worked around it :)

 

 

it's fun to drink out of and completely food/liquid safe, since the paint is on the outside.

 

tips:

- if you are using these markers for the first time, it's good to try it out on what i call a "doodle jar" (which is now my paint water jar)

- this is not much of a craft for small children (like my Ji) - it requires some patience, especially if you are also drawing on the circumference of the cup

- if you mess up, don't worry!...if it's still wet, wipe it off, if dry scrape it off - i use my glass-stove-top-scraper.

 

p.s. this is a general decorating tip/trick - i used dots here because i love dots, but they can also be helpful when it's hard to draw a straight line/outines. i came up with this trick when i was decorating christmas cookies....i was having a hard time to draw straight lines with the unruly frosting. so i came up with "dotting" - it made nice, unmessy outlines and looked cute too! 

 

t-shirt stenciling by the boys :)

 

using freezer paper, Ji and his friend drew a drawing, i cut it out with

my exacto, ironed it on the shirts and the boys did the painting.....

 

 

 supplies: non-toxic textile paints, sponge brushes, newspaper spread and

a plastic bag inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't soak through 

 

 

 we used a dabb-and-brush technique and started with the edges,

then filled in the center

 

 

let it dry, and peel the freezer paper off! yay!!!

 

 

sock sorting

the other day i bought 2 packs of assorted color socks for Ji and St. both packs had the same colors, just 2 different (but close) sizes, so to make it easier to sort in the laundry i took my fabric pens and "marked" St's socks.....with a couple of monsters and some polkadots :)

 

:)