Screen Printing At Home

Every little girl needs her very own wolf tee

Even before Ruby was born, John & I were way into making shirts for her (check out this post with a few of the firsts & this post for a pic of her princess tee). Again, when I say "we" it mostly means "he." I help come up with ideas & pick out colors, but John does most of the work. This time, I need to brag that I actually cut out the Wisconsin stencil (thank you very much). And after giving it a whirl, I appreciate my husband even more! It's hard work & my neck was really sore for a few days from hunching over to cut it out.

Although these shirts are time consuming, they really are quite simple & totally rewarding. What is more precious than your kid getting super excited to wear a shirt that you custom made for them? 

WI represent!

Items you need

Fabric (we've mostly done onesies & other cotton shirts)

A stencil printed on very thick paper or cardstock

Exacto knives

A board to cut the stencil out

Tack adhesive spray (we use Krylon Easy Tack)

Spray paint or acrylic paint (there's a bit more accuracy with acrylic)

Paint brushes

Cardboard 

Masking tape

Directions

Start with washing your clothing or fabric. If it's something you're going to have someone wear, have them try it on & measure where you would like the design to show up (you could put a little masking tape where the top of the stencil should go). Then get to printing & cutting your stencil.

The more intricate the design, the more challenging the cutting will be. You might want to try something more simple for your first projects. Make long smooth cuts whenever possible (avoid short, choppy cuts). Although it might be obvious, stencil cutting is kind of a mental game so stay focused (you need to cut out what you want to show up on the shirt). Once the stencil is cut out, spray the tack on spray over the stencil (the side that is going to be touching the fabric) & lay the tack sprayed side down onto the fabric.

Then tape the stencil onto the fabric using masking tape. Secure a piece of cardboard on the inside of the shirt (you don't want it to bleed through to the back of the shirt). Then you can get to painting. You can either spray it with spray paint, using short thin layers of paint, or you can use acrylic paint & brush it on. We've had luck with both, but have come to enjoy acrylic more because it's a bit more accurate, we can blend colors more easily, & it smells way better! It may be necessary to do several layers of paint, depending on the fabric you use & how thick you want it to look.

And that's it! Although it dries fairly quickly, we wait 24 hours to wear them, just to be sure. Also make sure that you wash them inside-out so that the stencil lasts longer. 

Ruby loves foxes & her favorite stuffed animal is a fox named "batu"

Ruby's Play Kitchen

We are finally done with the play kitchen that we've been dreaming about, planning for, & working on & we are pretty satisfied with the results. We figured that since we're pretty into food, that we want to instill that into Ruby so she can become a little foodie, too. I mean she already picks out the sad, February strawberries out of her plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt so she can just enjoy it in peace. She already knows where it's at, but why stop there?

Right after we found out I was pregnant, we found ourselves wandering through the incredibleness that is Ikea. It was as if we were somehow teleported there the second I took the test because that's just what you do, right? Well actually, we were in Minneapolis because we just flew back from Missouri, but the whole time for me was this strange blur, so it could have been a teleport for all I know.

I had always thought it would be amazing to have a little play kitchen for our kids, but I really didn't want something bulky or easily knocked over/moved around the house/ugly. Once we actually started making plans, we took all of that into consideration. This thing was going to be in our living room, so I didn't want to shudder every time I looked at it.

We toyed around a bit with just buying one, but after about 3 seconds of online researching, we realized that attractive wooden kitchens are just way (way, way) out of our budget. So John got out his grid paper, I got to pinning play kitchens, & we got to work (& when I say, "we" in this post, I mostly mean John... he did all the hard work).

Although there were plenty of play kitchen designs that utilize existing furniture (like end tables, dressers, entertainment centers, desks, etc.) the space that we have available is very limited, so we decided to start from scratch.We bought the majority of the goods from Menards, but I will describe each piece a little more in detail.

Ruby, being very helpful at Menards

Body

• The main body of the kitchen is comprised of 1/4 inch plywood (for the back), 1 x 10 inch pine wood boards (for the frame), & a 1 x 12 inch cedar board (for the countertop).
• There are 4 wheels that it sits on, & two of them can lock so that it won't get twirled about. 
• John also secured the whole kitchen to the wall so that it won't topple over if someone gets upset that she burnt her cookies.
• Everything was sanded several times & there are 2 coats of polyurethane on it to protect the wood. We considered painting it, but decided that we both liked the raw look of the wood.

Oven/stove

• The burners were found at Hobby Lobby- they are little wooded plaque-type pieces that John spray painted black.
• The knobs for the oven are from this dresser that I gave a make-over.
• The oven door is made out of a piece of plywood that John cut a square hole out of & screwed a piece of plexi glass into.
• The handle for the oven door & drawer below the oven were purchased at Menards.
• The oven rack was purchased at Menards as well. It was originally one of those space saving shelves that John cut to fit inside the oven to sit on wooden pegs (so Ruby can adjust the shelving, depending on what recipe she's baking).
• The hinges are the special safety kind so that the door doesn't just flop open & hurt someone.
• There is a small drawer below the oven for all of Ruby's utensils & a shelf above for her quaint little tea set (she absolutely adores having tea when company comes over!) There are also hooks below this shelf for her pots & pans.
• There is still talk of installing a light inside of the oven...

Sink

• The faucet was one of the harder things to find. We originally started perusing thrift shops & our local Restore, but grew impatient, so we purchased an $11 faucet that's actually designed to filter water (that's why it's so tiny). It was purchased at Menards.
• The faucet knobs were found at Menards. Both the knobs even turn!
• The sink is a small stainless steel bowl. John cut a hole in the counter & placed it in there with glue.
• You might be wondering where that lovely piece of artwork is from? This was one of our favorite wedding gifts that was made by our super talented friend Lisa. It's called "Refuge". I figured Ruby might need a little refuge while she's busy at washing all those dishes.

Shelves & food

• There are a few small shelves behind the curtain to hide all of her other dishes & food (John installed a thin bar at the top of these shelves so that I could sew a curtain out of an old pilliowcase). I also sewed a few small wash cloths out of old fabric scraps I had laying around.
• The majority of the dishes are gems that we found at thrift stores, with the exception of her tea set & pots & pan set. She also has a fabric basket full of vegetables that she loves to play with (um, she knows what leak is). I still would like to get her these utilsiles & this bake set, but all in good time (why is everything so freaking cute when it's miniature?)

The entire project cost us just over $100. We definitely could have saved money by finding an old faucet & knobs, but really that's the only thing that we went over-budget on. It was worth it to get exactly what we wanted & what would fit into that small space.

While in construction-mode in the basement, Ruby couldn't resist the urge to play with it!

And my favorite view- Ruby & her little friend, working hard to get dinner ready

Mmm, dinner

Here are the original plans. If you'd like a copy of this or more clarification, please let us know!

Magnetic Chalkboards For Kiddos

I'm having an exceptionally challenging time not sharing about the incredible homemade kitchen that John has made for Ruby. It's nearing completion, but I know better than to share pics just yet... don't worry, you'll all the juicy details soon enough! In the meantime, check out this fun little chalkboard that I made for Ruby. I made it to distract her from the horrendously long trip we took down to Missouri over Christmas. OK, so it was only about 11 hours, but this kid is notorious for having a challenging ride up to Duluth (about 4.5 hours), so I figured this trip would be bad news. John & I decided to drive through the night so that she would (fingers crossed) sleep the entire time, but just in case, I wanted to have all kinds of fun, new things to distract her & this was one of them.

I was so thrilled that she slept the nearly the whole way, so we didn't even bust this board out until we were home & I needed some much needed alone time in the kitchen. She now really enjoys happily marking the board up with the calk & cleaning it off with a rag & repeating the process like 456 times (btw, I can't wait to try out this homemade sidewalk chalk recipe this summer!)

This was the tray that I bought from Goodwill for $1.99. I doubled-checked to make sure that it was magnetic before purchasing

Here's the finished board. I used Krylon's spray chalkboard paint & it worked wonderfully. I sprayed 3 very thin layers of the paint & let it dry overnight (let it dry for 15-20 minutes in between each layer). Then I used the chalk to cover the entire board & then wiped it off before using it for the first time.

Some little felt magnets that I made out of scraps left over from her bird mobile. I just hot glued the felt on to little magnets I found at Hobby Lobby. I hot glued a larger piece of felt on the back of the board to make it less slippery on her lap.

I made some additional letter magnets for the fridge (selfishly, so I wouldn't have to look at/constantly pick up those annoying plastic ones that every child somehow gets)

We let Ruby unwrap these magnets for one of her few Christmas presents this year & she loved them!

How do you keep your kids entertained while traveling? I'm hoping this board will come on many traveling adventures to come!

Christmas Stories

This year, we didn't have a Christmas tree. Well, not an official one. Come to think of it, we didn't have one last year, either. I won't go into detail no as to why that is, but I do want to share a fun little Christmas activity that Ruby & I enjoyed this year that I would like to continue every year (especially when she's older & thinks it's awkward but still secretly loves it).

Here's our little mock Christmas tree (dried willow branches with some ornaments) & the first gift under the tree belongs to Miss Ruby, which was a sweet book on wild animales I found at the Goodwill

Our new tradition is focused on reading, which just so happens to be one of Ruby's favorite pass times. Every day, we probably read 20+ books because she LOVES books. She loves going to the library to get new ones & I love that so I don't go crazy reading the same dang elmo book hundreds of times each week. Because I know Ruby loves to read, I figured she would easily catch on to this new tradition...

For a few months before Christmas, I started collecting Christmasy books. It was actually harder than I would have imagined because, unfortunately, there are a lot of terrible books about Christmas out there, but I managed to find 12 books, which was my goal. Next year, I might try to be super ambitious & get 25... we'll see.

I wrapped up all the books & every night before bed, Ruby got to unwrap one & we would read it together. She really caught on to the unwrapping (& might have even unwrapped a few before naptime... I had a hard time resisting her when she ran up to me with a wrapped book, saying "story? ni-night?") & it was an all-around precious moment for us to share together.

Our little tree with the 12 books

Next year, I plan to use some of the same books (there's no way we're going to collect 12+ different books every year!) but I realized that I may need to hunt sooner & harder because I wasn't really satisfied with the content of a lot of the books. These books are just reserved for Christmas, though, so they are now put away in a special red & green bin in the basement with all of the rest of our soon-to-be-hibernating Christmas items.

The rocking chair with the books (please ignore the "happy birthday" gift wrap)

For next year, I want to collect even more Christmas books that really tell an accurate Christmas story. What are your (& your children's) favorite Christmas stories?

Homemade Playdough

I've been trying to be a bit more intentional about actually doing fun toddler-specific activities lately with my little lady & it turns out that I (still) love doing projects like these, so it's win-win for the Haas household. One of the first projects that we tackled was making homemade playdough, which was way too simple to make.

I remember playing with playdough for hours as a child, even sneaking a chunk or two into my mouth because who could resist, right? Ew. I wanted to save Ruby from some of the grossness of store-bought playdough because I just assumed some would end up in her mouth. I'll shamelessly admit here that I actually tested a tiny bit of this recipe, you know, just to make sure it's safe for my kid & everything. I figured since it's made from all real food ingredients, that it can't be that bad, right? Maybe safer, but tasty? No way Jose.

Ruby wasn't super impressed. She has this thing with not liking to touch sticky or messy things (oh how I hope that changes), & she might still be a little young for a project like this, but we're gonna hold on to it for awhile so I, er, she can make an incredible sculpture soon.

Homemade Playdough
Ingredients
1 C Flour
1 C Water
1/4 C Salt
1 TBSP Vegetable oil
2 tsp Cream of tarter
Food coloring (actual coloring or a kool-aid packet will do) If you want to be extra cool you can add glitter. I'm so not ready for glitter.

Directions
Pour in all the ingredients in no particular order into a pot. Stir in until everything is mixed well. Once it's lump-free, turn on the heat to medium & stir constantly until it magically clumps together. Once it's clumped well, take it out & kneed it.

Recipe taken from AdelynStone

February 2013 update:

 I think she likes it now...