Non-Obnoxious Alphabet Magnets

I was inspired by this blog post to make some non-obnoxious alphabet magnets. So simple! So cute! So, why hadn't I thought of this yet?

I drug the kids out to the craft store with me and purchased my supplies. I even found the perfect color of yellow spray paint, on clearance for $2. Excited to get started, I sprayed one side of the disks as soon as the kids went down for a nap.



I used a black metallic spray paint that we already had, leftover from another project I hope to someday finish and then blog about. Then I flipped them over and sprayed the other side yellow.





Once they were dry, I pulled out my rub on letters and got to work. I had never used rub on transfers before and was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to work with. I've been dreaming up all sorts of projects where I can use rub on transfers. The next night, I glued magnets to the back of the disks, and they are done! I used a stronger magnet than the tutorial called for. I'm tired of our fridge magnets sliding down and I am going to replace them all with these nice strong ones. How do I feel about our new alphabet magnets? I...



I'm going to give these to one or both of the kids for Christmas. I haven't decided who gets what yet. They might each get a set in their stockings. I did both upper and lower case and made a few extras of the letters in their names. My transfers came with lots of E's but not many O's. I bought an extra sheet so they can both spell their full names at the same time.

I did not distress mine like in the tutorial, but they still have a rustic charm about them.  I didn't spray a protective coating on like I thought about, so I expect that they will become distressed with use soon enough.  I didn't do anything special to the edges.  They are a bit uneven from whatever spray paint happened to reach them, but I liked how they looked, so I left them alone.

Car Shirts, Take 2

I wasn't happy with how the car shirts I made for a friend turned out.  I got the pattern from a different site than I typically use, and it stitched out very differently.  When it tacks down the applique pieces, this pattern uses a very narrow, very tight zig-zag stitch and it pretty much just pulled the threads from the edge of the woven fabric I used.  This time, I used fabric that won't unravel and used a more substantial stabilizer on the applique pieces and on the back of the shirt.  It seemed to help and this time, they stitched out much better.  I normally would not have chosen the bright orange and lime green to go with the brick red shirts, but they really turned out cute.  I hope her boys like their new and improved shirts.

Sorry about the lighting glare.  The colors show better in the close-ups.

Lime green car.

Orange car.

How I am Turning My Son Into a Nerd

Those who know my husband and me know that the chance of our children becoming nerds is astronomically high.  I recently made two new shirts for Malcolm that simply hurl him into nerd-dom.  They both break my personal "no characters" rule, but I suppose when they are ones that mom and dad like a lot, then we can just ignore that rule.

I am a terrible mother because I wouldn't let him watch TV until I took a picture of the shirt.

Close up of Kermit.  Gonzo is actually Malcolm's favorite Muppet, but I made this to match a sweatshirt I bought last year.

Here is the sweatshirt I was trying to match (he's wearing the shirt underneath).  The back of the sweatshirt has The Muppet Show logo.

He has watched a few episodes of The Muppet Show and likes it OK, but it isn't one of his favorites.  I fully admit to this being mostly just for my husband and myself.  When he wore it to school, the teachers were excited about it, and who wouldn't be?  Kermit is awesome.

Malcolm has no idea who Dr. Who is, but when I found the pattern for the TARDIS, I had to have it and put it on something. Luckily, Malcolm had a sweatshirt and pair of pants that needed a matching shirt, and the TARDIS fit the bill perfectly. 

He's going to be the coolest kid in preschool. 

This stitched out fine, but trimming the extra threads on the lettering was a real pain.  They were so tiny and because some were going the same direction as the black thread underneath, it was hard to trim only the white thread.