Flower Stamping

We bought some celery at the grocery store last week and as I was cutting it, I actually remembered to save the bottom part for stamping.

This has been all over Pinterest and lots of the crafty blogs, so nothing new here.

But it was fun for the Bug. And I think it's a neat way to see food in a different way.

We talked a little bit about what other types of vegetables we could make into stamps.

We had two "stamps" so she chose a color for each stamp.

Pink and purple of course.

There was a little bit of a learning curve with just how much paint to apply and how to put the stamp down, but she quickly got the hang of it.

These little projects take so much letting go for me!

I am such a control freak, but I took a step back and just let the Bug go with it--making her own design.

She did a super job. Of course.

We used these fabric paints that I found on sale at JoAnns. I've never used this kind before but they were marked down from about $6 per jar to $.99 so it was totally worth trying something new.

The verdict? I like them. I like having paint in a jar like this rather than the bottle or tube I usually use. I feel like there is less waste because you can just dip your brush in the jar and you don't have to pour it onto a palette. The colors are just as vibrant and once you heat set, the paint is color fast.

We've washed this shirt a good 3 times and so far it's holding up well.

I love it.

She did such a fantastic job and it's one of her favorite shirts to wear. (Thus having washed it three times in two weeks!)  She has gotten all kinds of compliments on it, which I think is just awesome.

Of course she glows with pride when she wears it.

I might have to have her paint all of her own clothing from now on. It makes getting dressed in the morning much easier!

~Lindsay

A Shirt Fit for a Five Year Old

The night before she was to take Birthday treats in to school I panicked.

Every single year, I have made the Bug a number shirt to wear to school on her Birthday.

This year? No shirt.

Completely slipped my mind.

So I ran to her room and dug through her shirt drawer.  The only unadorned white shirt was long sleeved and it's been HOT here. However at 10 o'clock at night. . . I worked with what I had.

I decided fabric paint was my quickest method so I set to work making a freezer paper stencil.

Is the ombre trend over? I hope not.

I had fun gradating the shade of pink on the five.

The vines and flowers were a last minute addition because the five alone was reading "last minute, night before project".

I cut the long sleeves off. Just guesstimated the length since the Bug was in bed, and then did a lettuce hem in pink thread.  It was still lacking a certain something so I punched it up a bit with a narrow zig zag stitch around the front neckline.

I sighed and decided to leave well enough alone and go to bed. . .

Fingers crossed that she would be gracious in the morning.

She was more than gracious. . . she was thrilled!

Yippee!

And it matches her favorite skirt ever, unintended bonus.

And, since I don't want to do a completely new post. . . here are the cupcakes we made for the Bug's birthday party.

They were even rainbows on the inside.

I love Pinterest. I can't take credit for either the rainbow cake idea or the decorations on top. Both were found by doing a search for "rainbow cupcake".  There is lots of inspiration to be found.

And that my friends is the end of the Birthday posting for another year.

It's been fun. Thanks for hanging in there.

~Lindsay