Dish dryer extrodinaire

I just love how my little girl likes to sit up on my bench and dry dishes!

Basic screen printing tutorial

I have showed this basic screen printing technique on my blog some time ago - when I made a couple of shirts for Owen (one with a bus on it). Here is a more detailed tutorial with some new pictures and ideas...

It started with a shirt of Rosa's - I decided needed a little embellishing and thought the theme of her upcoming birthday (butterflies) would be fun. She has been talking over and over about me making her a butterfly cake for some time... will see how all that goes with a bubs arriving any day now!

This was done on our last day of school holidays - something fun to enjoy making...

Well here goes:

You need:

• Some contact - I have used coloured to make it easier to see on the shirt (for some reason the colour of my contact actually remained on the shirt until I scraped away at it) so I would recommend clear contact
• Screen printing ink - I have only ever bought black and white but there are many colours out there - bought mine at "Art Riot" but available many places- including using mine if you like (a little goes a very long way - feel free to use some if you want to - honestly, I have plenty)
• A nikko pen (ideally a thinnish one - a sharpie or the like - especially if your design is quite detailed)
• scissors
• A shirt/piece of fabric or whatever you want your design on (needs to be somewhat flat)
• a picture of your design (must be stencil like- easy enough to cut out of contact)
• a thick piece of cardboard to put under your shirt/fabric so ink won't seep through to other side of shirt
• A paint brush
• An iron to set print when dry

First you trace your design onto contact. It may be necessary to hold your design up to the window so you can see through. I used a nikko pen to trace the outline of the butterfly onto the clear side of the contact. Here is my simple outline.

Then I cut out the inside of my design, stuck the butterfly stencil onto the shirt. I needed to trace and cut out the little pieces next for the inside of my butterfly...

Here they are all stuck onto the shirt (ok, not perfectly, but then, I am not a perfectionist:) You can see how the nikko outline helped to make the pieces visible against the background.

This next step is my favorite - dabbing on the ink... Don't paint long strokes, rather just dab up and down, making sure all the contact pieces are nicely pressed down against the shirt. I tend to let the first coat of ink dry (a few hours) and add a second coat to create a crisper colour.

After the paint is dry (I have been known to impatiently pull off the pieces before completely dry but of course you run the risk of painty fingers smearing other parts of your shirt:) When the contact has been carefully peeled off (sometimes a knife may help to lift tiny pieces that big, clumsy fingers can't manage) your finished result could look something like this... Ta - dah!

When the design is totally dry then it needs to be heat set with an iron. I put an old cloth over the top of the picture and slowly move the iron around to distribute the heat. I think I did this for about 4-5 min to make sure the design will stay on well after washing (the last shirts I made with this ink washed really well - shirts wore out before the design did:)

When Joshua saw me make this shirt ( it only took about 30 min (plus drying time) he instantly started asking if he could make one too. He chose the picture, traced it himself and cut it out - did the whole thing himself!

So here he is - we found a simple spider picture on the internet (why do boys just love spiders, snips and snails and puppy dog tails anyway?)

And the proud fashion designer:

I have also used this simple contact screen printing technique for a monogrammed pillow in Rosa's room (made some months ago now):

I just found a font I liked - and printed a huge "R" with the above technique. When the fabric was done I quilted stripes around it on my sewing machine (with a bit of quilt backing behind fabric).

It would be fun to try - other pictures on a pillow - maybe birds on a branch, making a personalised library bag, etc. etc.

I also managed to monogram a letter for baby (and hid it away for safe keeping :) NO, sorry, no secrets as to letter of alphabet or colour of fabric! It is all wait and see around here!

Well this turned out to be a mammoth post - and I've been feeling a no. of Braxton Hicks even as I type. Any day now... :)

Art Master at 7yrs!

Check this out. Hubby showed this to us - nice timing to inspire my 9 yr. old with his crayon resist painting;)

Sharon

Birthday Boy

Well it's my beloved David's birthday today! We had a lovely morning tea with family and we are dining out tonight - what a treat! Grandma has been spoiling us again - making sure we get plenty of time out together before that all changes for a while when no. 4 arrives!

I am so thankful for my David! I think I admire my man more than ever, his patience in helping others, his perseverance and his desire to serve the Lord and I must say I am never short on cuddles and affection! When I reflect back to our goofy dating days, with all the getting-to-know each other, wondering what life would be like down the track married to my David... am so glad to be his wife!

Happy Birthday my sweet mush ball!

(here he is doing another job for his wife - and even on his birthday)

another project

Thank you all for your lovely comments! I truly had a lot of fun making the box, so winning was just a double bonus! I don't think I'll be starting too many new projects with a new bubs to arrive soon.... (still finishing some old ones :)

Below is one of the most recently finished projects in our house... Promised to put up some photos for family... I did not think of idea myself, though, just came across this idea on the internet.... as well as idea for display shelf from Lauren's lovely play room. I asked hubby if he could help me put two display shelves together. Here is the finished result:

So far it has been wonderful - keeps Rosa's mind off pulling out clothes and trying them on each morning;) , gives her something to do and the best part - easy for her to put books back herself!

Sharon craftily wins prize

Sharon's husband David here. She hesitates to post here about it but I'm proud to say that my wife Sharon was one of the winners at a competition run on the Salvation Army web site http://www.furnishwithaconscience.com/ to renovate used furniture purchased from their store.

Congratulations Sharon !!! XOX

Goofin'

Sometimes it is a treat to savour some precious family time - just goofing around or doing things 'just cause'. I decided to make Devonshire tea with Rosa and Owen while Josh was working on putting together a project earlier this week. To be honest, I am not usually very adventurous with my younger two, knowing the huge mess cooking creates and how long it will take me to clean it all away... ah, said I to self.. "who cares about mess today - let's just have fun!" So we made a batch of scones, beat up some cream and then set the table. Josh, who had returned by then agreed to show Rosa where some suitable flowers were for the table and Rosa cut them. The scones were warm and fresh, the tea bags mutilated in their tea cups (no, Owen, I don't know why tea companies insist on putting those little tags on the tea bags) the hot water and milk served... but the company was the sweetest of all!

... and the leftover mess didn't seem nearly so big as the fun we had!

Tonight Daddy decided it was dance time and had us all dancing around and being goofy! Yes, even me, with my swaying belly - we had circle dances with hands into the middle and bellies bumping! I am always fascinated by the differences in dance styles - Owen had some very funny moves (Uncle Ken taught him, incidentally/and completely unintentionally ... but that's another story....! ), Josh dances from the hip, Rosa just crashes into things and Daddy makes great facial expressions. And, no, this is just family goofin' stuff, we certainly are closet dancers and do not do shows, videos, or even items on concert nights of that nature...

Ah, don't you just love that you can be a complete goof ball to your family and they'll still talk to you in the morning!

Arriving in Melbourne

When we arrived in Melbourne we Taxi-ed to 'Rent a Bomb' and strapped our munchkins in:

... and the next two weeks we spent catching up with...

Grampy and Nanny and the youngest addition, Bethany...

Doing some wacky games together

,

eating together, more eating and eating (did I mention eating? ... and no - I didn't swallow a whole watermelon - though it may look like it!)

Enjoying some company with Great Grampy and Nanny...

And lots of catching up with family...

and lots of fime for cousins to catch up...

and make wanted posters for Uncle Sam - who decided to grow facial hair just for the occasion!

... See the resemblance?

We make quite a group when we actually all get together (except Rosa who happened to be sound asleep when the photo was taken - there's always one isn't there?)

I am sure you can only begin to imagine all the noise we make when together, all the food we eat, all the fun we have ... what a blessing it is to be surrounded by family!

Lead up to Christmas 09

Our busy lead up to Christmas....

Involved a lot of dear friends. David has been busy helping Joseph get his Aussie Driver's License...

Lots of drop in visits from Trokon who was glad to be finished school for the year (one more year to go!)...

A lovely Campbell Pre-Christmas dinner

A church dinner

... and then it was time to prepare for our flight to Melbourne...

Christmas ideas

BTW -here is a cute idea for Christmas decorations (made from paddle-pop sticks) that looks fun and inexpensive. Not that we get snow in this part of the world - but it is a nice thought!