Personalized "China" - Dollar Store Craft!

I saw a photo tagged on Pinterest that gave a very short, easy description on how to personalize a mug:

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/06/his-her-sharpie-mug-diy.html

Of course, I HAD to try it! So very addicted to the Dollar store now *sigh*. It keeps my crafting costs down though! So here are the supplies you will need to do this at home:

1.) Sharpie Marker
2.) Plain white dollar store ceramic mug or plate
3.) Small bowl of water
4.) Cotton pad
5.) Oven

The first thing you want to be sure of is that the plate is free from fingerprints, dirt, and/or smudges. Next, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and pick your design. I am in the midst of slowly redecorating my kitchen/dining room into an Alice in Wonderland theme, so I chose an image and phrase from the book.

Next, begin to draw out your design. If you mess up, dip the cotton pad in a bit of water and wipe the marker off; if you do it somewhat quickly, it "erases" quite easily. If you are a bit further along and decide it isn't right, you may have to scrub a little more, but the cotton pads are great at taking the marker off.

Once your design is in place and you are satisfied with how it turned out, bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I went out and mowed the lawn and accidentally left it in the oven longer than 30 minutes, but it still turned out beautifully:

I haven't tried using other colors of Sharpie yet, but I am thinking I need a mug to match so I am going to try them. I would imagine it would work the same way, and Sharpies come in lots of different shades which means this project can be personalized in lots of ways. This would also be a great gift idea and is something most children could do with supervision.

I have a few more crafts to post including more of the stuff I found in the shed, so stay tuned!

No Sew Super Hero Cape!

So I heard on the radio today that there are 300 registered superheros in the United States. What?!? Really??? I wonder what the qualifications are for that, and how did they form a registry anyways?

But it got me thinking about my own little superhero, and how to make him a cape. So I came up with this really easy, no sew cape that you can use for dress-ups or costumes, birthday parties - whatever!

Step one: Get a shirt in the color you want your cape to be. Lay it out on a table/flat surface face up. If the shirt doesn't already have fold lines, you may want to iron it so it does. It makes cutting easier later.

Step two: With chalk or wash out marker, trace out the following pattern on the front of the shirt:

Up the sides across the corners, and around the collar.

Step three: Turn the shirt over so the back is facing up, and mark it like so -

run the line from the top of where it ended on the front up to the side of the collar on both sides.

Now you have your cut lines!

Step four: Cut the sleeves and the front of the shirt off, following your cut lines, keeping the back and the collar intact.

You should end up with a triangle shape topped by the collar of the shirt.

Lastly, clean up your cut lines to ensure that there aren't any funky cut marks and everything is in line. I also took some fabric paint and added a letter "J" to the back, using tape to help make it straight:

So Bea was watching me do this part, and she said "Oh are you adding an ego?" 

"A what?" I asked.

"An ego, you know," she said.

"You mean a logo?" I questioned.

"Yeah, ego, logo, evo, pickle - what ever," Bea replied.

Man I love that girl, she's always good for a laugh.

It took about 2 hours for the fabric paint to dry. I pulled off the tape and walla! One happy superhero :) 

Jay loves this thing, and one of the best parts is that he can put it on and take it off himself. No need to worry about tying, or it coming undone while he's flying around fighting crime. And if it gets dirty, we can throw it in the wash easily. If you don't want to add a painted logo you can skip it, use an iron on transfer, custom make an iron on transfer with a special kit from the craft store, or just leave it off entirely. 
*Update, found this site sugartotdesigns.blogspot.com that has easy superhero logo tutorials - brilliant! Use these if you like to add an insignia to your cape using felt.

Bea has already claimed the scraps to make into a shrug, so I will be posting that tutorial later.

Happy crafting!