Posts Tagged ‘holiday craft’

I Love to Create: Snowflake Stencil T-shirts!

We had a wicked nor’easter blow through the East Coast last week, and though the snow pile-up lasted less than twenty-four hours, it sure put me in the mood for winter. So with a family gathering around the corner, I decided to make some wintery-themed T-shirts for the two young cousins in attendance–a little something to wear inside when it’s too cold outside! And a nice alternative to the ubiquitous holiday sweater, don’t you think?

Materials:
-white T-shirt(s) in appropriate size(s)
Tulip fabric spray paint (light blue)
-white printer paper
-paper scissors
-iron and press cloth
Tulip Soft Fabric Paint (Gold Glitter, optional)
Tulip Sponge Brush (optional)

Make it:
1. Fold one of the sheets of paper on a diagonal to “square” it. Use scissors to cut off the excess strip of paper.

2. Bring the lower left corner up to fold the triangle in half again.

3. And again!

4. Use your scissors to start cutting notches along the folded edges: zigzags, circles, crescents, curls, diamonds, and so on! Don’t forget to cut the open edges in an arc, so that the snowflake will be somewhat round in appearance when you unfold.

5. Unfold!

6. Repeat to make many snowflakes (no two will be alike)!

7. Lay the T-shirt flat on your work surface. Arrange the snowflakes onto the front, and press them with a warm iron to keep them relatively flat. (Note: The weight of the spray paint will actually help them stay flat, too.)

8. Lightly spray blue paint over the entire T-shirt (I masked the inside back neckband with paper scraps).

9. Carefully peel off the snowflakes and set them aside. Let the T-shirt dry.

10. Reuse the snowflakes to make T-shirt number two!

Optional: Use the foam brush and glitter paint to add sparkly highlights to the snowflakes.

Let dry, then try on the shirt (or gift it to its recipient!), and curl up by the fire, knowing your snowflakes will never melt.


[ 2 Comments | Posted on November 20th, 2012 ]

Happy Halloween! T-shirt Pumpkins!

Wishing you all a happy Halloween with these colorful T-shirt pumpkins made by this oh-so-Swell Designer for iLoveToCreate.

Click here for the full T-shirt pumpkin tutorial, or follow along with this video from The Swell Life (and use your powers of imagination to substitute tie-dye T-shirt fabric for a red bandana!).

(PS: Alexa at The Swell Life has so many swell ideas for holiday decor — especially for Halloween — and we’re just plain tickled pink that she has one of our books on her shelf! Proof below.)

Pumpkin image via iLoveToCreate; video via The Swell Life

[ Comments Off on Happy Halloween! T-shirt Pumpkins! | Posted on October 31st, 2012 ]

DIY Skirts and Pillowcases and Cakes, Oh My!

In the spirit of the DIY Christmas, I thought I’d share a sampling of the ways in which I incorporated the handmade into my holiday season.  You all read about the headbands and hair ties I made for my niece — I also whipped up two skirts for her (she happens to loooove the color pink–can you tell?). I made this one using a tutorial from TheMerryChurchMouse, who calls this design “The Charming Little Skirt.”

Skirt number two is adapted from the “Easy Elastic Waistband for a Little Girls Skirt” by TheMotherHuddle — the waistband is made from a scrap T-shirt hem!

I also embroidered pillowcases for my sister-in-law. Mr. T found the perfect quotation that combines dreams (appropriate for pillowcases) and architecture (her profession): “An architect is the drawer of dreams.” –Grace McGarvie I added the golden spiral and rectangle since it is the only architectural influence I know! (My dad designed the house that I grew up in and based the entire design around the golden section.)

And to finish with something tasty, this is the Lemon Olive Oil Cake I made for Christmas eve dinner at my in-laws. (Adapted from this recipe.)

If only I had photos of the chocolate truffles Mr. T and I made for dessert the following night…alas, they, like the cookies a week earlier, did not last long enough for a photo shoot. But we scored a stand mixer from his mom for Christmas, so more baking is definitely in our future!

What about you? Will any of your holiday gifts kick-start the DIY project aspirations you have for 2011?

[ 4 Comments | Posted on January 9th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Rachel!

Inspired by the Softie Spiral Headband project I posted in November, reader Rachel made these beautiful ornaments from coiled scrap strips of T-shirts.  A colorful Christmas tree and a candy cane to trim the tree or tie onto a gift! Rachel reports that they were super quick and easy to make and that she’s really loving her discovery of green crafting. We’re loving it, too!

Happy holidays — and don’t forget, you have until midnight tonight (EST) to enter the Generation T Holiday Giftaway!

[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Rachel! | Posted on December 24th, 2010 ]

A Gift for You.

Whew! It’s been busy over here in the Generation T workshop. We’ve been cutting and pinning and sewing and gluing up a storm in preparation for Christmas morning (projects which we hope to share with you post-Christmas — alas, there are too many gift recipients following the blog that it’d give away the surprise!). We’ve also made a little something for you! But, the thing is, it’s a surprise until Christmas day (you know, like Christmas!). So, your gift will be revealed (unwrapped, if you will) on Christmas and we’ll mail it the following week.

To enter the gift-away, leave a comment (on the blog or on Facebook) sharing a DIY element you incorporated into your celebration of the holiday season. Did you bake cookies? (I did — lots!) Did you make a salt dough menorah? Stitch up some stockings? Make a wine cozy to deliver that bottle of New Year’s Eve champagne in? Did you make tomato sauce from scratch? Inspire us! Limit 5 total entries per person. Entries will be accepted until midnight on Christmas Eve, EST. We’ll announce the gift and and choose the recipient at random on December 25, 2010!

Happy holidays, Megan & Generation T

[ 48 Comments | Posted on December 21st, 2010 ]

12 Holiday T-shirt Projects!

To celebrate and count down the 12 days until Christmas (yikes), here’s a roundup of 12 T-shirt crafts we love over here at Generation T (and yes, we might be biased on a few of them, but we can’t help it). So if your halls aren’t completely decked, here are some last-minute fixes that will make you sing fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. Or at least do re mi fa so la teeeee…. Wow, this holiday punch is tasty!

1. T-shirt wreath by Tara Gentile at ScoutieGirl. A colorful (no-sew!) decoration that won’t smell as sweet, but you also won’t have to sweep up dried pine needles in two weeks!

2. T-shirt stockings by Megan Nicolay at Generation T (or by Kathy Cano-Murillo at CraftyChica). Two takes on that old classic–the holiday stocking–made from a classic old T-shirt.

3. T-shirt garland by Ash and Kimmy at GreenEyedMonster. A festive pom-pom decoration that can be brought out year after year–for the tree, for the mantle, for a little window dressing!

4. T-shirt advent calendar by Megan Nicolay at Generation T. You might remember seeing this one during last year’s solstice giveaway–and you better get cracking in order to make and fill this one up in time for a countdown!

5. T-shirt hat by Kalleen from AtSecondStreet. A cute brimmed hat for the milder winter weather–bonus points if you add ear flaps! Or this one by Whitney Moss and Heather Flett at RookieMoms–forget ear flaps, this one’s got ears (and yes, we give you permission to make it in an adult size).

6. T-shirt snowflake by Megan Nicolay at Generation T (project #4 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion). Forget the overplayed sparkly Santa sweater, make a T-shirt snowflake as unique as you are! ::sigh::

7. T-shirt knotted scarf by Gwenstella at BecauseSheStartedKnitting for her. And for him: a Fringy T-shirt scarf by Paul Overton at DudeCraft. Or any of these three scarves, by Megan Nicolay at Generation T (on Threadbanger)!

8. T-shirt mittens by Ashley at LilBlueBoo. Okay, okay, so she makes them from sweatpants (which might be warmer than T-shirt), but the tutorial and techniques still apply since they’re both knit fabrics!

9. T-shirt Christmas tree skirt by Megan Nicolay at Generation T (project #43 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion). And, we’ll have a no-sew variation to post very soon–stay tuned!

10. T-shirt necklace by Melissa Esplin at ISLY. Sometimes it’s not enough to deck the halls or trim the tree–you need to deck yourself for all those holiday parties!

11. T-shirt headband by Megan Nicolay at Generation T for iLovetoCreate. See number 10. Now it’s time to add the tree topper! (Tee topper?)

12. T-shirt apron by Disney at RufflesAndStuff. Or this one by Kayla at KaylaKsThriftyWays if you’re short on time. This was tough: it was between the apron and the T-shirt oven mitt–for all the holiday cookie baking, of course!

Happy last-minute crafting to you! What are your favorite holiday T-shirt tutorials? What have we missed that you would like to see on this list?

[ 3 Comments | Posted on December 14th, 2010 ]