Easy Love My Mom Valentine's Day Heat Transfer Shirts

Need a last minute idea for Valentine's Day?  How about this cute little heat transfer to make a holiday shirt or bag?  I've got you covered with this holiday heat transfer project.  It even shows Mom some extra ❤️:

I literally just dreamed it up and made it yesterday, so that's why it's pretty simple.  Sometimes projects need to be quick & easy so you can enjoy the actual occasion rather than be caught up in the project making part.  It occurred to me around mid-day that this Valentine's Day will be the first one for my little nephew. I wanted to send him a little something to celebrate that, but  obviously it being just days away I needed to hurry.  And use what I happened to have on hand in the house.  No challenges, right?  LOL.  That's how I tend to roll....

Thankfully I had some sheets of red heat transfer vinyl left from some previous Christmas projects and a blank 18 month sized t-shirt I never got around to embellishing for my almost 3yr old (luckily said nephew is big for his age).  Added bonus was that I found I had a blank 2T long sleeved tee in my stash too and my little guy is on the small side, so I was able to make one for him too!

 

 These worked out ideally.  I'm a big fan of "holiday" themed wearables that you can still wear well after the actual day is over and these definitely tick that box too.  YAY!!!

 Now, how to make them

Materials:

- Heat transfer vinyl

- Shirt, bag or other fabric item (unwashed)

- Cutting machine (I used my 6yr old Cricut Explore)

- Cricut Easy Press or Iron

- My FREE Mom Heart design below

 

 Here's my FREE design for the I Love Mom Heart.  Just right click to save the jpeg.  You could use it as a graphic or printable too;)

Using Cricut Design Space I turned my design into a cut file (making cut lines around the Mom part as well as the outer edges) and sized it to fit baby/toddler sized shirts (about 4 inches high by 6.5 inches wide).  Then mirrored it before cutting:

 

 It took just seconds to cut them both out:

Weeding out just the Mom part - remembering to leave the center of the "O":

Press time!!  It's key to check the fabric composition to make sure you get the settings right.  And don't wash the shirts first - having that factory sizing in them helps htv adhere better.  These were both cotton poly blends and this was basic htv, so the Cricut Heat Guide recommended 330 degrees.  I always press mine on a folded fluffy towel too - I didn't get good results using the special heat press mat in the past.

 

I wanted my design to be centered, but you could get creative with placement or angling.  The shirts got a 5 second preheat with the press and then I put the heat transfer vinyl on.  FYI, if you're new to using htv, you leave the carrier sheet on.

 

30 seconds on the front, 15 seconds on the back and then wait until cool to peel the carrier sheet off.  One of them wasn't fully adhered around one of the letter edges so I gave it another 15 second on the front and 5 more on the back.  Just don't go too long when re-pressing or it'll melt the htv. 

Wait 24hrs before washing and always wash on cold, delicate and line dry to keep the transfer nice.  I've had some shirts like this last for years and dozens of washes by doing all that, so it's worth it.  I can't wait to see my nephew and my little guy wearing these.  He's my sister's first baby, so it makes it extra special that it's Mom-themed.

 

I've also got these other fun shirt Valentine's Day tutorials using Heat Transfer Vinyl:

 

and this sweet Love Bug Applique too:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Quick & Easy Little Pumpkin Baby and Toddler Shirt

We're in the holiday home run season folks.  3 months in 3 holidays.  Yikes!  It can be a challenge to find time to craft and not feel like the relevant time frame is over the second you've made it.  I especially feel like that about holiday themed wearables.

 

I love cute kid's Halloween outfits, but with 5 kiddies, it seems like a waste to buy stuff with a 1 month or less wear time.  Especially with my two smalls who are less than 2 years apart.  I can't justify making/buying stuff for my 2 yr old boy, then chucking it and for something similar but "girly" for my 8 month old daughter the next year.  Longevity in kid's wear is key people!

A few years back I made these spooky cat raglan shirts for my 3 big kids and they've gotten tons of wear as they've been handed down from one to the other to the other:

 

 

Yet, I realized I didn't have anything Halloween-y for my toddler (which happens when there's an 8 yr gap between two of the kids).  Baby girl is sporting his too small pumpkin face onesie this year.  Already being nearly mid-October, I wanted to use stuff I had at home rather than spend $.  I also needed to make sure it would work for my little lady to wear next year.  Mission accomplished:

 

This project was a little nod to the heat transfer DIY Pumpkin Maternity Shirt I made (and sported the past few Halloweens):

 

 

 

I used the same pumpkin file, fonts and leftover orange glitter heat transfer vinyl.  The design is cute for boys or girls so it'll be just as cute on my sweet girl next year as it is on my little guy now.   

 

I couldn't find a cheap basic black shirt in his size ('rona restrictions make shopping is such a hassle these days), so I scrounged his closet and found an olive green onesie that still fits well.  

 

Materials:
- Onesie or t-shirt
- Heat transfer material (mine is the glitter variety)
- Cutting machine or exact-o and patience.  
- Cricut EasyPress (or iron)

 

I used a pumpkin silhouette image found online and opened it in Cricut Design Space then turned it into a cut file there.  
I added the Mommy's Little Pumpkin text in free fonts (Bubblegun and Milkshake) that are nice and thick, so ideal for cut files. You can right click to save my file to cut your own.  

 

I sized it at 5 inches by 5 inches in Cricut Design Space to be the perfect size for a 24 month sized top/onesie.  It also needs to be mirrored before cutting since the material is cut face down on the mat.  

 

Since the details are pretty small, I used a weeding tool to get all the tiny bits out.  The letters need to be removed for the shirt to peek through inside the pumpkin, but you need to keep the tiny bits inside the "o", "e" and "l" in place.   

 

It ends up looking like this on the carrier sheet:

 

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Cricut Easy Press the past couple years (you can get my full, unbiased review of it here) & this was no exception.  I used the recommended settings from Cricut for my EasyPress model & the glitter material: 340 degrees for 30 seconds followed by 15 seconds on the backside and waiting until cool to peel.  I always use a thick towel underneath for best results.

 

By using green rather than traditional black as the background color, it's still Halloween-y, but also more generally fall, so wearing it in September and November won't look weird.  

 

 

Thanks to that happy accident, I figured out how to make it wearable for about 3 months rather than 3 weeks!! And it'll be perfect for the entire season on baby girl next year.

 

 

Not bad for $0.  Even my small fry guy agrees!!

 

 

Easy Tutorial: DIY Inspirational Message Bookmarks

We have a house full of avid readers, but we never seem to have any bookmarks.  I got tired of using old receipts/scraps of paper and decided to make some that would be durable, easy to see, and most of all pretty!  It was time to make these Inspirational Message Bookmarks.

I feel like these are a huge step up from a bent Post-it or gas station receipts we've been using around here:

I was inspired to create them by these beautiful ethereal angel glass cabochons I started carrying in my shop.  They're just so lovely and dreamy.

The colors were a perfect match to this Heavenly Sky fabric, so some heavenly themed bookmarks seemed ideal!

They also add a little inspiration to every read by having a glittery message too:

The beautiful glass angel cabochon adds some special detail,

 and makes sure they don't slip out of place.

This is an easy project and makes a beautiful handmade gift!

Materials:

- Fat quarter cotton fabric (mine is Heaven Sent Heavenly Sky)

- Glass cabochons (mine are these) & glue 

- Card stock or firm stabilizer 

- Heat transfer vinyl 

- Cricut or other cutting machine*

- Iron and/or Cricut Easy Press

* If you don't have a cutting machine you could print my files on paper and lay them over the heat transfer to cut them out by hand with an x-acto knife.

For each bookmark, cut two pieces of cotton fabric 3 inches wide by 9 inches high.  Also cut a piece of the card stock/stabilizer that's 1 3/4inches wide by 7 1/2 inches high.  

With right sides facing, stitch the fabric together on three sides with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Leave one short end open for turning.  Trim down the raw edges and turn right side out, poking out the corners with a knitting needle or chopstick.

Insert the card stock or stabilizer inside and fold raw edges of the open end inward and press.  I used a fusible stabilizer so it would all adhere together smoothly.  Top stitch all the way around.

To do the lettering, right click to save my file for these inspiring words & shapes:

Upload them to your cutting machine software and size so they are 1 inch high.  Mirror the image (since it's cut with the right side facing down) and cut out the heat transfer vinyl.

Weed all the material around and inside the letters:

Place a star shape on one end and then center the wording.  Adhere the HTV to the bookmark with an iron or Easy Press, following the HTV directions for time & temperature (since it can vary) pulling off the carrier sheet while still hot.  

Once cool, glue a cabochon onto the top with some glue.  I use E6000 since it's the strongest.  Let dry.

Now you have some beautiful, inspiring bookmarks to brighten the day!

DIY No-Sew Fabric Keepsake Handprint Gifts

For my mother and mother-in-law this Mother's Day I decided to make some fun keepsake items: DIY Fabric Kid Handprint Gifts.  They captured each of our four kids handprints in their actual sizes right now.  It's extra special since the tiniest one is our new baby:) 

And I made sure each hand was named:

I used some fabric scraps I had left from my DIY 3-D Candy Wall Art project:

That wall art is still my favorite project of 2018 so far (apart from my little guy!):

Now, here's how I made the handprint gifts:

Materials:
- Cotton fabric scraps
- Heat n Bond Ultra Bond fusible
- Iron
- Paper, pencil, scissors
- Optional: Heat transfer vinyl, Cricut Easy Press, Cricut Explore (for lettering)

I traced each of my kids' hands and cut them out.

I ironed some Heat n Bond Ultrabond on the back of each fabric.  It's a super strong paper backed fusible that will then fuse fabric to fabric.  It takes just seconds for it to adhere, but it fuses really well, so it's perfect for adding fabric to finished fabric items when you can't stitch them on.

I took my hand patterns and traced each one on the paper side of the Heat n Bond and cut them out:

When you peel the paper off, you can see the nice shiny layer that now makes it fuse so well.

I arranged the handprints to get an even design balance for my items. 

I pressed my blank tote & cushion cover nice & flat to be wrinkle free.

Then it was time to fuse the hand onto the items themselves.

I decided to add a little extra detail by cutting out each of the kids' names with heat vinyl transfer on my Cricut and then heat pressing them onto their hands so they'd be able to remember whose hands they were years from now. 

They were a big hit with both grandmas and a project this busy mom could knock out during a brief nap time.