Faux Cross Stitched "Love" Shirt

I love the look of cross stitching on clothes. It can really add a lot of personality to a dull, plain shirt. With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought it'd be fun to try out a little faux cross stitching on my daughter's shirt by using my CAMEO to make the stitches rather than hand sewing - and I gotta say, I love the result!!

The "stitches" are actually little X's made of transfer material that spell out "love." This shirt couldn't have been easier to make! And while I used my CAMEO, you could also achieve the same result with fabric paint and freezer paper stenciling if you're willing to take the time to cut out lots of little X's.

This shirt is the perfect project to make for your little Valentine :) Let's make one!

SUPPLIES: white shirt, Silhouette or Silhouette CAMEO, red heat transfer material , Silhouette cut file HERE, iron and ironing board.

Download my free Silhouette cut file HERE, or to make your own I opened up Silhouette Studio and typed out "love" in a bold font. Then, I filled in the blank space inside the letters with X's using the grid as a guide. After you've filled your wording with X's, click and move the wording off of the design area so that only the X's will be cut.

Before cutting, be sure to click and group all of your X's, then mirror your image so that your wording won't be backwards. Cut.

Follow the instructions on the heat transfer material to iron onto your shirt (I personally ignore the instructions and instead set my iron to "satin" and iron directly on the shiny plastic material on the back of the heat transfer. Then I peel off the shiny part and swipe a few times directly on my heat transfer material to make sure it's set.)

The result is an adorable faux cross stitched shirt that my daughter can wear for V-Day and beyond!

Love her little furry boots that I got from Target! They've been sooo handy during these snowy days we've had lately. When we get up the motivation to leave the house on these snowy days, that is ;)

Also, leggings are made by me using this gorgeous buffalo plaid from Girl Charlee.

Love is in the air!

FOOD: Valentine Rice Krispies Pops

After I talked about how my daughter usually brings bags of Goldfish and animal crackers in for snack at preschool, I decided I need to get my crafty butt in gear and make a cute snack for her to take in this week since it's our turn to bring the snack. And with Valentine's Day in mind, of course it had to be themed :)

There are very few foods in the world that I could sit and consume the entire contents of. Thin Mints and Rice Krispie treats are at the top of that list. Maybe it's the fond memories of making Rice Krispie treats with mom as a kid that makes them so delicious. Or maybe it's all the butter and sugar. Either way, what kid doesn't love Rice Krispie treats, right? So I made them into heart shapes, drizzled them with chocolate, and sprinkled them with more sugar.

Perfect.

INGREDIENTS: 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal, 10 oz marshmallows, 1/4 cup butter, heart shaped cookie cutter, white chocolate chips or candy melts for drizzling, Valentine sprinkles, cookie pop sticks, baker's twine, bags.

First, I'm going to assume everyone can make Rice Krispie treats by following the instructions on the box :) It's basically as simple as: melt butter, mix in marshmallows until melted, then stir in cereal. Ta-dah!

ONE: spray a large glass pan with cooking spray and press the treats into the pan. Let cool for 2 minutes.
TWO: press your cookie cutter firmly into the treats and cut out.
THREE: if needed, reshape your heart while the treats are still warm (it's pretty impossible to shape them after they've cooled.)
FOUR: admire all of your beautiful hearts!
FIVE: insert your cookie pop sticks into the hearts while they're still warm.
SIX: melt your chocolate chips or candy melts (thin out with a little vegetable oil if it's too thick to drizzle) and immediately sprinkle with your candy sprinkles. 

Finally, insert into bags and tie with some cute baker's twine! Wouldn't these make cute neighbor gifts? I was able to make about 17 pops with the size cookie cutter I had. I might have been able to make more but I kept eating the scraps as I was making them :)

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!

CRAFT: You Blow Me Away! Valentine

This year has been exciting for me because my daughter started preschool for the first time, and that has opened up lots of new creative opportunities! I won't claim to be Martha Stewart in any way (believe me, I've brought bags of Goldfish and animal crackers most days we've been in charge of snack) but it's been really fun to get into the holiday spirit and have an excuse to make cute treats like Valentines for the first time.

While considering what kind of Valentines to make for my daughter's class, I had to take into account that many of the kids have food allergies. Because I didn't want to leave anyone out, I decided to steer clear of candy Valentines this year. Then I saw Lucy's post on how she used the small plastic jars of bubbles typically reserved for weddings to make an adorable Valentine, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

My daughter loves bubbles (what kid doesn't??) and this little Valentine with free printable tags is the perfect candy-free Valentine.

SUPPLIES: small plastic bubbles found in the wedding/party section of Walmart (mine came in a pack of 24), twine, free printable valentine tags found HERE.

The Valentines are about 2 3/4in wide by 2 in tall. Simply print on card stock, punch a hole in the corner, and tie with baker's twine onto your bubbles. Here's a better picture of what the bubbles look like:

They turned out so cute! I'm sure the kids won't miss the candy, they'll be getting plenty more that day. Plus, I always love to have bubbles on hand for entertaining my kids during long waits at the doctor's office, in the car, etc., so hopefully the other moms will appreciate it too!

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!

CRAFT: Rose Trim Valentine Shirt

Due to an endless string of sickness around our house (come on already spring!) there have been a severe lack of Valentine's projects. It's kind of hard to get into the romantic mood when you're busy wiping runny noses ;)

Recently when the munchkins were feeling better,  I took a stroll through Joann's and came upon this adorable rose trim that I had to make something out of! Have you ever walked through the trim section? They have stuff I never even KNEW existed! My mind is spinning with the possibilities. Anyway, when I found the trim, I ran up to the counter and had some cut for me, and then went home and whipped up this really cute shirt for Haley that's no-sew and really fast (minus dry time.) She's requested it several times since I made it, so I'd call that a win!

SUPPLIES: 1 1/4 yard rose trim, shirt, disappearing ink marker, paper and scissors, fabric glue, cardboard or something else to place inside your shirt to prevent the glue from leaking.

ONE: make a heart template and cut out of paper. Place your template on top of your shirt and trace around with disappearing ink marker.
TWO: place the cardboard inside your shirt and begin to glue the trim to your shirt following the heart outline you drew.
THREE: continue gluing your trim to your shirt in a clockwise fashion to fill in the entire heart.
FOUR: let dry according to the directions on the bottle.

This was one of the simplest and cutest shirts I've made for Haley. And it was no-sew - and you know I love that. You could use this same method and substitute different trims. The trim aisle was full of cute options! I've had no problem with the trim coming off but if you'd rather sew it, I'd suggest using a zipper foot so you can sew close to the edge. And set aside some time because sewing it will take awhile ;)

Haley loved this shirt, as you can tell from the pictures above. She kept spinning around, which made it hard to get pictures, but it made me happy to know she likes it! I've washed the shirt several times without incident. I just tossed it in with my other clothes on a cold cycle. You may want to lay it flat to dry though so the roses don't get crushed.

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!