DIY Art from a Favourite T-shirt

How many of your gifts to other people were handmade? I'm guessing crafters/DIYers give more handmade gifts than other people. For me, it was probably about a 50/50 split.

One of my favourites this year was the framed t-shirt I made for Tom.

Some of his favourite shirts are from the Life is Good line. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but they make really fun, activity-oriented clothing and accessories. I have a few shirts myself, and Sasha has a "Life is Good" collar. 'Cause you know, for her, it really is.

About a year ago Tom temporarily switched deodorant brands and it made the armpits of his shirts hard and crunchy (how's that for TMI?) They didn't smell bad, it was just weird and uncomfortable to wear. Nothing would wash it out so the t-shirt had to be retired. But it was in good shape otherwise. And it was his favourite of the favourites - the first one he bought I think.

I decided to turn it into framed art so he could have it forever. I already had a frame but it didn't have a mat, so I made one from the solid mat in another frame that wasn't being used. The first thing I did was measure the width and height of the graphic so I knew how big to make the opening.

 I then added about an inch on each side and marked that on the mat. I also put it into the frame to make sure it would look balanced once it was all together. I don't know if you can see the tiny marks but they're there, one on each side.

Sasha chose that moment to walk into the room and put her face in a plate of glitter. Life is good. And sparkly. She distracted me so much that I forgot to take any more pictures until I was finished. But hopefully I can explain it well enough.

I used an X-acto knife and a ruler to join the marks and cut the matting to size. The frame is 8 x 10 so I cut the graphic out of the t-shirt in a rectangle measuring 9 x 11 - to give me extra material to wrap around behind. I took the filler board from the frame (the one between your picture and the backing board) and stretched the t-shirt tightly around it, making sure the graphic was centered, and secured each edge with packing tape.

I put the frame back together and it was finished. Oh yes, don't forget to give the glass a good cleaning on both sides if it's been handled a lot!

Cute, isn't it? Tom was so happy. And I marked on the tag that it was from the dogs so they got lots of hugs for being so clever.

Now he's not so worried that his favourite t-shirts will wear out because he knows they can live on forever on the walls.

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I'm linking up to these parties this week!

2013 DIY Plans

I realize we've really been slacking on the home improvements this past year. I was so gungho in September to get the kitchen cupboards refinished - I did about 50% of the sanding during the first week of October - but since then? I don't think I've been in the garage in weeks, except to park my car.

Before:

Currently:

My lofty plan was to sand an hour a day, plus more on the weekend, until it was all done. I've got to get back to that. This is what my kitchen cupboards are going to look like - before Easter, damn it! 

source: KitchenCabinetsColors.com

We'll also install a new backsplash - white I think. And we'll start looking around for a stainless steel refrigerator - but we're in no hurry.

The second big item on the list is renovating the ensuite bath. Besides the shower being a dark little cave, the water leaks around the door and the drywall has started to fall off at the bottom. When we got Little Dog, she liked to spend her nights laying on the bathmat scratching at the loose spots.

Of course she just turned 3 so I can't blame it on her any more. The grout between the floor tiles is also coming loose, and Tom would like a new vanity - specifically a new sink.

We plan to tear out the shower tiles, knock down the shower wall between the shower and the toilet, and install a frameless shower door, re-tiling of course. I hope we can find a sliding shower door that fits because there is just no room for a pivoting door.

source: Dreamline

I think the frameless shower plus the sliding door will make the room seem so much bigger. We're also going to retile the floor and I think we're going to install this floating vanity from Ikea. More visible floor area should give the illusion of more space.

source:Ikea

What else? There will definitely be some painting going on. The front room, the master bedroom, and all of the beige-y trim is going to get a fresh coat. And I'd like to paint the basement as well. All three of those rooms are just kind of blah.

I want to paint the bedroom a deep, rich grey. Maybe something like this:

Benjamin Moore Stormy Sky

source: decoraat.net

Currently it is a weird yellow with some sort of plaster texture on the upper half of the wall. Can you remove that kind of thing? There is a chair rail that cuts the room in half visually. I want to paint the walls all one colour so that the ceiling looks higher. Do you see a theme here? It's all about making the house more spacious.

The front room will probably be a taupe colour to coordinate with the rest of the house, but we're going to go with a beachy theme in the basement. Not surfboards and seahorses, but shades of soft blue, sand, white. And black and white photography.

Plus a dozen other smaller projects. But we really want to focus on knocking out some of the larger ones first. What projects are you working on this year? Any major changes?

Hot Chocolate (on a Stick!)

Hey everyone!  Are you still on a Christmas sugar high? I had to send a huge bag of chocolates/goodies to work with Tom just to get it out of the house. But there is still too much of it around. And this doesn't include the two pies and 15 or so cupcakes in the fridge.

But I'm not completely innocent - I made chocolate treats to give out to our friends and family too. This is hot chocolate - on a stick! You just need to stir one into a cup of hot water or milk until it melts and you're done. You can even eat them as they are if you're in need of a chocolate fix!

It's a pretty simple recipe that just requires some patience.

You'll need:

Chocolate for melting - discs or bars

Unsweetened cocoa

Icing (confectioner's) sugar

Molds - icecube trays, popsicle trays, - get inventive!

Coffee stirsticks or popsicle sticks

You'll also need a place to put the sticks while the dip is hardening. We cut slits into some cardboard and set them up on top of plastic containers.

You'll start by setting up a double boiler on the stove. We used a pot filled with an inch or two of water, a glass bowl to hold the chocolate, and a Staybowlizer between to keep the bowl in place. The Staybowlizer is the best invention ever. No need for extra pots that are rarely used.

You can use whatever chocolate you like - we bought some chocolate melts from the local bulk store in Belgian milk chocolate. We also bought candy melts in different colours, and some crushed candy canes for decorating.

Break the chocolate up and melt it slowly in the bowl. With the double boiler you don't really have to worry about it burning or melting too quickly. I was so nervous the first time because I read all about getting it too hot, or not letting any liquid touch it, but as I went along (4 batches? 5 batches? There were some errors) I got more relaxed.

Once the chocolate is melted start adding your powdered cocoa and icing sugar, a bit at a time, until it is blended well. My measurements weren't exact, maybe 3 tablespoons of each for every 4 (pre-melted) cups of chocolate. You don't want to add too much as this will make the mixture too stiff and it won't pour into the mold.

Spoon the mixture into your mold, filling them about 3/4 of the way. Once full, tap the mold against the counter a couple of times to remove any air bubbles. Slowly insert your sticks into each section making sure they don't go all the way to the bottom. We found these cool ice cube trays that were long and skinny - perfect for a mug. (These ones are also fun if you want to do cubes instead.)

Put your mold in the fridge and let it cool for 2 or 3 hours. The chocolate blocks should pop out fairly easily when you pull on the sticks. We were lucky in that the bottom of our ice cube tray popped off and we could push the chocolate out from the bottom.

You can leave the sticks the way they are and they're ready to use, or you can decorate them to make them a little more fun. 

To decorate:

Heat some candy melts in the double boiler the same way you did the chocolate. We used white, green, and dark brown melts - each in a separate dish. I think the white ones turned out the nicest. Use a pastry brush to quickly brush the melted candy onto each stick and then sprinkle the crushed candy cane all over it. You probably think it would be easier to dip them, but the chocolate melts too quickly and you'll end up with a funky looking finished product. 

I used foil takeout containers from the dollar store to package them up. Inside I layered green and red tulle, and then wax paper to protect the chocolate.

I glued solid green wrapping paper to the lid of the container to fancy it up, and then wrapped it with raffia and a burlap ribbon bow.

I also included instructions inside so that people would know what to do with the sticks.

How about that? Once I got the hang of it there wasn't much to it and the result was so, so pretty. I hope everyone who received a box loved them as much as I loved making them.

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I'm linking up here this week!