Great Idea For Old (And New) T-Shirts

Do you have a T-shirt that is washed out but you still love it? Or do you have a design that you would love to put on a t-shirt. Well I have a great solution!

About a month ago the we were planning the PTO's annual walkathon. Jennifer and myself were trying to figure out a t-shirt design that was A. cost effective and B. different from last year. We would make shirts for the board members to wear on the day of the walkathon and then we would make one for each student that raise more than$50. While looking on pintrest I found the perfect idea.

All you need is a t-shirt, a bleach gel pen (for whites) and you design. You can either free hand or use a stencil. Place wax paper or card board on the inside of your shirt. Place the stencil where you want the design and then color in using the bleach pen. Or begin drawing free hand with the bleach pen. Then let it sit. The longer you let it sit the lighter the color will be. Once it is the color you want rinse the shirt in the sink. Some people just put the shirt in the washer and wash it alone with no other shirts. However I prefer to wash the shirt by hand the first time. Once I finished washing the shirt by hand I wrung the shirt out and then placed it in the dryer. You can wash the shirt either way. The gel does not run and will stay in the spot you put it. When I went to wash the shirt after wearing it, I did wash it in the washer alone just in case. However every time I wash it after I was able to wash it with other clothes without a problem. Below is a picture of the shirt that I made for the walkathon.

Creative Candle: Great Gift at a Low Cost

I was looking for a gift that was inexpensive for the kids to give the school secretaries. I was searching on pintrest and came across a candle craft. This craft the kids can draw a picture or you can create a poem or picture and print it out. Because you are printing on tissue paper you need to use an ink jet printer only, NOT a laser printer. I also tried this with photos too. Just print the picture onto tissue paper using the directions below:)

Supplies:

                                                        regular paper
                                                         tissue paper
                                                              tape
                                                    sharpies or markers
                                                             a candle
                                                           wax paper
                                                         and a heat gun

1. Tape a piece of tissue paper to a piece of copy paper. The tissue paper size should have a maximum size of your candle.  Make sure it is taped tightly to the paper especially if you are going to print your picture or poem.  

2. Either have you or the kids draw the picture or write the words you want on the candle. Or set the paper in your printer and hit print.

3.   Cut out your design, and place it on to your candle.  It is important to cut away as much of the excess tissue paper as you can.

4. Then take a piece of wax paper that is larger than your candle.  Pull it tight around your candle,(wax side down)  and use your heat gun to melt your design into the candle.  Moving the heat gun in a back and forth motion for about 30-40 seconds.  Be careful of your fingers, the heat gun will be hot. Also do not go longer than the 40 seconds or you will start to melt the candle itself.

5. After the 30-40 seconds gently peel back your wax paper and make sure the entire design is adhered to the candle.  If not just repeat with the wax paper and heat gun.

After you follow these steps then you can wrap the candle up and give as a gift. I may update this blog eventually. I will be trying to print a family picture out on the tissue paper and attach it to a candle. That would make a really cool gift.

Homemade Body Wash

I have very sensitive skin when it comes to body wash, so I cannot go and buy the cheap liquid body wash at the stores. So I found on pintrest a very simple way to make liquid body wash with any kind of bar soap. My favorite soap to use is dove. The liquid soap for roughly 32 ounces is around $6 or $7 a bottle and lasts me about 2 -3 weeks. I bought a package of 6 bars of the Dove bar soap for $6. I also bought 2 two packs of the Dove Men +Care Deep clean for my husband, this also cost a total of $6.

The recipe is very simple. All you need is 3 bars of soap and 6 cups of water and you get about 48 ounces of body wash. So I only use 1/2 of the package of soap I bought so that is $3 for 48 ounces compared to $6 or $7 for 32 ounces. The bar soap is just as good as the body wash on your skin. Below is the recipe and some pictures.

I love this body wash. It was so easy to make, saves me money and works just as good as the liquid body wash you buy off the stores shelves. 

Body Wash

6 Cups of Water

3 Bars of Soap (any bar will do)

Shred all three bars of soap using a cheese shredder or peeler. In a pan bring the 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the shredded soap. Cook on medium heat until all of the soap is dissolved. Turn off heat. Let the soap cool. When it is cool enough to touch add to any soap container of your choosing (I used an empty shampoo bottle and re-labeled the container). The soap will thicken as it cools and will continue to thicken up to 24 hours later. If it gets too thick you can add more water (just a little at a time while you stir). I did not have to add anymore water to mine. Then it is ready to use!

 

Creative Use For Bunk Bed Ladders: Bookshelves

In my family I am an avid reader. I love books. David knows that if we go to the bookstore it could be anywhere from an hour to three hour trip; so he makes sure he has other stores to visit while I am in the bookstore. My favorite place to work at the school is the library. Needless to say I own a small library of my own. I have filled every bookshelf I own including the ones in the kids rooms. I have books that range from pre-school to adult. Not only do the kids read the books but I also will read a book more than once so I refuse to pack any away into the closet. One day when David was taking a trip to the dumpster he spotted 3 bunk bed ladders with no bunk bed. Knowing I was running out of room for my books; he got an idea. He brought home the ladders and said, " Honey here are your new book shelves." At first I though he was crazy but now that they are done I love them. 

David bought  12 brackets (small ones). He placed the ladders up against the wall and attached them using the brackets. The ladders stick out only a few short inches from the wall. After they were hung I was able to put up my books. I did use one of the ladders for our DVD's instead of books. I have not filled these shelves yet. It may take me awhile but I am sure one day these shelves will be filled too.

Blue Springs State Park

The one thing I love about about Florida is the beautiful springs that are here. You have Kelly Park (AKA Rock Springs),  Rainbow Springs, Alexander Springs, and Wekiva Springs to name a few. My favorite place is Blue Springs. Nestled away in Deland, not far from our favorite park Hontoon Island. These springs are as rich in history as it is in beauty. There is a very deep cavern that starts the springs and it empties out into the St. Johns River. These crystal clear springs are a cool 72 degrees all year round. This makes it the perfect home for the Manatees during the months of November through March. Manatees cannot live in waters cooler than 68 degrees. So during the months mentioned above they migrate to Blue Springs. Last winter 148 Manatees migrated to the springs. From April - September the springs are open for swimming to the public. From November - March the public may visit the park are able to hike, BBQ and view the manatees but they cannot swim. Manatees are a protected species therefore it makes it illegal for people to swim, touch or feed wild manatees. There is also Camping  and fully furnished cabins available all year. Blue Springs is a very serene place to visit and  refreshing place to swim. To all of my Florida friends if you have not traveled to Blue Springs plan a trip to visit soon. For all of my Friends and Family outside of Florida if you travel to Florida this would be a great place to visit while here. Just make sure that if you go during the months of April - September you get there early the park fill quick.

       The Dark Spot in the Picture is the start of the Springs. This is the spot of the deep caverns.

Great Nightlight Idea

Every now and then my 8 year old son likes to have a nightlight on. I came across a craft on pintrest that caught my attention. Its a craft to create a firefly. Its a very easy project that you can do with your kids. All you need is left over plastic Easter eggs, pipe cleaners, markers, and flame-less tea lights. You will need to poke a hole in the top and sides of the plastic egg for  the pipe cleaners. A tack works perfect to do this. You will need to cut the pipe cleaners down to have 6 equal pieces for the legs and 2 more equal pieces for the antenna. Once you place the pipe cleaners in the holes you can add the flame less tea light in the egg and close it up (flame-less tea-lights turn on and off as needed). Draw some eyes on the Easter egg and voila you have firefly. The kids love to play with them and they work great as a night light.

Crayon Project Ideas

Our family tends to stock up on crayons thanks to a friend, store sales, and craft kits. We ended up with so many crayons we started to search for ideas of projects we could do with these crayons. The first thing we came across was melting crayons to make a really cool piece of art work. David decided to create his own melted crayon piece. he organized the crayons into the color order he wanted and melted them down to create the artworks below.

              

Then we came across another idea that is actually a great gift idea for a teacher. The idea was to create the first letter of the teachers last name out of crayons. We decided to try it out with the letter N which is the first letter of the last name of the media specialist at the school my children attend. David took it one step further and made the end have a 3D effect to it. It came out amazing. The kids took it 2 days later and gave it to the media specialist. It now hangs in the school library.