May the Fourth Be With You! Freezer Paper style

In honor of Star Wars day, we made "epic t-shirts" (so quoth the boys.)

We used the freezer paper method which I will try to explain:

First, I found stencil images on google, by googling star wars stencil images and printed them out (resizing as necessary)

Then I tore off a sheet of freezer paper found on a roll like waxed paper in the foil & waxed paper section of most large grocery stores. My box is made by Reynold's Wrap.

One side of the freezer paper is waxed and one is matte. Trace the image on the paper/matte side and cut out the negative space (the space you want paint) Yay...you made a stencil!

(Make sure your t-shirt is clean/washed. I mention this because we had to buy a new "blank" t-shirt for Ian because we didn't have any in his size...I had tie-dyed all of them last summer! There aren't any pictures of his in-process because I not only had to wash and dry the new t-shirt, but I did two layers of paint-what a mess!) 

Get out your iron, pour out the water and turn it to the hottest setting and let it get good 'n hot.

Iron the stencil wax-side down onto the t-shirt. I promise, you are NOT ruining your t-shirt. 

If you have small cut out portions go nice and slow and get all the paper ironed down so there isn't any bleeding.

Once it's all ironed down get a piece of cardboard or some folded newspapers out of recycling and put inside the t shirt to keep the paint from seeping through and gluing the t-shirt layers together.

Painted Yoda

Using a sponge brush, paint on your fabric paint, dab first then go ahead and spread it out evenly.

 

 Let the paint dry for about 2 hours. If you need to paint two or more layers, make sure you let the paint on the paper dry or your paper will get soggy and will break as you tear it off. Then you get mad and might speak in colorful languages. Just sayin'.

creepy Yoda eyes

Slowly pull up the freezer paper and Voila! There it is...your own custom t-shirt!

I linked up to:

http://www.733blog.com/2012/05/what-are-little-boys-made-of-110.html

Random Wednesday

These are the random things I have to post today:

What I'm listening to right now

 

http://jasonmraz.com/news/2012/love-is-a-four-letter-word/

listen to it now:

http://rd.io/x/QVB4kSJJryc

What I recently photographed:

What I want to do this week: find some balance.

What I should be doing with my time right now: vacuuming and changing light bulbs.

I hope you enjoy your day.

recovery - and a PSA

It's been 6 months since my last post.....a lot has happened. But too much for me to go over all the gruesome details....here's an overview:

• I  spent the remainder of my summer with my wonderful boys, swimming, geo-caching and playing and making tie-dye t-shirts. 

• We entered the new school year but I wasn't feeling great. I gained 20 pounds.

What? 

What??!

 I gained 20 pounds! OMG I GAINED  20 flippin' pounds!!

"I hope you went to the doctor"  you say.

Well....You know how you hope it will go away and you want to ignore it??

Don't.

I ignored it because I was so embarrassed that I gained 20 pounds I didn't want to get on that scale, and I know you know what I mean.

Then I came home from a 4 mile walk (folks- I was walking/running 16 miles a week and taking care of a 3 year-old. I was eating healthy. I gained 20 pounds in 3 weeks.)

So I came home, showered and couldn't fit into the pants I was wearing before I went on my walk.

hello!

Yes...I called the doctor. Within 24 hours I knew I had an abdominal mass. 

In 48, I had an appointment with an Oncologist.

and 12 days later I had surgery and was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer.

 I am one of the lucky ones...I was diagnosed at stage one. That means I have a 95% or better chance of recovery. Many are not as lucky, so I am including a wonderful warning sign poster Dr. Oz put together with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. It's a very simple, yet absolutely ABSOLUTELY accurate  warning sign poster. I had so many of the signs, it's ridiculous, but I had never seen this poster or heard of the warning signs. 

I'm not turning this into a blog about cancer. This will be my last Public Service Announcement...I have so many thing to blog about. But just keep this in the back of your mind. 

'Cuz knowledge is power.

It's been 10 years

10 Years ago, our lives were totally and irreversibly turned upside-down. He has brought so much love and light into our lives... we have been blessed beyond measure.
He's growing into such a strong, honest and loving individual. He is smart and funny and knows exactly what he wants to do "when he grows up." He is a picky eater- has ALWAYS hated noodles and red meat. He loves his momma.

Happy 10th birthday Dawson Boyd!

Summer Break - the first weekend

On Father's day, the "big" boys made a mini-movie...a little mocu-mentary teaser, a la Blair Witch project (a movie that would keep them up for a week, no doubt.) Remember, this movie is from the imagination of a 9 year old and a 7 year old...and a daddy with a new video camera. I think it's 45 seconds finished...they cut about 3 minutes out.

Alien Sighting 1942

Enjoy!

Making Teacher & Staff treats

We like to craft here in our house. And we believe in putting our heart into our homemade gifts.
This year we made our teachers and staff small nugget bags with toppers. I showed the boys how to wrap each nugget and top with a decorative topper and label. The boys jumped in and wrapped nuggets hoping there would be extra....not today, boys! Gotta go back tomorrow and buy 3 more bags...and take some math classes. Your momma didn't add the supplies up right. Oops!Our little neighborhood school is a wonderful gem in our large metro area. We have staff and teachers that know each child by name and are genuinely interested in every single one of them. We have parent volunteers that make a huge impact on the development of the students either by directly teaching small groups or by assisting the teachers in the various small tasks that take up so much of the precious moments at school. Like all of America, our school district is painfully (and shamefully!) under-funded, yet every year our little school with heart gathers itself up and lives to fight another day, hoping against hope that there will be funding - somehow - for the necessary teaching staff and materials.

We like saying thank you to everyone...we want them to know that we need each-and-every single one.

THANK YOU!

Teacher appreciation

I know the "actual" date that has been officially declared as teacher appreciation day was in April....but our school celebrates once a week, with a grade hosted potluck lunch for the teachers. This way, the teachers get a hosted lunch each week for 6 weeks. Not too shabby!

Today was the 4th grade hosted lunch and Mr. Dude whipped up his extra-fantabulous triple choco-yum cookies.

I decorated CD envelopes and put a large cookie in each one, and delivered 30 of those yummy bad boys to the staff room. They were all gone before lunch was over!