Printing on fabric, the easy way!

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a blog post that showed you how to sew up some pretty darn cute baby TOM look a-likes. Since I know a ton of people who are having babies, I thought I would give it a try and hope they turn out alright! Well, I finished my first pair, and they were hideous. Seriously people, I am not that bad on a sewing machine and I botched them pretty good! We will see if I ever find the confidence to try that again, lol. (You can find the tutorial and free pattern here!)

During the process, I had desperately wanted to add the cute little tags with their names on them just like the tutorial! One problem. All of the tutorials for DIY tags either called to send the fabric away, or buy transfer paper, two options which are way out of my price range for my little projects! Yes, I am more frugal than being frugal... Then I found a YouTube video that showed how to simply print directly onto some cotton fabric using your basic, at home printer. Perfect. Except, she called for some pretty hefty glue/spray which also defeated my frugal attempts. So I just played around till I got it right! This is the conclusion I came to.

First attempt;
I cut my piece of fabric, slightly smaller than a regular 8x10 piece of paper that I grabbed from my printer. Then I used a regular glue stick, and glued the fabric to the paper, so that the edge of the paper was larger than the fabric and the printer had something to grab onto. I then Ironed both sides of the fabric and paper, and was almost convinced that I was amazing and was going to succeed! This was an epic fail, because the glue was obviously not strong enough to hold the fabric in place as it slid through the printer! It just got caught and the fabric wouldn't run through.

SO, I gave up. Then I came back a few days later cause I really wanted to makes these baby TOMS look amazing!

Second attempt;
I cut another piece of fabric, same as before, slightly smaller than my piece of paper. This time, I used duct tape on the edges so that it laid flat and to make sure that the fabric didn't move around or come off of the paper. WIN!




It was super simple, I had everything I needed right at home, and I got great results. For some of you, this would be an awesome, affordable way to create custom garment tags for the products you sell on ETSY! The photos are pretty much self explanatory.


A few things to keep in mind;

1. Make sure to iron the fabric before printing so when it feeds through the printer, it doesn't come out all wonky.

2. When creating your images or text, make sure to place it near the middle of the document, not near the edges! If it's too close to the edges, it will miss the fabric. (I used photoshop to create my images, settings were "U.S. paper" at 8.5 x 11 inches.)

3. For the best results, use a light coloured fabric!



So in the end, I did figure out how to get some great looking tags printed onto fabric for next to nothing! But I still have yet to create cute baby slippers...

Magic Drink?

Has anyone else seen this floating around the Pinterest world? I thought I would give it a try. Not only is it suppose to help you loose pounds without much effort, but it is also supposed to give you more energy! Now the energy part I get, it is packed full of all the healthy goodness you need in one shot, but I am not sure how it works in the losing pounds without a fuss department. But I am desperate. I try to eat healthy, TRY to work out, and the weight just sits there. Annoyed, frustrated and too busy I have all but gave up! Plus, I am leaving on vacation in less than a month to beautiful sunny Florida! So you see my conundrum... So lets see if this Pin is actually worth pinning ;) I will be your test subject!!! And if you want to give it a try just to give your body an extra health boost, here is the recipe;

drink this daily and watch the pounds come off without fuss. The recipe is two handfuls of baby spinach, 1 apple, 1 bananas, 1 cup of yogurt, 5 strawberries, 1/2 orange. Blend well and enjoy! I love green smoothies!!! This will give you tons of energy!


Other Pinterest Fails and praises I have tested! NOTE; you can click on the title to take you straight to the tutorials OR all of these can be found on my pinterest board!!!

1. Calm Down Glitter Jar = Fail!


Perhaps it is because I picked up some glitter glue from the dollar store, but the glitter just kinda sits there and doesn't fall for at least a few hours. My suggestion, put glitter and white glue in it, and don't be cheap like me!



2. Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie = Fail!


Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, as long as you only took two or three bites! way to sweet to have more than a sliver and enough to make you so sick of it that you never want to try it again!



3. Homemade Fabreeze = WIN!


My husband usually coughs and gags whenever I use the real fabreeze, but he didn't even notice with this stuff! Super win with the homemade Fabreeze!!!



4. Make Ahead Freezer Meals = WIN! so far...


So I have tried 2 of the recipes on her blog, both GF versions, and I was very happy with the way they turned out!
I made the Baked Penne with Sausage & Creamy Ricotta, and the Cornflake Chicken Tenders, both of which I doubled the recipe so I had a second freezer meal for later!




and last but not least...
5. Carpet Stain Remover = WIN!


I tried this out on my stairway and it worked amazingly! It did take a bit of elbow grease, but we are renting so it was worth it considering my only other option was to just stare at it because ripping it out would be a big "No No!".


So that is it, just a few of the pins on Pinterest that I have tested and tried! I would LOVE to know what you have tried, what is great and what is horrible!!! Wish my luck on the magic drink, only 28 to go! ;)





I am hopping over here today;