TUTORIAL: Doily Heart Shirt

It's getting harder to shoot pics of Lucy without her being posey-posey or totally silly.
Of course it's still cute and makes me laugh.
But if Owen's around to distract her, some of the natural expressions come out.
Mostly she was just excited about her new Valentine's Day shirt. I was pretty happy with how it turned out too.
I've been prepping everything for V-day coming up so I don't have to worry about school parties, etc. when the new baby is here. And this shirt seemed like an easy place to start.

Now, I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it in the Disney Family Fun magazine. But you know how magazine crafts usually are--one small photo with very limited info. So I added my own twist on it and created a little tutorial for you with tips at the end of the steps. It's similar to freezer paper stenciling/painting, only the paper doily is your stencil!
Here's what you do....
ADDITIONAL TIPS:
* You can buy paper doilies at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and other craft stores. If you're having difficulty finding them, look in the cake decorating section
* Larger doilies work better than small ones
* I attached my doily to the fabric with a bit of tape in the middle of the doily but you could try a glue stick? You'd need to wash the shirt afterward.
* Be careful as you paint that you don't push any paint outside of the heart. I found that lightly dabbing the paint around the edges worked well, to get the paint in those little holes. It helps to hold the edge of the doily with your fingers as you go, so it doesn't lift up.
* Some of the paint may seep through the little doily holes. But I kind of like how it looks...inconsistencies give it character.
* You can also stencil directly to the shirt and skip the applique method I did here (i.e. painting to the purple fabric and sewing it to the shirt) but I would definitely do a test-run first on scrap fabric to see how your paint/doily works before tackling a cute shirt.
* Some of the doily may tend to stick as you pull it away from the shirt when the paint is dry. Use your finger or the end of a seam ripper to carefully pick the little pieces off.
* Pink T-shirt here is from Walmart, in the girl's section. $3.50. They have other cute shades. The purple fabric is a knit scrap leftover from a thrifted T-shirt.
* Fabric Paint can be purchased at most craft stores. I prefer Tulip brand, matte finish, about $2/bottle.
* Heat setting your paint is important otherwise the paint will fade as you wash it. Read the back of your paint bottle for more info but typically you do this by covering the paint with a cloth and ironing over the top for a minute or so to "seal" the paint.

And that's about it!
Time to decorate....
(Lucy's always thrilled about that)
Thanks Luce for being my little guinea pig. I'm glad you find fun it all too.

Alt Design Summit recap

It came, it went, and I'm so glad I was there.
Of the few conferences I've considered going to over the years the Alt Design Summit is one that really got me jazzed. 3 days of hanging with design enthusiasts and blogging friends, sharing inspiration, swapping ideas? YES. And what? They wanted me to teach a class? I really couldn't refuse.

So I'm here to report that seriously, ALT is really great.
I'll definitely be back next year!

There was something for everybody....
panel discussions, keynote speakers, yummy food, fun dinners, gold and glitter, and plenty of time to be chatty.
If there was ever a spare moment you could pop into one of the lounges to snack and chat....like the Cottonelle toilette paper room. Have you ever seen such cute toilet paper containers?--designed by Jonathan Adler (who even puts their paper in containers?)
I loved reconnecting with old friends and putting faces with the new ones. My friend Lyndsey above is too cute (and works as a PR consultant for bloggers. If you need one, she's your gal!)

It was fun to see the fashions and hair styles. Geeky glasses, buns, and neons were in.
(photos from the Alt Flickr sets, by Justin Hackworth):
I got to sit down and chat with Anya, winner of last season's Project Runway. And oh my, she is absolutely adorable. Her voice is the sound of the siren, luring you in. You could listen to her talk all day. She's also really down to earth and was so sweet to hang out all day chatting with bloggers and taking photos.
Unfortunately I was a bad photographer that day and my battery ran out right as she and I were going to snap one. Duh. So here she is with Lyndsey again and Brittany of One Charming Party, another really fun gal.
But my favorite part of the conference had to be the speakers and classes. And now I'm kicking myself for missing the first day when Amy Butler, Grace from Design Sponge, and Pilar from Martha Stewart spoke (didn't want to leave Casey stranded for too long with the kids). Oh well, next year.
I was totally excited though to hear Ben Silberman, co-founder of Pinterest speak on Friday. My buns liked it too.
Ben told "his story" of how he got to where is he and how it took a lot of hard-work, leaping into the unknown, surrounding himself with people who have similar passions, and swallowing a bunch of "NOs" before someone finally said Yes.

He shared photos of what the early Pinterest mock-ups looked like and the years leading up to the its launch. And he shared motivating thoughts like...
"I want to be known for the things I make and not the things I say."
and
"Our mission (at Pinterest) is not to keep you online, it's to set you offline. Pinterest should inspire you to go out and do the things you love...."
It's very motivating to hear people's success stories. The room gave him a standing ovation at the end which was well deserved. We love Pinterest! Thank you Ben for creating it.
The next keynote speaker was Gretchen Rubin, author of NY Times best selling book, the Happiness Project. I haven't read the book but her presentation was about "designing your life" and touched on points from the book. Many of them are basics that we know but are always good to reminded of like...getting enough sleep, exercising (even just a little), spending time with our kids, breathing in the smells around us, taking time to enjoy the small things. She had many great personal stories to share and was such an enjoyable speaker.

Saturday morning began a slew of Design Camp classes taught by various bloggers. And there were many cool options to choose from....Thrift shopping at the best local spots, how-to photography, book binding, water-color painting, jewelry making, and of course...sewing! Rachel from Handmade Charlotte taught the morning class and I ran the afternoon one.

It was so much fun! I loved seeing all those sewing machines set-up together....and better yet a group of excited students, ready to tackle a project.
They had two hours to make a simple tote bag and stencil paint a pillow cover:
And pretty much everyone finished both projects--which was only possible thanks to our fabulous group of volunteers. It was so great to meet these ladies in person!
Left to right: Nikki from Salty Pineapple, Anneliese from Aesthetic Nest, Britteny, me, Delia from Delia Creates, Cheri from I am Momma Hear me Roar, Collette from Heaps of Laundry, Christie from a Lemon Squeezy Home, and Stacie from Jame.
What a group of ladies!
There were just as interesting in person as they are on their blogs.
And because only 1/2 of our students showed up for the class, everyone got great one on one time with the sewing experts. Thank you again ladies!
In the last 1/2 hour of class everyone stormed the painting table and busted out pillows.
The big reveal moment--always the best payoff of a stenciling project.
After the class some of us just weren't ready to part with each other. So we gabbed in the hotel lobby for two more hours, drinking hot chocolate. And I swear we only scratched the surface of getting to know each other. We need more blogger meet-ups.
And since we were in Utah, it was only timely that it finally snowed the last day I was there. Yay! I can handle small snow dosages.
Crunch crunch.
My two nieces smiled at the fallen snow too:
I stayed with my brother Mark and sister-in-law Sara who treated me to gourmet maple and bacon donuts one morning and the Pie for pizza at night. YUM.

And I came home with a box of Alt swag....
I didn't even realize there was a free ski lift ticket to Solitude in there (not that I could have used it in my pregnant state. But Casey would have loved it).
And a couple toilet paper containers came home as well Our bathroom looks real snazzy now.
Thank you ALT for such a wonderful weekend!
Hope to see you next year!