Are you stuck what to get someone for Christmas? Wonder what to get the kids teachers for the end of the year? Well I have you sorted! Yes, worry no more!

How about making something that will be super cheap to make that you will be amazed at the outcome and even happier with the fact that you have made a unique and personal gift as well. I wanted to give the twins teacher a little something but was wondering what to do. I wanted to get them something practical but also personal from the girls. I decided on creating tea towels with the kids hand prints on them.

Personalised home made tea towels for the twins teachers.

So how did I make the tea towels?

I purchased tea towel material from the local sewing shop. I only bought enough for two. As you will see the material I purchased has stripes down the sides. You don’t have to get this type. Pick whatever fits the project you are creating. I paid $15, for the fabric plus the fabric pen.
I already had fabric paint from an earlier project.
When I got the fabric I also purchased a fabric pen to write the name of the teacher, the year, class and also to have the kids sign their names.

Fabric paint on plates to make it easier for kids to put hands flat to cover the whole hand.

Process

I washed the material before use. This made sure to ensure that the tea towel would not shrink after I have done all this work to it.
Once tea towel material was dry, the kids had fun adding their hand prints to the material. Make sure to have a different colour for each child and to leave enough room top and bottom for your hems and edges.
I made sure to have a butter knife to allow me to spread the paint evenly over the girls hands. I got the kids to practice on a spare piece of material I did not care for so that they knew how the paint would go on the material and how much was needed to give the right effect.
Once the fabric paint from the kids hand prints were dry, I added the teachers names, year, and class for the girls. I added their names under the right hand prints and also got the kids to sign their names to each tea towel. It is a bit hard to write with these pens so you might need to help a little person with this.
Make sure to iron the fabric to set the fabric paint once all dry. The paint needs heat to set it into the fabric.

The fabric paint is drying, on our DIY tea towels for the twins teachers.

The stitch that I used was great for the edges. It looks pretty and as you will see from the below video goes over the edges nicely to make sure it is secure and will last a long time!

All wrapped up and with Panda cards. The kids are in a class called the Kinda Pandas so this was so cool I found this online.

I hope this gives you some ideas and tips on how to make a cheap gift for family or your lovely teacher. Have fun and don’t get paint everywhere!

Originally published December 11, 2014

DIY: Get Creative with Sharpies

This post was originally created for a Father’s Day tutorial. However this could be applied for Christmas gifts, birthdays and anything at all. Use it to create some great presents for Christmas.

I do have something organised for hubby for Father’s Day. However I thought it might be nice for the twins to do something creative for daddy themselves. I have had some friends do things with sharpie pens and I have always been curious. Online I saw that you can decorate a mug/cup with sharpie pens, then bake it and all good to use. How amazing and interesting. Will it work? The only way is to give it a go.

So I got the kids some sharpie pens from the shop and a white mug each and then each child had to decorate them. I told them that they can do whatever design they wished to. One child was very expressive and creative and wanted to colour the whole mug in and the other was trying to draw and write more on the mug. Interesting the difference. It did not matter what they created, it was an expression of them to their daddy.

What do you need?

1. Sharpie Pens. I purchased mine individually as this worked out a little cheaper. You can get a pack of 12 for about $20. Packs I saw for less varied between $14 or more.

2. A cup or a mug to decorate. I choose to have white mugs as then the colours from the pens will show up more

3. An oven to bake the mugs in

Concentrating on her creation for daddy.

What is the process?

1. Once you have all your materials ready you can then start.

2. Decorate your mugs

3. Finalise your decoration and once happy you are ready to bake in the oven.

4. Bake in the oven for 30mins at 180°C or 356°F

Once baked you are good to use the cup. Might need to wait a bit and hand wash carefully to make sure it is all clean to use. As I have never done this before I am keen to see how they go. I would not put in the dishwasher.

Happy creating and this is a great cheap last minute gift for Father’s Day. Have fun!

Note: Some colours after it was baked have changed. The gold seems to have turned into brown. Maybe I need to get different sharpies next time.