Custom Han Solo Stencil

So, it seems I took the entire summer off from blogging.  It wasn't on purpose, I promise. I seriously have 6 posts waiting to be posted, but I never got around to adding pictures to them.  Summer is always a little hectic around here.
Anyway, I've been cranking out stencils for my etsy shop and was asked to make a custom Han Solo stencil, which turned out great.  Here is the test print before I shipped the stencil.

Toucan Painting

I just finished up a painting of a Toucan for a boy nursery with a jungle theme.

Sleeping Beauty Costume

I've been meaning to post this forever!  I made my daughter a Sleeping Beauty costume for Disney World.  She hates itchy fabric and most of the princess dresses have some sort of tulle or scratchy fabric.  She loves the dresses, but won't wear them more than an hour.  I had scheduled her to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then we were going to go eat dinner with Cinderella afterwards.  I wanted her to be comfortable.
I found a fantastic pattern via pinterest. Crafterhours made a cute little sleeping beauty dress with the pattern by indietutes.  I did make my dress separate pieces.  It's a shirt, skirt and belt.  Here she is at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique all dolled up.

Sleeping Beauty worn out from her long night of beauty and dinner with Cinderella.  

Digital Paintings

I started experimenting with Digital Paintings.  It takes me a good amount of time to do a painting and I figured if I could draw it on the ipad I could produce them multiple times much quicker and for less.  I've only done a few, but here is one I drew of my daughter on the ipad and then printed it out with my printer.

Prince Charming

We made our first trip to Disney World this last week and I made this cute prince charming shirt for my little guy.  We were having dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and the Fairy Godmother.  Prince Charming really liked his shirt and came to talk to us for a little while.  Then Cinderella came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  It was adorable.

For this project I used a white t-shirt.  I wanted it to be comfortable for him.  I added navy knit on the shoulders and trimmed it out with gold fringe.  I sewed gold buttons down the front and then sewed grosgrain ribbon on for the belt.

Custom Stencils

I've received a few pictures from some happy customers that were pleased with how their custom stencil came out.  I wanted to share them with you.

Here is one I made to represent the Wisconsin Badgers. 

This onesie is a lion with ADPi Legacy stenciled at the top. 

You can check out my Etsy shop if you would like to order a custom stencil. 

Dr. Seuss

This past week the kids at school celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday.  I made a Cat in the Hat cookie cake.  I had no idea how tricky it was to make a cookie cake so I made one earlier in the week as practice.  There's plenty of recipes out there with tips on how they made it.  After trying the first cookie cake I ended up finding what worked for me.
I made it from scratch using the toll house recipe.  Shocking, right?  You could always use the pre-made dough too.  Some people recommended adding a 1/4 cup of corn syrup to it to make it more of a soft bake cookie, but this caused more problems for me when cooking it.  My suggestion is to stick to the toll house recipe and get a cookie sheet that is approximately 12 x 18 and line it with parchment paper.  It's so much easier to remove the cookie if it's on parchment paper.  I did not double the recipe.  One batch is enough and you need to spread it out really thin anyway to allow for it to cook evenly.  That was my mistake with the first cookie.  I put it in a smaller pan and it took forever to cook.  You definitely need to watch the cookie.  I put the oven on 325 degrees and the timer set for 15 minutes then I checked it and added a few more minutes each time till it was just right.  You definitely don't want to under-cook it or over-cook it.
Once it was cool I used buttercream frosting to make the Cat in the Hat.  The kids loved it.  A trick on cutting the cookie is to use a pizza cutter.  It made it so easy to slice up and serve.

Stencils - Gender Neutral Set

I just developed a gender neutral set of stencils for painting onesies.  You can see the whole set at my Etsy shop.  The set includes a tricycle, owl, kids on a bike, caterpillar, elephant, duck, umbrella and a watermelon slice. Here is a preview of kids on a bike and an elephant.

Mickey & Minnie Shirts

We are getting ready for a trip to Disney and I wanted to make the kids each a shirt to wear.  My daughter wanted Minnie and my son wanted Mickey.  I made custom stencils for the shirts and used fabric paint to stencil the image on to the shirt.  They were super excited to have new shirts for Disney.  I'm thinking of making a few more for the trip.  I might just have to make a shirt for myself.  If you are looking for a custom stencil, please visit my Etsy shop.  Just send me a message and I can make a stencil for you in the image that you would like.

Butterfly Daisy Painting

I recently made this cute painting for a friend, whose daughter is just as girly as mine. I went with a purple butterfly and  pink daisies.  You definitely can't go wrong with those two colors when you are making something for 6 year old girls. It was my first sale at my Etsy shop.  A big thanks to my friend, Deb.

Boy Set of Stencils

I just put together a boy set of stencils to use for painting onesies.  They turned out pretty cute and have been put in my Etsy shop.  The packet of stencils includes a plane, train, dinosaur, pirate ship, basketball, football, guitar and tractor.  Now I'm working on putting together a gender neutral set.

Then I'm going to make some stencils to do some shirts for the kids for Disney World.  It will be our first trip and I'd really like to make each of them a Mickey shirt before we go.  I might just have to make one for myself. 

Firetruck Painting

I've been doing a few new paintings for my Etsy shop and listed a painting of a Firetruck on a 8x10 canvas.  Of course my little guy wants it for his room.  I told him I'd paint him another one.

Stencils for Onesies

I've made stencils a few times for my sister for when she helps host a baby shower.  Making onesies is a fantastic group activity to do at the shower instead of the traditional games.  The stencils help everyone achieve a fabulous looking onesie and the mom-to-be is able to take home individualized momentos from each guest.

In the past I made them from freezer paper, but this requires more effort from the guests to iron them on to the onesies.  Then I made them from cardstock which works fine, but you can only re-use them for so long.  This last time I made them out of plastic and they work like a charm. 

I just added a listing to my Etsy shop with a set of 8 to make onesies for baby girls.  I should have two more listings up within the week for a boy set and gender neutral set.  

Below is a picture of two of the stencils cut out of cardstock so you can see them. 

100th Day of School

Our school likes to do a little something for the kids for the 100th day of school.  In kindergarten they do a full blown party, but since my daughter is in first grade it needed to be low key.  I found a great idea on Pinterest that was perfect.  I printed out the message on cardstock and cut it to size and stapled it on to a cellophane bag.  Easy peasy and looks cute too!

Etsy Shop

Hello.... I know you thought I might have disappeared since it has been a while since I've posted a project.  I've been working on getting an Etsy shop open. The shop, Lilybug Paintings will sell the artwork I make for children's rooms.  You will see a few examples I have listed.  I'm currently working on a couple more paintings to put in my shop to sell.  If you get a chance, please stop by and like my shop, LilybugPaintings.  I am more than willing to do custom artwork and it really makes a terrific gift for a baby shower.