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To all my Aussie followers, I’m sure you are aware that this coming Sunday is Fathers Day! I have no idea why our fathers day is different to the rest of the world, but alas, you can’t change what you can’t change. So if you’re reading this from another country (hello!) maybe bookmark it for next year. And if you’re like me, a mama whose totally left things last minute, then hopefully you can find one of these tutorials helpful!

It’s my hubbys first fathers day. So I wanted his gift to be special. I’m not really one for custom mugs or keychains and neither is he. We both love sentimental stuff, so I came up with three easy DIY fathers day gifts. What’s even better, is that the majority of them cost me less thank $10! woop woop!!

DIY Baby Handprint T-shirt

Easy DIY Fathers Day Gift

This is something that is SUPER easy to do! Because I’m a super detailed person, there are actually 2 ways you can do this. So I’ll list out both ways for you.

OPTION 1: With a Printer and Digital handprint
OPTION 2: Using fabric paint, you can either put the handprint directly on the shirt, or onto the transfer paper. If using the transfer paper and paint, let dry, then follow the steps from step 5 onwards.

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MATERIALS

Ink for baby Handprint
T-shirt (light coloured like grey or white)
Iphone or camera
Editing software like Photoshop
Ink Jet Printer
White t-shirt transfer Paper
Cardboard

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STEP 1:

The first thing you’re going to want to do, is to actually get your babies or kids handprint. This can be messy and/or fun depending on the age of your child. For me, J is 5 months old and had no idea what we were doing. Plus he’s not in control of his limbs, so it got very messy. But alas, we got the handprint.

STEP 2:

Take a photo of your handprint with your camera or iphone. It’s really important to make sure you keep it clean, and get the photo in good lighting. You want the handprint to look as black as possible and the background to look as white as possible.

STEP 3:

Transfer the photo to your computer, and then using editing software (I used photoshop) edit your picture so that it’s high contrast and brighter. There are probably other ways to digitise a handprint, but I just did it the way I know how to. Here is a before and after picture. I just cropped the best handprint and copied and pasted it into a new A4 document in Photoshop. Once it was in the new document,I edited the brightness and contrast so that the handprint was crisper and clearer.

STEP 4:

Print the handprint (or footprint) onto your transfer paper. PROTIP: Before you print onto the acutal paper (cus it can get expensive if you muck up) test it on a normal A4 piece of paper to make sure the colouring looks good as well as the placing of the handprint. And also mark the plain A4 side so you know which way to put the transfer paper into the tray when you’re ready to do so.

STEP 5:

Cut around the handprint as close to the design as possible. You want to leave around a 1-2mm border.

STEP 6:

use a hard work surface that is level and will not react to heat. Don’t use an ironing board as the image may distort when fused due to the flexibility of the surface.

Adjust your iron to the cotton setting and turn off the steam function. Let the iron heat up fully. Low temperature or the use of steam will affect the transfer result.

Make sure the T-shirt is flat on the surface, place some cardboard between the front and back layers of the shirt. iron for several seconds on the area where you are going to put the transfer (this removes any moisture in the fabric)

STEP 7:

lay the design printed side down and begin ironing in a smooth consistent circular motion, applying heavy pressure. Use the heal of the iron as this area has the highest temperature and allows consistent wide-range pressure.

As a guide, for a transfer the size of a baby’s hand (aprpox a quarter of the size of an A4 sheet) apply pressure for 25-35 seconds. (probably a good idea to read the instructions of your own transfer paper as they may differ to this)

once the area is warm to touch, slowly peel a corner of the backing paper off first to check the results. Do not let the project cool before peeling because the adhesive will remain on the paper. If the transfer looks opaque, re-position the backing paper and apply further heat. The aim is for the transfer to be clear before removing the backing.

DO NOT WASH FOR 24-48 HOURS. 

Easy DIY Fathers Day Gift

DIY Custom iPhone Case

If you thought the t-shirt was easy, WAIT until you try this DIY iPhone case (it could be any case really)

OPTION 1: Use a computer to generate a design
OPTION 2: Create a stencil of the phone case, and then get your craft on by sticking and pasting photos, patterns and shapes as you please.

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MATERIALS

photos and patterns to use for the design
clear phone case
scissors
glue
thick cardstock

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Step 1:

Design your cover in editing software on the computer, alternatively you can design it like a collage on a piece of card, cutting and gluing it just the way you like.

If designing on the computer just create it as a large square; we’ll cut the iPhone shape out later.

If you’re designing it by sticking and gluing, cut the piece of card that you’ll use as your base out into the shape of your phone. Do this by tracing your phone or current phone case.

Step 2:

Print off your design (preferably onto a thicker card stock) and then trace the case shape and cut it out.

Take care when cutting around the space for the camera.

Step 3:

Insert your design into the clear phone case. You can leave it as is; or you can secure it with a bit of glue (glue may affect how it appears through the case)

DIY Personalised Line Art

Again, this tutorial can be done in a few ways. The first way is to create the line art digitally (which is what I did) but the second way it could be created, is by using a good old fashion Artline pen to trace the original photo onto a new piece of paper.

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MATERIALS

photo for tracing
digital software such as Photoshop (or just an Artline pen if tracing by hand)
A4 Frame

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Step 1:

Pick a photo that you would like to trace. You can either trace is manually with an art line pen or do it digitally.

Step 2:

If tracing digitally, open the photo in photoshop, change the opacity to 50%. Then add a new layer and label it “tracing”. Create a new layer and change the opacity to 50%

Using the brush tool (with a thin pixel setting like 1-3px), trace an outline of the picture. Once you’re happy with the trace, delete the layer of the photograph.

Step 3:

Then copy and paste the hand tracing onto a new A4 document in Photoshop. Print it out. You can print it onto normal paper, or onto a thicker card for a higher quality finish.

Step 4:

Pop the A4 print into your photo frame, and voila – you are done!

The line art drawing is actually for my father-in-law as it’s his hand in the picture. Jasper is his first grandson and he loves him so much, so I think this will be the perfect gift for him!

I can’t wait to give hubby the t-shirt and phone cover (I did buckle, and buy him a few extra goodies too, but he’ll have to wait for fathers day to see what they are)!

 

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