First Time Mom and Losing It

My sister and I had our children fairly close. My nephew is almost 4, my niece is 2 and my daughter is 1 1/2. When I was pregnant I searched and searched for cousin t-shirts or onesies and couldn't find anything. I set out to do it myself.

I have been seeing a lot of pins on Pinterest on how easy it is to use freezer paper as a stencil. After doing some research and reading some tutorials I successfully created the pieces shown in the picture above.

Supplies

• T-shirt or onesie you want to stencil
• Freezer Paper (found in the supermarket with the aluminum foil)
• Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in the colors you want (purchased at Michael's)
• Foam stencil brush (mine was from Tulip and I bought it at Michael's)
• Exacto Knife
• Printer
• Iron

Instructions

1. Prewash your shirts or onesies to get the sizing out. Make sure the shirts are completely dry and ironed.
2. Using a word processing software like MS Word pick a font that has thick letters. The thinner the letters the harder it's going to be to cut out.
3. Type the words you want to stencil. Use the preview button to see how big the letters will print out. Adjust the font size up or down. You may want to print out a few copies of the word in different font sizes to see which one fits the best in the area you want to stencil.
4. Print it out.
5. Put the printed word sheet on top of where you want to stencil and pick which one works best.
6. Put the freezer paper on top of the printed word with the matte side up and trace with a pen. I did it on a sunny day by the window and I could see it enough to trace it.
7. Using an exacto knife careful cut out the insides of the letters. Make sure you keep the inside pieces of the letters for like an O or a D.
8. You now have a stencil. Place on top of where you want the letters to be on the shirt or onesie. Make sure the shiny waxy side is touching the shirt. (This is what makes it temporarily stick to the shirt.) Make sure to carefully put the inside pieces of the letters (for the O, D, etc.)
9. Place a thin piece of fabric on top and iron on med-high heat. Inspect the stencil and make sure every piece of the stencil has been adhered to the shirt.
10. I used a paper plate to squirt a little of the paint. Take your stencil brush and tap on the color. Take the brush and tap on top of the stencil and on the shirt. I chose to alternate the colors of the letters.
11. Let dry overnight.
12. Peel off the freezer paper and enjoy!

I apologize for not having pictures of the steps like in my other craft posts. I did this a while ago when I was pregnant and didn't think I would be making a tutorial about it. If you are confused by a step just let me know in the comments and I will do my best to help you.

I was lucky to win a gift certificate to Tiny Prints. I decided to splurge on myself and get a Monthly Planner. I was so excited when it came. It is a very good looking and colorful organizer full of different pages to get you organized. I have never seen a planner like this in an office store. They are always plain and drab.

Within minutes of getting my planner in the mail I started to plug in my post titles for the month. It was easy to just write one in each box for the day of the month. The topic ideas really came quick to me. I received my planner on 1/4 and can happily say that I have since blogged every day. Something I had planned to do for the first month of the year. I love just going into my planner and looking up what to write for the day. I think without this planner I would have missed a day or two.

This is what you get in the planner:

1. Customized title page like the picture above. I picked a simple design and just added my first name.

2. Two page calendar for every month of the year. The boxes are really spacious. I plan to also write down what I am making for dinner for the day.

• 2 large chicken breast cut into 1" cubes
• 2 small red potatoes, peeled and diced into 1" cubes
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tblsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp Adobo powder (found in most supermarkets in the Spanish foods aisle)
• 3 tblsp Goya Sofrito (found in the Spanish section of the freezer aisle)
• 2 cans of chicken broth (not shown in picture)

1. Dump everything into the pressure cooker.
2. Mix
3. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. (Your pressure cooker may be different than mine so please check your manufacturers manual). After the 20 minutes are up I turn off my pressure cooker and let the pressure naturally release for 20 minutes.
4. Check for seasonings and add some salt if needed (the Adobo is mostly salt so I don't tend to put extra salt in my dishes when I use it.)
5. If the stew seems too thin turn on the browning feature and cook with the top off until thickened, stirring constantly.
6. Serve over rice.