| A great way to make Christmas and Holiday | | | | supply store or get a kit that includes artwork to |
| decorations and even presents using your inkjet printer | | | | transfer. We let the children decide what to put on |
| and some heat transfer kits. These heat transfer kits | | | | each stocking and also included any names or sayings |
| are available in Craft stores or most Office Supply | | | | like Merry Christmas. |
| stores. You can assemble your own components or | | | | There are a couple of things to be aware of on the |
| go with the kit that includes everything you need. | | | | images you plan to transfer. First, make sure the entire |
| These are great family projects and you're only | | | | design fits the area to be transferred to on your |
| limitation is your imagination on coming up with different | | | | material. And second, you need to use a mirror image |
| decorations. You can even make Christmas presents | | | | since the transfer will then put a right reading image on |
| like special custom t-shirts or other cloth items like | | | | the final product. Almost all photo or image software |
| Christmas Stockings. Children of all ages can | | | | has this capability and many inkjet printers can do it at |
| participate but when it comes to the heat transfer part, | | | | the time of printing too. And also remember that white |
| adult supervision is important. | | | | areas don't print, so think about what the image will |
| Last Christmas season we had the grandkids for the | | | | appear like on the color of your material. |
| day so their parents could go shopping. We decided | | | | We transfer the image before we add any additional |
| that we would entertain the children with making some | | | | glued on material or glitter. But you could do it either |
| new Christmas Stockings for the family. We rounded | | | | way as long as you keep the area for the transfer |
| up some necessary items so we could finish | | | | free of any other decorative items. After the transfer |
| everything by the end of the day. | | | | we cut different Christmas shapes out of the red and |
| There are some basics that you will need for this type | | | | green t-shirts to glue on the stockings. And you can |
| of project: | | | | also use the glue to write things and then sprinkle the |
| - Material to make the stockings, we bought two all | | | | glitter on for a great effect. |
| white and one each of red and green cotton t-shirts to | | | | Our grandchildren are still pretty young (6 and 7 year |
| cut up since they take the heat transfer well and are | | | | olds) and so we do a lot of the work under their |
| easy for cutting out the design. | | | | supervision. But older kids can do a lot more and I |
| - Heat Transfer Paper, you can buy this by itself or in | | | | would let them participate as much as possible with |
| a kit with additional software and images. | | | | the exception of the actual heat transfer part. That is |
| - Pair of scissors, red and green thread, sewing needle, | | | | strictly off limits due to the possible burns and of |
| glue, and several colors of glitter. | | | | course destroyed materials. |
| - Software to position the images for printing, you can | | | | I think the total cost of the items we bought was |
| find many free photo editing software on the Internet. | | | | around $25. And it was a whole day of fun for all |
| The first thing we did was to take the t-shirts and | | | | involved. We even had plenty of leftovers for the next |
| draw out our stockings. We used the folded edges as | | | | craft project. And the children got something to take |
| one side and drew a boot shape for the sewn side. | | | | home and show their parents. So all in all it was well |
| We needed to make four stockings and got two | | | | worth the price. |
| stockings per t-shirt. Once we had our cut out boots | | | | These kinds of craft projects could adapt to almost |
| we threaded our needles with both green and red | | | | any popular holiday besides Christmas. And as the |
| thread and sewed up the outside of the boot design. | | | | children get older they can start participating more and |
| Now we were ready to design our image that we | | | | more in the projects. Our 7-year-old granddaughter |
| would transfer to the stockings. We had already | | | | planned on taking some Christmas pictures this year |
| collected some free Christmas clipart from the many | | | | especially for the next year's transfers. All in all it's a |
| websites (make sure it's not copyrighted) on the | | | | great way to spend a day with your children or |
| Internet. You can also buy these at the craft or office | | | | grandchildren. |