Hula Birthday Girls

One of my fellow twinmamas, Casey, is throwing a Hawaiian Princess birthday party for her girls. So I've matched the party colors and stencilled some hibiscus blossoms onto shirts for the birthday girls. Aloha!

Happy Families

Michelle saw the gingerbread family design and wondered...could I try a snowfamily design for her? I gave it a shot and think it turned out pretty nicely.

Jamie also wanted one. I think I'm getting the hang of it!

The Harry Potter Post

We're pretty big into Harry Potter here, so I had to do a golden snitch for myself.














Amy's cousin is a huge fan of Ron Weasley, so we did a special, sparkly stencil for her. I used a Potter-esque font called LUMOS.




I've done a third Harry Potter related stencil, for my sister, but it's not entirely family-friendly, so I probably ought not to share it here.

Three Girls

Sonya is expecting her third daughter's arrival any day now...she asked me to put together shirts for her soon-to-be three daughters to wear for photos! I love this idea and look forward to seeing the shirts in action.

Sweet Family

We're already gearing up for the holidays over here. As part of that, here's the first in our 2007 holiday line: the gingerbread family.

This is customizable (got two boys in your family? three girls? You get the picture).

I've Been Tagged...

6 WEIRD THINGS~~I've been tagged by Six Gun Sally.

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about yourself. People who get tagged need to write on their own blog their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.Weird things about me:

1) Seriously had no idea for a long long time that Boy George was gay, that's how sucky my gaydar is.

2) I learned the Preamble to the Constitution from Schoolhouse Rock. Still know it. When I start to read the text, actually, I have to hum the music, too.

3) I loathe mayonnaise, although I will grudgingly admit that there is possibly a need for it when making tuna salad or egg salad sandwiches.

4) My husband calls me a walking IMDB because I can hear an actor's voice and 9 times out of 10 know who it is and what other movies/tv shows he's been in.

5) A partial list of things I have quit: Violin lessons, gymnastics, swim team, sailing team, tennis team, drama camp, the school newspaper, the Middlesex Girls Choir, hall staff in college, several jobs, teaching Sunday School, smoking, drinking, general carousing, biting my nails (several times; it never takes).

6) I have an unhealthy interest in gossip magazines and websites, although I find most of the people featured in them annoying.



tagging....anyone who's up for it!

Happy Camper

Shannon's son Eli likes to camp...sort of. So she asked me to do him a stencil tee of Eli's most favorite Camp in the world: Camp Pitchafit. It turned out so cute that I'm adding it to my etsy shop inventory.

Preparing for Halloween

So many times, we mamas get all carried away with preparations for the kids' Halloween costumes and suddenly the big holiday is upon us and we realize WE don't have a costume ready!

With that in mind, I've designed a quick-and-easy Halloween costume for adults. It doesn't get much easier than this, y'all.

More in the "due in" series

A very good friend recently learned that she's going to be a mama for the second time in February. This reminded me that I'd better get going on making sure I have the appropriate due date stencils in my shop!

Posh and Fabulous

Victoria Beckham, much to my total surprise, is a complete riot. One of the things from her little "Coming to America" reality show that had me howling was her announcement that "Being Fabulous is Exhausting." Sing it, sister!

I knew that was a stencil waiting to happen. My sister Meg will receive this for her 27th birthday, seeing as how she's quite fabulous. Pssst...Meg, act surprised.

Happy Birthday times 2

My boys turned three last week. I made them birthday cupcake tees for them to wear on the big day; the backs had their names and new age (3) like the back of a baseball jersey. Here they are enjoying their birthday Krispy Kremes!

Big Day for Little Ol' Me!

My stencils have appeared in a handful of treasuries on etsy, and it is always a huge thrill for me. But even more thrilling was to go to the etsy homepage today and find that one of my stencils (my "signature" one -- the cupcake) appeared on the front page!

It was up there for about six hours, and I enjoyed every last second of it. Hurray!

Two Fleur de Lis tees

Friends Kari and Lara both had a hankering for fleur de lis tees, one on a heathered blue tee and one on an ice blue tee. I used pearlized (slightly sparkly) pale blue paint on the heathered tee, and a deep navy blue paint on the ice blue tee. I really like how they turned out!

Rock Star Redux

I loved the rock star stencil I did for little Miss Emma the other day, so I thought I'd try it again, only with a shimmery gold star instead. It makes me think of gold records, you know (or am I dating myself by mentioning "records"? hee).

duedate tee...with flair

Michelle is having a baby in December! So I stencilled a "due in december" shirt for her with a little extra bit of flair: a holly berry and leaves as the dot in the i. I'm very excited about this. (some days, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy)

That Rocks

Jamie's daughter Emma is a rockstar and needs a stencil tee to ensure that the world knows this!

So I did a multi-layer stencil (black "rockstar" in Fiolex Girls font over a sparkly pink star) and loved the results so much that I'm adding more of these designs to my shops!

BBCers' Pink Ribbon Walk

As a breast cancer survivor, you can imagine that I love any and all projects involving pink ribbons. So when my friend Judie who runs a Baby Boot Camp in Texas came to me wanting fifteen (yes, that's 15) shirts for her BBC team to wear in a breast cancer walk, I said Absolutely!

The text is as close as I could get to the BBC logo, in green (over white, to ensure that the text popped on the grey shirts) moderately sparkly paint. The hand-drawn pink ribbons feature hearts at the top loop and were edged in pale pink.

Life is a Beach

My friend Heather is throwing her sons a combination birthday/christening party in a few weeks (she has a toddler and an infant), and the theme is a beachy one. So we stencilled colorful beachballs onto the front of a tee and a onesie for the Honorees to wear to their gala.

This stencil was simple in idea but a touch challenging to execute. Coloring (or painting) inside the lines is tough even for non-preschoolers!

Firetruck on a ringer tee

I've been doing the firetruck stencil since, oh, I think perhaps the beginning of time? But I saw some gorgeous, vibrant colored ringer tees and thought the firetruck might look particularly smashing on them.

I think I was right!

Let's Go, Red Sox!

A Boston-area friend (and fellow Sox fan) is pregnant with her first baby. So exciting! We stencilled this shirt as a way to make the announcement that baby's coming in 2008. This was a single layer red stencil with white outlining, using a Red Sox-esque font.

(L-R) front of shirt, back of shirt

Berry Fun

Still thinking I need more girly stencils. So I did this two-layer (well, three with the white accents) strawberry stencil. mmmm!

Little Diva

In looking at my stencil collection, I noticed that I tend to do more boy-themed stencils than girl-centric ones (given that I have two boys, I think that's kind of understandable, but anyhow). So I thought I'd do a fun little text one for the girls.

The font is called Love Letters. I used a dark hot pink fabric paint.

What are miniblisscakes?

Let me explain.

Some of the first stencils I made for friends were cupcakes (your choice of white, chocolate, or pink frosting -- but my favorite is chocolate!), as my friend Michelle's little girl Joanna is particularly fond of those petite treats.

Later on in the year, I drew my friend Midori's name in a Secret Santa exchange. I spent a crazy amount of time pondering what to do for Midori's gift (I had been particularly proud of my previous years' gifts in this particular Secret Santa, so I really wanted to come up with The Perfect Item), when finally, inspiration struck. Ever since I've known her, Midori has also been A Fan of The Cupcake, and she has a little pet name for them: miniblisscakes. Because, of course, they are mini and they are a little bit of bliss in a cake.

So, miniblisscakes.

Many many thanks go to both Midori and little Joanna for the inspiration!

The Obligatory Opening Post

I started stencilling clothing for my twin boys and husband (sometimes wonder if he would be better classified as another child) in the summer of 2006.

I can't say that I was all that good at it when I began, but I've stuck with it and have improved a great deal since that very first stencil (see Chuck Norris over there), if I do say so myself.

Friends and family began requesting I do stencils for them and before I knew it, my kitchen was covered with bottles of fabric paint, sponge paint brushes, and Xacto knives. I barely have time to stencil for myself anymore, but I don't mind; I love new stencil challenges.

This blog is intended as a record of sorts for my stencils (nearly a year after beginning on my stencilhappy journey). If you'd like a miniblisscakes stencilled shirt of your very own, please see the links to my online stores: eBay, etsy, and the flagship store: miniblisscakes.com.

Happy Fifth Birthday!

Matthew is turning five. He also prefers good old-fashioned birthday cake to cupcakes. I was happy to set him up with a special stencil tee for his birthday, complete with "5" candle on top.

Big Announcement!

I know a little girl who has a big announcement to make! Jillian will be a big sister later this year and her mom asked me to help spread the great news via a two-sided tee. How could I resist?

More Cupcake Birthdays

Twinmama friend Sara's girls are turning two soon...and so is their best friend! We thought that some special cupcake birthday tees were in order, with a 2 "candle" on top of each cupcake to mark the occasion.

Happy First Birthday times two!

I know a lot of twinmamas online and offline, and one particular twinmama's girlies, Nina and Ella, are turning one very soon. I did some cupcake onesies specially for them. Happy birthday!