Some people can be hard to buy for, especially the guys in my life. And when it comes to DIYing a gift, I think it can be even harder! I have made Mr Ask some leather cord keepers (which he loves and uses constantly) but I wanted a gift or two for Daddy-O. When I was scrolling around Pinterest and saw a mug from Etsy that said ‘Sawdust is Man Glitter’ I got super excited! You see my Dad is a cabinet maker who makes fancy windows and he is permanently covered in sawdust. Unfortunately, the mug I saw on Etsy was from the UK and that would never make Christmas in time. So I started thinking of my own DIY version…
I know that it is painfully close to Christmas but the beauty of this is how quickly it comes together! And if you don’t have heat transfer vinyl, you can use heat transfer paper for tshirts that you can print on your inkjet printer and bam! Office works and Big W usually have it. Just be sure to get the right type for a dark or light tee – they really are different. You don’t need anything special to make something special – just good ideas!
It’s never nice to rip off other people’s work, especially the work of small creative businesses and I did first see this on Etsy. But since the phrase ‘Sawdust is Man Glitter’ is a Ron Swanson quote from Parks & Rec and the mug was text only, I felt like it was okay to use it. I was thinking a tshirt would be cool and easier to post to him in Tassie. I think a tshirt also opens up the design possibilities too because there is more surface area. Mr Ask is a graphic designer and I asked him, very sweetly, to whip up a couple of designs for me. I told him what I had in mind and left him to it. As usual, I loved his work!
I picked up a couple of tees from Target and decided that silver vinyl would be perfect. I used the silver from the regular line (not the metallic or gliiters) at my vinyl supplier. It’s not really silver, more of a lightly shimmery steel grey colour – obviously perfect for the saw blade. Mr Ask made the designs so that both would fit on an A4 sheet. We cut them out using our Silhouette machine and weeded (removed) the parts we didn’t need. I laid out the designs on each tee, covered with a press cloth and pressed each design for 6 seconds. I peeled off the backing and they were done!
You really can use heat transfer vinyl with a home iron but I feel like it’s less secure than a heat press (I really want one but I just can’t justify the space in my tiny house or the price). I wanted to send these off with some washing instructions and the direction to iron from the wrong side if any lifting occurs. Mr Ask is the design genius but his time is pretty limited, so I do my own work where I can and that means I need help in app form! I remembered seeing several wood textures in Word Swag, so I used that for the basic design and then cropped it in Pic Monkey. Once I had the swing tag design done, I printed a couple of tags on photo paper and cut them out.
I love how cute the finished tees are, with cute little tags to boot! The second they were done, I packaged them up ready for posting along with my DIY Magnetic Wrist Cuff (keeps screws handy even when you’re on a ladder). Of course, I also sent my lovely stepmum Lynne some homemade body butter wrapped in one of my fabric gift bags and even a few treats for the doggos. Post from Adelaide to Tassie is painfully slow, so I got everything off well in advance.
I’m one of those terrible people who can’t keep a secret or a surprise! I just want people to open things immediately and enjoy! So I can report that everyone loved their goodies and Daddy-O has been proudly wearing his tees. He was speaking to my sister on the phone just after the tees arrived and said he was wearing one and…..covered in sawdust! I would normally share the designs as a free file for you to use but Daddy-O is loving them so much, I think I’d better keep them as a Daddy-O exclusive. But please feel free you create own design and I really wouldn’t mind if yours was awfully similar! I’d love to see your pics xxx
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