Last Minute Christmas Idea!

Let me see a show of hands. How many of you have not finished your Christmas shopping? How many have not even started Christmas shopping? How many (be honest) didn’t know Christmas was only a few days away? Yes, I know that Christmas Eve is the traditional shopping day for many of us. Our favorite stores: Walgreens and the Seven/Eleven. Somehow a road map and a six pack just don’t say Merry Christmas the way they used to. And one more time, a show of hands: didn’t you take an oath last year that future Christmases would find you prepared.  With meaningful, well thought out gifts, acquired early enough to allow for pretty wrapping and heartfelt sentiments expressed on a card of timeless beauty?

So here we are, facing another year of late night convenience store shopping and a quick Merry Christmas written on newspaper wrapping with a semi dried out Sharpie pen. (Martha, how did he know what you got last year?)

Maybe our faithful computer can alter our future despair.  First we need some supplies. Check into one of the local stores that carries office supplies and pick up a twelve pack of Ink Jet T-shirt transfer paper. Next we need either some plain t-shirts, aprons, gift bags or any other cotton or cotton / poly blend fabric item. Finally, and in this day of wash and wear this could be the tough part, we need an iron. (not the two iron from the golf bag) And let’s double check the ink cartridges in the printer to make sure we don’t run out half way through the job.

 

Now fire up the computer and open your favorite creative program. For this example, I am going to use MS Publisher, but any desktop publishing program, even Word or Corel or any program that allows you to create or manipulate pictures and text will do.

The best thing about this is that each gift can be recipient specific. My first attempt will be for my niece who inadvertently sent me a virus. I can find many pieces of clipart that fit my needs at office.microsoft.com/clipart. Quickly I locate a clipart that shows a sickly computer. Next I download a clipart of an amoeba and superimpose it over the sick computer as if it is devouring the poor machine. Finally, I use WordArt to create text on an angle over the top of my computer and amoeba that says TYPHOID ALICIA. Underneath the pictures in small print are the words, “Your Uncle Still Loves You!” Next I use the grouping tool to take all the parts of my creation and group them together as one picture. Now I can size the whole picture without having to size each picture individually.

After fine tuning my creation and sizing it to a dimension that will look good on a T-shirt, there is one very important step that needs to be done. The entire picture must be rotated horizontally or put another way, it must print backwards so that when it is placed on the T-shirt it will read correctly. Fortunately, these programs will flip the entire picture in one step.

We are getting close. Put a sheet of Transfer paper into the printer, making sure that it is placed correctly so that the ink will go on the side that transfers. The paper is marked to help identify the printed side. Before printing make sure to go into your printers print preferences and set the quality to High and Color and if your printer has a setting for transfer type paper set that as well.  Click print and watch your design appear.

After the transfer is printed lay out the T-shirt on a solid surface that can withstand heat, position the transfer on the material where you think it should be with the printed side against the fabric.

Be forewarned: The next step is the dangerous one. Carefully iron the transfer onto the fabric, following the instructions found in the pack of transfers. The iron is very hot. I can attest to this. One important safety note: Keep fingers out from under the iron. Did you know skin sizzles?

Wrap up the gift and send it on its way. They’ll love you for the thoughtful and individual Christmas gift.

I know my niece will.