ella started preschool a few weeks ago, and i guess all other parents knew this but it was news to me that preschoolers need a lot of stuff. :) one thing we were asked to do is to make sure all her things are clearly labeled, including the spare clothes in her cubby and the things in her emergency bag (more on that in another post).
to make clothing labels, i printed out her name and a contact phone number on sheets of fabric that i had treated with bubble jet set 2000. I LOVE THIS STUFF. i have used it many times and i am always pleased with the results. (they don't print out blurry as in this picture--i smudged the phone number in photoshop).
basically, you just soak your chosen fabric in the BJS, squeeze out the excess and let it dry--just follow the directions on the bottle. i ironed some freezer paper to the back of the fabric to stabilize it as it went thru the printer--i cut 8.5" x 11" sheets, then i fed them thru my printer just like ordinary paper. i put fray block on the cut edges of each label to keep them from raveling--the fray block wasn't dry on this label when i sewed it in and took the picture--i was too impatient to wait. :)
when i sew these labels into purchased clothing, i sandwich the existing labels behind my own. ella noticed this, and told me that one of her shirts doesn't scratch anymore. :) i printed the labels with different spacing on each page so i can choose sizes as needed.
if you don't wish to make your own printer fabric, you can do this same thing with purchased printer fabric, i have used several brands and have had good results with most of them--i choose to use BJS because it is so much less expensive in the long run and i can use the fabric of my choice.
next time around i'm thinking of putting a picture on the labels--ella already expects me to draw on everything anyway--it started with drawing happy pictures on band-aids, and now she expects me to draw happy pictures on any reasonably flat surface, including--but not limited to--cheese:
