Whatever Wrote on Your Float...

I am always looking for bargains. So, I usually look at projects for the season that's about to end so I know what types of projects I want to do the following year and can stock up on the supplies. For instance, I make these floats every year. They are cute, functional and very affordable. I've used them as party favors or just little additions to birthday gifts. Walmart always has TONS and the regular price is $2. They come in pink, green and blue. If you start stalking them now you can usually find them on clearance for $1.50 or less. This is a very easy project that require little supplies. However if you are making several of them and plan to blow them up I would also invest in an air pump. These too are usually on clearance this time of year for 50% off at most stores. My Walmart has a large manual air pump on clearance for $10 and a small on clearance for $5 - and let's face it, it's always good to have an air pump around. The finished product looks like this - see so cute:)


Float Project Supplies
Float (deflated), Paint Pen (one that writes on plastic - check the label and it will tell you if the one you are looking at does - you can find these at any craft store or Walmart), Paper, Printer

So, the first thing you need to do is print the name that you want to embellished the float with. In this case I did the family's last name but I usually do a child's first name. You then need to print this name out on a sheet of paper (formatted to landscape). I do this in Microsoft Word.
Here I used the JUICE font and enlarge the font to 300pt. I usually just enlarge the font as big as I can go still keeping the word on 1 page. Then you place the paper under the float and begin tracing the name using the paper as a guide. That's it, it's as easy as that. Let the ink dry for about 5 minutes before you blow it up and do NOT stack floats on top of each other for at least an hour (otherwise the ink will transfer from one float to another). You can also do this same concept with beach balls or any other plastic inflatable toy. Enjoy!