The Time In Between

Life gets away from me, I guess. I'm not sure if I should just drop the blog altogether or start blogging about more of my personal life. It doesn't really matter either way, I suppose. I just have very little time to really create much any more. Oh well.

I do have something to show you. I've been itching to try freezer paper stenciling for awhile now. I bought freezer paper a year ago or more (ha!) and bought some plain t-shirts for the Little Man over the winter and I've never gotten around to doing it. No good reason why, other than I can't seem to settle on a design.

But I finally sat down and did it last week. I figured if I didn't do it now, he'd grow out of the shirts I bought! I started with a white & navy t-shirt that I found at Once Upon a Child for $1.50. Can't beat that. I bought some Jacquard textile paint at JoAnns (months ago), because I read somewhere that it was good paint. And here it is:

I think the design could be a little crisper. I wasn't sure how to long iron the freezer paper on, but I think perhaps it should have been a little longer than I did. It turned out pretty well though, and the navy paint is nice and dark. I haven't washed it yet, so hopefully it lasts as well. After it dried, I put the little H on the front. It was actually super easy and didn't take too long, either.

In case you don't know how to do it, here's the short version. Cut your freezer paper to 8 1/2 x 11" and tape the corners to a sheet of printer paper. Print your design on the paper side of the freezer paper. Take off the printer paper and cut out the stencil with a cutting mat and exacto knife. Iron the stencil to your shirt with the plastic side down. Make sure its on there well, but don't burn your shirt. Put something inside the shirt (I used cardboard) to keep the paint from seeping through and paint on the design. When the paint has dried, peel off the stencil and heat set the design with your iron. I turned the shirt inside out and put a cloth on top of it so that I wouldn't burn the shirt, because that is something that I would do. Voila!

I tried another shirt as well. This one has a more detailed design, but it worked perfectly. I found a black and white Superman logo online and added the type to the bottom. It takes awhile to cut out the tiny letters, but it wasn't bad. I ironed the stencil a little longer on this one and it is nice and crisp. I put this design on the back as well, because this shirt has a pocket on the front. I'd rather have had it on the front, so next time, I'd pick that pocket off and put the design on the front. Otherwise, its great. I have to go find some more shirts and designs to paint. This was rather fun!