Personalized T-shirt: "I Deliver"

My youngest boy starts his first day of preschool tomorrow and I remembered that when his brother had his first day I made him a special t-shirt HERE.  So, it's his turn.  I tried to think of things he's into.  He loves riding his trike around the house pretending he's a delivery truck driver.  So, here's what I came up with.

I cut the freezer paper stencil on my cutting machine (the Silhouette), but you could do it by hand with a craft knife.  (For a video tutorial of freezer paper stenciling you can go HERE.  For a tutorial on cutting freezer paper with a cutting machine you can go HERE.)

I ironed the stencil to the shirt (shiny side down).

I painted the shirt with my Tulip soft fabric paints.  If you haven't used these before you have to get your hands on some.  They are inexpensive and awesome.  They're my favorite.

Then I peeled off the stencil, waited for the shirt to dry, and found my little delivery man to try it on.

He gave it two thumbs up and he's ready to wear it on his big day.

I just love making one-of-a-kind tees for my little guys.

All By Myself Tee

My young kids see me craft a lot and they like to get in on it as well.  However, I obviously can't let them do everything I'm doing.  "Yeah, grab that steaming glue gun.  Sure you can paint the walls like Mommy!  Want to try the sewing machine?"  It just doesn't work that way.

And sometimes it can even be hard to let go of my inner-control freak and let them do things the way they want to.  Anyone with me?  Yes?  Okay, so here's the perfect project to let little ones do with you or all by themselves.  Why?  Because you can't mess this t-shirt up.  It's meant to look messy.

Here's how it went down.  I cut a stencil of a large number 5 from freezer paper because that's how old my oldest is going to be next month.  (FYI: You don't need a cutting machine for this.  This would take less than 5 minutes to do this by hand.)

I ironed the paper on.  (Video tutorial for freezer paper stenciling HERE.) Then I got out my Tulip fabric paint and my big phat fabric markers.  I also got out some bubble wrap to use like a stamp.  

I let my son and his cute cousin go for it and I joined in too.  It was pretty fun.

We used these big phat markers like stamps to get a checkered pattern.  My nephew filled in the holes with red paint, which I thought ended up looking really cool.

Here's what it looked like when we were done painting it.

My favorite part is always removing the freezer paper stenciling.  You can see the bubble wrap stamping, the checkered pattern of stamping the markers, and a lot of random painting on the shirt.

So if your kids are out of school and looking for a project, cut a stencil and let them go for it.

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Craft on!

Herringbone Boy Tee

I really like all the herringbone pattern I've seen popping up everywhere and the beauty of it is that it's crazy easy to do.  Chevron can be hard, but herringbone is cake.  I decided to try my hand at a herringbone tee for one of my little guys.

So, I got out a blank tee and some tape along with my Tulip fabric paint and a paintbrush.  I used paint tape, but you could definitely use masking tape as well.

I began by taping vertical lines onto the shirt. 

Then I added the diagonal lines.  You could measure it all out, but I just eyed it.

Then I painted the shirt.  (I laid some paper inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't bleed through.)  I painted it all blue, but a little orange for more vision interest.

I peeled off the tape and heat set the paint after it dried.  (To heat set the paint just place a sheet over it and iron it for 20 seconds or so.)

And?  He likes it.

In fact, we think the herring bone pattern might just accentuate his very muscular physique :)

And there you have it.

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High Voltage Boy Tee

Today I'm going to show you how to make this little "High Voltage" tee that I made for my youngest boy.

I started with a Fashion Graffiti stencil that looked like a chain link fence.  I love this set of stencils.  There's a cool old school car, there's a stencil of headphones, and a whole lot more.  They are are really easy to use.  I taped freezer paper around it so I wouldn't get the whole shirt when I sprayed.

I was also really excited to try the Fashion Graffiti Spray Paint Kit.  It works just like spray paint, but it's not aerosol.  You pump it instead.  For the purposes of this shirt, you could just use the Fabric Spray, but the paint cannon is pretty fun and I'll definitely be experimenting more with it in the future.

So, I set the stencil on the shirt and sprayed.  I moved the stencil to a new location and sprayed again.  I did this until I was happy with the amount of coverage.

 I wanted to make it look like there was a sign hanging on the fence, so I created an image I liked.  Here it is as a jpg.  Feel free to use it if you'd like.

I used this image to create a freezer paper stencil.  If you've never tried this out, click HERE to watch my in-depth tutorial on freezer paper stenciling.  You'll be a pro in no time.  Warning: You might also become an addict as well.

I ironed my stencil onto a scrap piece of white fabric.  I painted the background black and removed the stencil.  To give the letters a shaded look, I took my brush and wiped off most of the paint.  Then I made some messy strokes with it towards the botton of the lettering.

I used the Tulip 3-D Slick paints on this part.  They are a bit thicker, but they cover really well.  I filled in the lightning bolt with yellow.

I took this fabric and ironed on some fusible adhesive.  I cut out the image, but I left a bit of white for edging.

I peeled off the backing, ironed it on, and sewed it on as well just for extra security.

Lastly, I forced my child to model it for me instantly.  I get a bit excited when I finish my project.

That's it.  Now feed him a big piece of chocolate cake and you'll see what high voltage is really all about.