Thursday, July 7, 2011

Random Act of Craftiness #1: A {belated} father's day gift

I've had several crafting and home decor posts over the course of the blog, and I can usually calculate them as a blessing, but now I'm giving them their own place on the blog. I didn't want to commit to a weekly post on a craft because I don't think I could keep up with that so Random Acts of Craftiness will be...random.

Sometimes I am really bad at giving presents on time. Last year I gave my dad his birthday present in July, and his birthday is in April. For part of Shad's Father's day, I planned to make the boys shirts with the nicknames that Shad calls the boys, "Tank and Snapper."

It was a great thought, but it didn't work out. I originally planned on using freezer paper, but I tried that on another shirt, and it was a colossal failure. I found these striped shirts at Walmart on clearance for $2 a piece. Sunday, I decided to try making the shirts, but instead of using freezer paper, I used shelf paper. The sticky stuff that you put on shelves and drawers. I cut the design out on my Silhouette SD, and placed it on the shirts. The great thing about using shelf paper is it's REPOSITIONABLE!!!



After I placed the stencil, I used acrylic paint and painted on the design using a blotting motion instead of brushing. I didn't know for sure if acrylic paint would work because it's water based, but I washed the shirts and it stayed. I put a thin layer of paint because acrylic paint makes the shirt slightly stiff, but it got soft after a couple of washes.





Here's the finished product on my models:


"Tank" would only pose if he could make a funny face.


"Snapper" wanted to grab the camera.


Shad loved the shirts, and having the boys wearing their nicknames. I thought about making one for me with the nickname he calls me, but his nickname for me is "Tootsie"....I think I'll pass.

I'm linking up to these link parties.

1 comment:

  1. Love it, great idea!  Being able to reposition the stencil would be really helpful!  I know I always like to tweak the angle after I lay a stencil but it's never that easy :)

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