I Heart My Husband T-Shirt

My BFF requested that I make her a "I heart my husband" t-shirt after she had seen several people wearing them. I was happy to oblige and used one of my favorite crafting techniques, freezer paper stenciling. I simply made a stencil in the Silhouette software and cut it out of freezer paper, ironed it on the t-shirt, and then painted the stencil using acrylic paints mixed with textile medium. 

It turned out so cute I think I'll think have to make myself one too. 

And that's my BFF modeling her shirt.

Want to know more about freezer paper stenciling? 

Check out this post: All You Ever Wanted to Know about Freezer Paper Stenciling. 

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Baby Onesies

I don't know what exactly it is about creating baby onesies but I love doing it and recently created several for J's best friend and his wife who just had a baby boy about a week ago. 

I bought a package of plain boring baby onesies and went to town decorating them. I used designs I purchased from the Silhouette store and designs I made myself in the Silhouette software. My Silhouette machine cut all the designs out of freezer paper. I then ironed the freezer paper on each onesie painted them. 

(To learn more about how to freezer paper stencil, check out this post.)

The baby's name is Austin. This one was a little difficult because of the layering. In hindsight I should have left a space for the plane and not layered the plane on top of the cloud as the paint didn't cover the cloud very well.

Austin's parents are huge Clemson fans too.

I just love onesies with ties.

Simple whale silhouette

These became a very cute and personalized but inexpensive gift.

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Cancer T-Shirt

A couple of months ago my Aunt Fribbie was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is having surgery today. My parents have traveled to Mississippi to be with her for the surgery. Last week my Mom called me and told me that she wanted to make a gift basket for my Aunt (my Mom is the queen of gift baskets and makes me awesome overflowing ones for just about every gift giving occasion) and asked me if I would freezer paper stencil something on a t-shirt for my Aunt for the basket. 

I had been wanting to do something for my Aunt anyways but was at a loss as to what to do so my Mom's suggestion was perfect. My Mom had an idea of a saying that I could put on the shirt but it was pretty long, so I turned to my dear friend Google search and found an awesome and inspiring cancer quote. 

"Cancer is a word, not a sentence." - John Diamond

Awesome, isn't it! 

And here's the finished shirt. 

So, I cut the quote onto freezer paper with my trusty Silhouette machine, ironed the it down, and painted it a dark pink. I purchased the awareness ribbon shape from the Silhouette store and then cut two of them out of freezer paper, ironed them down, and painted it in a lighter shade of pink. 


I hope my Aunt likes it. I love how it turned out and it looks super comfy for laying around the house and recovering!


Also, if you pray, please say a quick prayer for her! 

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Best Granddad in the World T-Shirt

My parents will be out of town on Father's Day so we celebrated Father's Day with my Dad today so I'm able to share part of his gift since he has already received it. 

I made my Mom a t-shirt for Mother's Day using one of my favorite crafting techniques, freezer paper stenciling, so it seemed only fitting to make my Dad a shirt as well. I freezer paper stenciled "Best Granddad in the World" on a plain white t-shirt. I cut the words out of freezer paper with my Silhouette machine. I substituted a globe for the "O" in world. I actually used an Earth Day globe from the Silhouette store because I wanted something a smidge abstract and not so technical as the other globes they had. (For a freezer paper stenciling tutorial, check out this post.)

It turned out pretty cute, don't ya think? My Dad doesn't really wear t-shirts a whole lot but he does wear them when he goes for morning/evening walks so I think this will be nice for him to wear then! 

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All You Ever Wanted to Know about Freezer Paper Stenciling

Since I have posted projects using the freezer paper stenciling technique, I've had multiple questions about it and requests for a tutorial so here we go.... 


First, let me explain some elements of freezer paper stenciling and what you'll need and then I'll get into the step by step process. (Note: This post might be a little long but I'm trying to be as comprehensive as possible!) 


What is Freezer Paper Stenciling?
The basic gist of freezer paper stenciling is that (once your design is cut out and we'll talk about that in a second) you can iron it SHINY side down to whatever you are painting on and it creates your stencil. Then you paint it, let it dry, and peel up your stencil. You will be using the negative space to create your stencil. For example, if you are wanting to use a "C" you would you discard the actual "C" and use the outline as your stencil.


You can freezer paper stencil on just about any type of fabric. I personally have used this technique on t-shirts, baby onesies, and tote bags. But I have also seen it done on  canvas, throw pillows, place mats, pillowcases, dish towels, etc. 

The Freezer Paper
Let's talk about the freezer paper its self. Freezer paper is similar to wax paper except it has a shiny side and a dull side. (Wax paper will NOT work for these type of projects.) I bought my gigantic roll of freezer paper at  Walmart for about 6 dollars.  It is a huge roll though (150 square feet!) and will probably last a long time! It was located right by the wax paper and aluminum foil. 


Cutting your Design
I use my Silhouette machine to make my stencils. I simply choose whatever I am going to cut in the Silhouette software, size it how I need it, and then let the machine cut it. I use the blue blade cap and cut on the same settings as if I were cutting vellum. If you do not have a Silhouette machine or another type of personal cutter, you could always find an image or words online, print it out, then trace it onto the freezer paper, and cut it out with an exacto knife. 

Painting your Stencil
You could use fabric paint for these projects but since I already had a lot of acrylic paint I thought it would be more economical to just use the acrylic paint mixed with a fabric textile medium. The fabric textile medium can be found at your local craft store and once you have mixed it with the acrylic paint, it makes the paint softer and makes it able to withstand being laundered. If you are using the medium, follow the directions on the back of the bottle as to how much to mix with the paint. I do 2 parts of paint to 1 part of the medium. Be careful with this, if your paint is too runny, it will seep through the stencil. (Yep, I learned this the hard way.)


Layering

When I first started freezer paper stenciling I only did quotes, sayings, and words but soon branched out to shapes, objects, and animals. Doing an object or a shape is a little different than doing letters because (unless you are just doing a silhouette of an object) you usually need to do more than one color and layer. I'm going to use the T onesie I showed you yesterday as an example of layering. With it, I needed to iron down the T, paint it, then move on to the turtle, and lastly the grass. This required me ironing the turtle down on top of a portion of the yellow T. I was worried about that but finally just went for it and it was fine! It didn't mess up my iron, the paint, or anything.

How to Freezer Paper Stencil 
So, I'm going to walk you through the steps with pictures using a little tote bag that I stenciled on a quote as an example. 

1. Cut your stencil out of freezer paper. If you have done this with a Silhouette machine or another personal cutter machine, you'll peel your freezer paper off your cutting mat. If you are doing words, be sure to save all the little parts that go in the letters like the p, a, o, etc... Discard or set aside your words or design. 

2. Using your iron on high heat (with NO steam) iron down the stencil SHINY SIDE DOWN. (If you iron it shiny side up, it is going to stick to your iron and make a mess.) I make a couple of passes over the entire stencil with my iron. 

3. If your stencil involves letters, you'll need to iron down the little parts that go inside the letters. I find it best to use tweezers to peel the little pieces off my cutting mat and then use the tweezers to get the little pieces where they need to go. Once I have all the little pieces ironed down, I'll pass the iron over the entire stencil one more time for good measure. 

4. Now paint your stencil. I just use a regular paint brush although I do know others who prefer to do this with sponge brush but I like using a small paint brush instead so use whatever you feel comfortable with and just paint away. You really don't have to worry about staying in the lines when you are painting (at least I don't!) but just be sure not to jostle or bump the stencil too much or the paint will seep through. Also, around the edges of the stencil, do not make large strokes. I usually just kind of pulse the brush up and down or make very small strokes around the edges of the stencil.


5. Let your paint dry. If you think it needs a second coat, let it dry 3-4 hours and then put on a second coat. I almost always do 2 coats. I just think it looks better and gives better coverage. Once your paint is dry (usually 3-4 hours) you can easily peel off your freezer paper. If you did words, you'll need to use your tweezers again to peel up all the little pieces. 

6. Lastly you'll need to heat set your paint. I turn my garment/bag inside out and iron on the back side of the paint. Then I turn it back to the right side, lay a piece of cloth over the painted portion and iron for a minute.


So, I hope this helps those of you wanted to learn about freezer paper stenciling. If you have any questions don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment. I'll do my best to answer your questions. 


And if you do give freezer paper stenciling a try, I'd love to see your projects! 

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Cute Little Baby Onesies

Noah's PCA recently asked me if I would decorate some onesies for a friend of hers who is about to have a baby boy. She bought 3 onesies - 2 white and 1 blue and white striped - and basically told me I could do whatever I wanted to decoration wise. 

So I broke out my trusty Silhouette machine and created Freezer Paper stencils for each of the onesies. I'm finished with them now and love how they turned out. 

I orginally got the idea for this puppy dog face onesie from here. I looked for something similar in the Silhouette store but couldn't find anything so I just created my own design. 

I have been dying to make a tie onesie for awhile now. This tie was purchased from the Silhouette store and it actually came with two ties; one polka dot and one striped. 

The baby's name begins with a T so I created an initial onesie for him and added the turtle and grass to make it look less plain. 


Love how they turned out!


PS. Several of you have emailed or commented with questions regarding Freezer Paper Stenciling - I have a tutorial all about that. Check it out here. 
ETA: Got an email about this so thought I'd post in case anyone else is wondering....
Yes, I'm willing to create, design, and sell custom onesies/t-shirts for the babies/children in your life. Email me for more information.


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Freezer Paper Stenciled T-Shirts

I'm officially hooked to freezer paper stenciling. It is one of my favorite, recently learned techniques. The possibilities with it are endless, I love creating custom pieces that no one else will have, and it's really not that expensive of a project to do. 

So, back when I began freezer paper stenciling and was telling my BFF about all the possibilities of projects, she said "oh, make me a shirt." Well, the next week Hobby Lobby had all their t-shirts on half off so I bought a couple including one for the BFF. She likes the saying by Ghandi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." So I decided that would be the perfect saying on a t-shirt for her. I played around with different fonts in my Silhouette software until I got the saying fixed just how I wanted it, cut it out with the Silhouette on freezer paper, then ironed the freezer paper onto the t-shirt, and painted it. It turned out really cute - so cute in fact, that I made one for myself except my lettering was in my fave color, teal.  

BFF's Shirt

Close up of BFF's shirt

BFF modeling her shirt

My shirt with teal lettering

Then, Mother's Day was creeping close and my Mom likes butterflies so I decided to make her a shirt. I used a butterfly from the Silhouette store and then used the quote "If nothing ever changed there would be no butterflies." It turned out super cute as well. 

Close up of Mom's shirt

Mom posing with her shirt right after opening it

(Oh and thats my brother's doggie Hansel who had an ear infection and needed his Nana)

For myself, I made a shirt that says "I Shoot People" ya know, since I love photography. The camera is another image from the Silhouette store. It is cut out of black and white polka dotted fabric. I cut the saying out of freezer paper and then painted it on in black. Love how it turned out too! 

My new found love of freezer paper stenciling has me excited for the Christmas holidays. Think of all the cute shirts I could make for myself and others! 

Currently, I am freezer paper stenciling some baby onesies for Noah's PCA to give to a friend at her baby shower. They are turning out super cute and I'll be sure to share as soon as I'm done with them! 


ETA: A couple of people have asked me questions about freezer paper stenciling and asked if I would do a tutorial with pictures. I'm working on one so it will be coming soon!

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Butterfly Quote Bag

I have been a busy bee lately working on other things, but the other night I decided I want to craft something just for ME. My new love is definitely freezer paper stenciling - I can't seem to get enough of it and I had some plain tote bags sitting in the closet that I got on sale forever ago for another project that never got completed (please tell me I'm not the only one who that happens to) so I grabbed the teal (one of my fave colors) one, some scrap fabric, some freezer paper, some scrap lace from my stash and some paint and got to work. 


First I used my Silhouette machine to cut out a couple of different sized butterflies from the fabric that I had already ironed Heat-n-Bond to. Then I used the Silhouette to cut a favorite quote out of the freezer paper. I laid my butterflies on the bag where I wanted them to go and positioned the quote around them. I ironed the quote down and started painting. I just used regular old brown (ok, it's called espresso, much better name than "regular old brown") acrylic paint mixed with textile medium to paint on the bag. I then patiently waited for the paint to dry, peeled off the freezer paper, and it was pretty much perfect. (I love the high you get when you first peel off the freezer paper and realized it worked and it looks good!)  I ironed down my butterflies, glued on my lace and got this.....................

Ok, time to get back to all the other stuff I need to do! 

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Freezer Paper Stenciling

Ever since I first read about freezer paper stenciling on various craft blogs, I've wanted to give it a try. It looks fun and there are so many things you can do with it. 

So I decided to buy some freezer paper and give it a try. Honestly, it's not really hard at all. I used my Silhouette to cut out the images I wanted to stencil (I've done all letters thus far) and then iron the freezer paper shiny side down to whatever you want to stencil on. It sticks well and then you are able to easily stencil just like you would with any other type of stencil. 

You can use fabric paint but since I have a lot of acrylic paint in various colors, I thought it would be more economical to just buy a textile medium that you mix with acrylic paint. As long as you use the medium, you should still be able to wash the shirt with no problems. The one thing I learned was to be careful how much medium you add to the paint. You don't want to add to much because that will make the paint to thin and will it bleed through the stencil, which I learned the hard way, as that happened the first time I gave this a try. Also, use tweezers for the tiny, little bitty pieces that go inside the middle of some of the letters like "a" and "O." 

My second effort was this bag. 

Not too shabby. The tree is cut from fabric using the Silhouette and ironed on. 

My third and fourth efforts were these two shirts for a friend who is having a 2nd baby girl next month. 

Love them. I see much more freezer paper stenciling in my future. The bloggers were right - it's addictive! 

Looking for info on freezer paper stenciling? Check out this video tutorial at I am Momma Hear me Roar and this post at Less Cake More Frosting or this guest tutorial at Fave Crafts.

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