“April showers bring May flowers”
or so they say. Well, I say make April showers fun with a rain inspired D.I.Y
project. The weather is slowly warming up and my kids are longing for those
special hours of outside play. While the clouds resisted to cooperate, we spent
some time creating these great t-shirts. Kids love getting crafty, so take your
little ones, nieces, nephews or cousins (or just your inner child!) and gather
your supplies!
You will need:
* A pre-washed t-shirt
* Freezer paper
* Acrylic paint in colors of your
choice
* A foam or spouncer brush
* Exacto knife
* Cardboard
* Surface for mixing colors (I use
the cover of a take out container)
* April Showers stencil
1. Make your stencil. Click on the link to get the April Showers stencil. Cut a piece of freezer paper to fit the image's 8.5" x 11" size. Feed the piece of freezer paper through the printer manually as you print the image,
making sure the artwork gets printed on the dull side of the paper. Carefully
cut out the drops and cloud shapes with your exacto knife. You have made your
stencil.
2. Iron the stencil onto your
t-shirt. Place the stencil shiny-side down on the center of the t-shirt and
press with your iron on the hottest setting. Do not use steam.
3. The part the kids love, mixing
colors and printing! Mix 2 parts acrylic paint/ 1 part textile medium. Textile
medium is great because you can use acrylic paints to paint, stamp or print on
fabric without having to spend a big budget on textile inks and your project
will be washable. Place the piece of cardboard inside the t-shirt, under the
stencil, so that the paint doesn’t transfer to the back. Take your sponge brush
and dab it on the cloud area. Make sure you cover the whole thing. If you’re
letting kids do this part, let them have fun while guiding them.
4. Move on to printing the drops.
Mix different colors and dab your sponge brush. For lighter colors, you may
need two coats of paint. Let the first coat dry before doing the second one.
5. Let the paint dry for at least
an hour or so. Gently remove the stencil off of the t-shirt. Your stencil can
be re-used a few more times so don’t throw it away!
6. Heat set the design on the
fabric. Using your iron in the
hottest setting, iron over the printed area for 20-30 seconds. Do not use
steam. Wear and enjoy!
My kids are very happy with the
results and are proudly saying “I made this”. Now they’re thinking to make them
as gifts for all their friends but I’m not so sure about that... Remember to supervise
children while doing this project, only adults should do steps. 1. 2. and 6.
Have fun and please share
pictures of your April showers tees!
Natasha K.
2 comments:
What a great indoor project to do with kids!
Thanks Tracey, it is really fun and kids love wearing something they made…
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