Eraser Stamped Batman Shirt

Not to long ago I spied some t-shirts at the dollar store.  They had all kinds of sizes and colors so I grabbed a few knowing that decorating them would make a fun and inexpensive activity to do with my kids.  We used some of the shirts to make these festive patriotic shirts for the Fourth of July.  With the extras each of my children got to decide how they wanted to decorate their own shirt.

My super hero loving three year old decided that he wanted a batman shirt so batman it was!

He was super excited to wear his new shirt despite the long sleeves and the hot humid weather.



He was sure to wear what he calls his mean batman face as I snapped a few picture.  I just love this spunky and silly little boy!



Now that he has his mask, cape, and new shirt he's ready to go fight crime.  I found the batman mask on Amazon a few years ago for only $5 and the cape was another dollar store find.



I love how simple, fun, and fast these eraser stamped shirts are to make.

First things first--I washed the shirt.  This is always a good idea so it can preshrink.  It also washes away any chemicals on the fabric from manufacturing which may prevent the paint from being permanent.

To start out I traced and cut out the batman logo from freezer paper.  I then placed the shinny side of the logo onto the fabric and ironed it on using a medium setting.  Be sure to focus on the edges and points of the logo.  Iron for about 30 seconds to a minute.  The first time I used freezer paper for a project I applied a lot of heat and and lot of pressure and I couldn't get the freezer paper to come off of my fabric when I was done. I ruined my project.  Less is more here, but at the same time you want to make sure the paper is completely ironed on so no paint seeps under.

I then mixed in some textile medium to my black paint and used a new pencil eraser to stamp.  Be sure to place cardboard, wax paper, or freezer paper inside your shirt before you start stamping so the paint doesn't soak through to the back.  You really can't go wrong with the design.  I concentrated the dots more around the logo and then spaced them out as I got further away from it.

Once the paint drys you can peel away the freezer paper and your shirt is done!

Want more eraser stamped t-shirt ideas?  See the patriotic shirts we made here.

Eraser Stamped Patriotic Shirts (Using Dollar Store Tees)

Hey, I just wanted to let you know that my book Quiet Book Patterns is on sale right now through Amazon for only $7.90!  This is the lowest price I've seen it selling for!  Now's a great time to grab a copy and buy one to give away as a gift too!  Purchase your copy here.
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The Fourth of July is one of my very favorite holiday's.  I love the parades, and the red, white, and blue, and the patriotic music, and the food and fireworks, and spending time with family.  This is a land that I love!

A few weeks when I was shopping I noticed the patriotic shirts on display.  As I was browsing through them I remembered that I had spied some t-shirts at the dollar store and thought it would be fun for my kids and I to make our own patriotic shirts for the fourth of July.  I mean for $1 why not?  Here is what we came up with inspired by this shirt that I saw at Target:






I love how they turned out and they were so simple to make.


First things first--I washed my shirts.  This is always a good idea so they can preshrink.  It also washes away any chemicals on the fabric from manufacturing which may prevent the paint from being permanent.  I still can't believe I snagged these tees at Dollar Tree! You really can't beat the prince for a fun craft project.  I was lucky to find one in each of my kids sizes and they even had some in my daughters size in a girl cut.  

To start out I traced and cut out a star from freezer paper.

I then placed the shinny side of the star onto the fabric and ironed it on using a medium setting.  Be sure to focus on the edges and points of the star.  Iron for about 30 seconds to a minute.  The first time I used freezer paper for a project I applied a lot of heat and and lot of pressure and I couldn't get the freezer paper to come off of my fabric when I was done. I ruined my project.  Less is more here, but at the same time you want to make sure the paper is completely ironed on so no paint seeps under.

I then mixed in some textile medium to my red and blue paint and used a new pencil eraser to stamp.  Be sure to place cardboard, wax paper, or freezer paper inside your shirt before you start stamping so the paint doesn't soak through to the back.

You really can't go wrong with the design.  I concentrated the dots more around the star and then spaced them out as I got further away from it.

Once the paint drys you can peel away the freezer paper and your shirt is done!

This project is very kid friendly.  My children had a blast making their very own fourth of July shirts.  Now they're busy making a bunch of red, white, and blue rainbow loom bracelets so once July fourth rolls around they'll have plenty of patriotic things to wear.

Cute kids.  Cute made-by-them shirts.

Since these dollar store shirts where such an incredible deal we grabbed a few more is different colors too.  Stay tuned to see what we made with those!

Gifts Kids Can Make: Little Ninjas

My daughter has been a busy little elf.  Over the last few weeks she has spent hours locked in her room making Christmas gifts for everyone in the family.  It's fun to see her so excited about giving gifts instead of worrying about what she's getting for Christmas.  I don't know what all her little gifts will be but I did help her with one of them.  As a gift for her younger brother she painted some little peg dolls to look like ninjas.

I then helped her make this little bag to put the dolls in.

I just know he's going to love them.

And I knew my daughter would love her own little ninja dolls too so I had my son make up a few to give to his sister for Christmas.  He loved helping to paint them and adding the details to the dolls.  You can't see it in the picture but they each have a little sword drawn in the back.  He made sure I drew them in the back because apparently that's where ninjas keep their swords.  I think they turned out really cute and it's so much fun seeing my kids excited about giving.

Garage Sale Re-do

The other day I was heading home from the library with my kids when I saw a garage sale sign. I followed it . . . and that garage sale led me to another one and then another one. Two hours later I was heading home with this:

I still don't know why I bought it. I guess I saw some potential in it . . . and it was only $5.

This was one of those projects that I knew would never get done unless I got it done right away. So after getting it home I cleaned it up, took it apart and then later that night after the kids were in bed I primed it.

The next day I painted.

I used Pistachio green Krylon spray pain. I love spray paint! It makes painting SO easy. And all that packing paper that I saved from our move three years ago finally came in handy.

After letting the paint dry over night it was time to put this thing back together. I'm so glad I had my "before" picture to reference or else I'm afraid it would still be in pieces. I had the idea to modge-podge some green and pink fabric (it would have matched perfectly) to the seat of the chair. I debated it for a while but then decided I'd better try and keep it gender neutral.

I love how it turned out. I love that I got it done before it had a chance to get on my to-do list, and my kids LOVE having their own special work space too.

Little Wooden Dolls

This is going to be one busy summer. Between weddings, reunions and visiting family I think we'll be away more than we'll be home. Since late winter I've had an eye and ear open for any sort of idea that I could use to keep my kids entertained on our long car and plane rides.

I saw these little wooden craft, um, "things" at JoAnns. I really don't know what they are, but I thought they'd make a fun new toy.

I planned on making them all girls but my daughter thought since there were four of them there should be a doll to represent each person in our family. I did my best trying to make two of the figures look like boys. I drew on the clothes and face with a pencil. There was a lot of erasing going on until I finally felt satisfied with them.

Painting came next. Kind of silly, but I put it off for a few days because I was scared to death to do it. I didn't want to ruin them. The only brushes I have are a cheep set that I bought when I was a poor college student only because I needed them for an assignment. Good brushes probably would have made it a little easier, but in the end I was pretty happy how they turned out . . . although they're far from perfect.

Here's a side view of the girlies so you can see their cute piggy-tails.

After they were all painted and dry I added a top coat that made them shinny. I still can't decide if I like them better this way . . .

Happy little family . . .

Stay tuned to see the mini doll house that I made for these cute

dolls to live in . . .


I'm linking to THESE parties this week.

Painting with Water

Our local librarian always has a craft or activity for the kids to do after story time. Not too long ago she had the greatest idea . . . painting with water. All you need is a bowl of water, some old paintbrushes, and a piece of sidewalk.

My boys had so much fun with this... and the worst that could happen is they get wet!

Gifts Kids Can Make: Running T-shirt

My husband is a runner. Recently as I was folding the laundry I noticed that his running shirts were getting worn out. Luckily his birthday was coming up. Instead of giving him a plain ol' t-shirt I had the boys help me make a special one just for Dad.

I ran to Hobby Lobby and got a few different colors of fabric paint and an alphabet stencil. On the back I painted this (from Dr. Suess's One Fish, Two Fish):

And then for the fun part. Each boy got to pick his own color of paint, dip his foot in and put it on the shirt. The boys thought this was so much fun and couldn't wait to give it to their dad.

And my husband said it's the best present he's ever gotten . . .

Paint Your Own Toys!

My husband has been out of town this week and some of the days get to feeling unbearably long.  Thursday was one of those days so I decided to pull out a craft to keep us all busy (and happy.)  I bought these little vehicles at Wal-mart quite a while ago and forgot I had them.  They were only 88 cents each.
 

The two older boys picked which one they wanted and I painted the third (for the baby).  Then we picked our paint colors, pulled on our cover-ups (my husband's old dress shirts) and we were ready to go.

I rarely pull out the paint so the boys had a blast!  And they think it's extra cool to play with toys that they painted themselves!