Freezer Stenciling

2 words: 
Freezer.
Stenciling.

I know, it makes no sense but let me explain. I saw this idea originally from iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com and well, I fell in love. To summarize, use freezer paper to create a stencil that you will iron on to a shirt/onesie/whatever then using fabric paint, paint over the stencil and dry. Then voila, magic!

After I saw this project, I knew I had to make this for my friend, Alicia's baby, Ethan. I bought the materials thinking I had plenty of time but little Ethan Alexander came 4 weeks early so I had to stop procrastinating!

Here are some more in depth details:

Materials:
Onesie (or shirt/pants/bag/whatever your heart desires)
Fabric paint (I used the matte Tulip brand paint from Walmart. It costs under a $1.)
Reynolds freezer paper (Reynolds Wrap usually has coupons out in circulars. I printed a coupon off reynoldswrap.com)
a paint brush
Iron
Image that you want to make in a stencil (This is optional if you want to go freehand. I printed my image from my computer.)
Exacto knife (I bought this for $5 at Walmart in the wedding aisle... weird, I know... I didn't need an exacto knife for my wedding day but that's me.)

Instructions:
1. To start, figure out what you want to go onto your fabric. For baby Ethan, I wanted his onesie to have a jersey feel. So I printed off a big "5" since he was born on April 5th and I printed off his initials, "E.A.J." to above the number.
2. Lay your image on a flat surface with plenty of light. Cut out some freezer paper to cover your image. Put the shiny side of the freezer paper down on the image and you might want to tape it to the image so that it doesn't shift when you cut it.

3. Using your knife, cut out your image from the freezer paper. I haven't used an exacto knife since I was in oh say, 7th grade so I was little bit rusty. You might want to practice first if you haven't used one in awhile or ever. Carefully trace out your image. I did mine slowly. Be sure to be very exact. Anything that is cut out will show up when you paint over the stencil.
4. After you have traced out your beautiful image, cut a piece of freezer paper and put it in the shirt/bag/onesie/whatever. This is so the paint doesn't seep through the fabric. Heat up your iron.

5. Place your image carefully on your fabric. Make sure it's precisely where you want it because once the paint is on, there is no going back! Iron the stencil on to the fabric. Run your fingers over the stencil to make sure every part (especially around the edges of the stencil) is ironed to the fabric. If it isn't completely ironed, the paint can get through.
6. Paint evenly over the fabric. Let it dry for a few hours. I waited a full 24 hours because I was nervous. ha! Then pull the stencil off and you should have your beautiful masterpiece!

7. The final step is key. Grab some fabric, any fabric is fine, and place it over your painted image and iron again. This seals the deal! Most fabric paints say not to wash until 72 hours so just be aware of those fine print details.

After you create your artwork, show off and brag all you want. You created something beautiful- go show it off!

Valentine's Day

Oh, Valentine's day. Either you absolutely love it or don't care for it. For years (well, most of my life), I was anti Valentine's day and would always make it a point to wear a black shirt or headband... basically something not pink or red. And of course, the year Troy and I started dating, everything changed and it became a huge holiday for me... HUGE!

Our first year dating, I was in FL in my senior year of college and he was in MS. My college roommate bff, Krista, was engaged to a guy living in Chicago so we felt the pains of the long distance. My wonderfully clever roommate helped me to make my first chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with some white chocolate. And she helped me make a Valentine's day picnic basket filled with chocolates, chamagne glasses, sparkling grape juice, the works. It was pretty spectacular. This year I didn't go all out but my husband sure did. He is fantastic and I couldn't imagine life without him.

A few weeks ago, I bought some Valentiney colored cardstock and ribbon and went to work to make a few Valentine's day cards.

The first is one I made for my sweet sister who is doing an internship in TX. I hot glued pieces of ribbon to the cardstock and originally, was going to put a big heart in the middle over the ribbon. But adding the ribbon took time and it looked so beautiful that I didn't want to cover it up so I added a few small hearts just hanging out on the ribbon.







The second card is for my parents in PA. It's simple. Elegant. Beautiful. I love it and am very proud of it! I absolutely love ribbons.








The third one is for one of my closest friends ever, Darla. This was a trifold card that modeled my parents'. There are hearts on the creases. It was a Valentine's day, get better, happy housewarming card all wrapped in one.





I love making cards. I used to do when I was younger (like middle school) and even did a speech on making cards in my 8th grade English class. I got an A of course!**

I took the pictures outside for the best lighting. Unfortunately, the background looks very bland and dull.

Share your creative ideas with me and let me know if there are any better materials to work with. Happy belated V day!

**I'm not 100% sure I received an A for my speech but most likely I did... or maybe it was a B.