freezer paper stenciling ~ fox & chicken

This is soooooo cool! I have seen this on several craft blogs and have been wanting to try freezer paper stenciling out for some time now. I found some images I wanted to try out and printed them on regular paper--a fox and a chicken. I am going a Chicken Festival and Craft Fair in September, so I wanted to make some chicken themed shirts.

Note: For the fox, I used Photoshop to take out some of the inside black area in order to save on black printer ink--'cause I'm frugal like that!

This was the first project I did when we got back from vacation and I was so excited to try it! The hardest part about the whole bit? Waiting for the paint to dry—really!   I bought this little apron for my little man for $2 at Michaels. I was planning on making him a crafting apron, but thought, “Why would I spend my precious time making an apron when the whole purpose it to get it messy?” So I just enhanced the 2 buck apron instead!

Rather that giving you a lame tutorial, I will leave it to the experts: For a really great video tutorial, please visit I am Momma, Hear Me Roar. It is a wonderful way to learn how to do it—and realize it is soooo simple that you may want to try it this weekend (if you can wait that long)!  

I do however have some tips—well just one really. Wait until the paint is COMPLETELY dry before ironing it. I made the mistake of ironing it too soon and it made an iron circle imprint in the paint-can you see it below (on the lower left side)? Boo Hoo! Oh well, live and learn.

Okay, I do have one more tip—save the “outline” image that you cut and then make a circle from freezer paper to do a reverse image, like this. 

Two for the (cutting) work of one!

Oh and instead of buying special paint, I used this:

You just mix 2 parts regular acrylic paint with one part of this medium and VOILA! You have fabric paint. I have used it for other projects, but not T-shirt and you have to wait 7 whole days before washing it, so I'm not sure yet how it will turn out after washing, but I think it will be okay.

I am pretty happy with the results. I think I will get better at this as I make more--which I am sure to do and will post them when there are done!

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