Hulk and Iron Man Freezer Paper Stencil Shirt

Hulk Smash!


That's what my 3 year old runs around our house saying...over, and over and over.  He loves the Avengers.  He loves superheroes.  He always notices the shirts in all the stores with these characters on them but lets face it, I'm not made of money, he has plenty of other shirts, and they are always upwards of $15 each.


And what does a DIY Mama do when she doesn't want to spend a small fortune on character shirts but really wants to give her little one what they want?


She makes it herself of course.


So I took a little trip to Hobby Lobby picked out a green shirt, they are less than $3 each after their "Always 30% off" discount.


I got online and googled, "Hulk freezer paper stencil", and somehow found an image of half a face that was supposed to be the Hulk.  I then went to Dafont.com and found a font that was more comic book-ish because I knew I didn't just want the face on there, there needed to be some kind of wording so anyone and everyone would know who it was supposed to be.


Of course the wording immediately came to me, it had to be, Hulk Smash!

Someone told me it's more of a Lego version of the Hulk and it probably is, but Grant knew exactly who it was as soon as he saw it and he loved it.  What did he say after he talked about how much he wanted to wear it, "right now!"?

Mommy where's my Iron Man shirt?

Another trip to Hobby Lobby later for a red shirt and a trip to Joann's for a small bottle of gold metallic fabric paint (because Hobby Lobby didn't have any) and he now has an Iron Man shirt as well.

To find the above image I simply googled, "Iron Man freezer paper stencil".  I now have 2 other shirts in the works for a Spiderman and one with the Avengers emblem on it.

There are dozens of freezer paper stencil tutorials out there which is why I didn't make one for this project.  I don't think I do anything different from anyone else.  Here is one I looked at before I did my first project last year.  If you've never done freezer paper stencils, go to the store and buy some freezer paper right this second!

You will quickly become addicted and coming up with your own shirt designs for you or your little ones.

Wild Child Zoo Shirt and Water Bottle

I've been on the hunt for things to do with Grant this summer.  I desperately want to keep him busy and entertained, with the idea this will minimize the tantrums and fit throwings.

I know this is probably wishful thinking but a mama's gotta have hope.

We took him to the zoo last year for the first time and he loved it, we had a great time so I started looking into a membership.  Turns out they aren't too bad in price when you add in the parking fees and the fact that Grant is over the age of 2 which means we have to pay a whopping $10 admissions for him.

Which I personally think is a little crazy but whatever.

Naturally I figured if we would be going to the zoo Grant would need a zoo shirt (and since it's Kids Clothing Week I figured it's the perfect time to finish one).  I always go through the gift shops and see all these cute things I want to buy, you know as if Grant cares if he has a shirt that says zoo on it, but never want to pay the money for them.  Let's face it, most of the stuff they will never play with or only wear a short while.  And what kind of crafty Mama would I be if I didn't at least attempt to make him a shirt myself.

Since I have a new obsession with freezer paper stenciling I thought the zoo shirt was a great excuse to feed into that obsession.  I googled zoo animal silhouette and decided on a rhino.  Mainly because it seemed boyish, don't ask me why, it just did.

I printed the image in the size I wanted, traced it onto freezer paper, cut it out with an exacto knife, ironed and painted it onto the shirt.  Here was the end result:

 

I look at some blogs and they have the cutest pictures with their kids posing so nicely in the clothes they lovingly made.  It took me 10 minutes to get the picture you see above.  He kept turning to the side and turning his back to me.  Then wanted to look through all the pictures on my camera.

 

 

And it wouldn't be complete without throwing himself on the floor at least once, shouting "NO", when asked to show me his new shirt.

 

I thought "Wild Child" was the perfect  wording for the shirt.

 

 

I debated for awhile on whether or not to put the Columbus Zoo and the year on the back.  Why do I debate over such things?  In the end I decided if I were to buy one at the zoo gift shop it would have the year on it so mine should too.

 

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a water bottle.  Last year we had a regular old sippy cup but I have found I can actually get Grant to drink water if it's in a water bottle, he loves them.  I bought these at Hobby Lobby 40% off for $1.74. 

 

(please excuse the wrong turned picture, I can't for the life of me get it to upload in the right direction)

 

I used my Cricut and vinyl from Expressions Vinyl to decorate the outside with polka dots and their names.  I had to make one for my neice as well, since she will be with us on at least one trip to the zoo.

 

I'm in love with these bottles, they are too cute, and Grant carries his all over the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relay for Life Team Shirts

I posted here about our Relay shirts I'm freezer paper stenciling and after finishing 3 (of the possible 23) I have come to realize, maybe I took on too big a task.  Our Relay is in June and I'm guessing as to whether or not I'm going to be able to get them all done. 

I will say I love freezer paper stencils and already have a design made for my son's zoo shirt this year (cuz you know you have to have a special themed shirt to go to the zoo).  However I wasn't aware that I would not be able to reuse the stencils.  For whatever stupid reason I thought I could just peel and restick the design as many times as I desired.  I have found after 2 shirts the stencil needs pitched because the stickiness of the small pieces no longer works.  So that means I have to make about 12 stencils, x-acto knife them, paint them, heat bond them, and wash them.

There are loads of tutorials and tips on various websites, just do a google search and you will find dozens.  In case you don't want to go to all that trouble, I looked at this post as a reference.

the color in the pic above is a little wonky but its a really pretty pink in the right lighting.

 

 

Even though I love how they are turning out I'm thinking maybe we should have ordered some haha.

O well back to cutting and painting I go.