Fathers Day& Photo Frames

Hi everyone! What a gloomy quiet Saturday we are having here in Iowa. I'm updating with a few recent projects, first up is the Fathers Day t-shirt I helped the kids make dad this year. 

I love love love using freezer paper to make my own screenprints. If you haven't heard of this technique, you need to check it out. I also made Archer boy a onsie of pictures that Lily drew for him:: an idea I picked up from Delia Creates Blog. Lovely blog she has over there! 

You will need:

Freezer paper

an Xacto knife

Permanent Acrylic Paint 

Foam Brushes

Iron/Ironing Board

You can free-hand if you're a good artist,  but I like to get on my computer and print off what I'm going to have written on the shirt. I always print using the "OUTLINE" feature I have on my Macbook Pro because it uses less ink. 

Print out what you want your shirt to say, then lay the freezer paper over your image paper side up (draw on the paper side, not the waxy side)& trace the image onto the freezer paper. Next, you use your Xacto knife to cut the image out. 

Iron your freezer paper to your shirt using a dry setting (no steam!) with the waxy side down on your shirt... THEN: You can then use your foam brushes and acrylic paint to decorate the ironed on images. 

TIPS:: {Leave a bit of excess freezer paper on the outside of your image so you don't accidentally paint off of the paper& onto your shirt in places you didn't want to. ( i had that issue a few times before I started realizing it wasn't worth the amount of freezer paper i was saving by cutting it close to my image). 

AND, don't use a wet foam brush to paint on your shirt. It allows the paint to bleed under the freezer paper& can be quite frustrating if you don't know WHY it is happening. (again, thanks to delia for that tip... it helped me tremendously!)

Also, My sister has been in town visiting this month from Denver. She's just getting into crafting& was interested in making some framed pieces. She's managed to make three GREAT ones while she was here. I thought I would share them with you!  Above is one she made for my husband & I's first wedding anniversary. She got the idea from Pinterest *of course. 

Here is another one of her daughter that she made for father's day. Using Modge Podge in Matte, Basic Grey paper, Thickers, and metal pieces from Tim Holtz,  we were able to create a great guy-style present. I love the little gears with the clock. Also used Tattered Angels mists to highlight those gorgeous pics ... she did such a good job!! I'm proud of my big sis for not only being crafty but thrifty enough to get the frames at the local DAV thrift store. 

I'd like to think i'm rubbing off on her, but I have a sneaking suspicion there's a lot of talent we never knew about guiding her!