Stenciled T-Shirts

We were late getting out the door on Wednesday because I kept sending E back upstairs to 'put on something nicer'. Finally, in frustration he exclaimed that he didn't have anything nicer, which baffled me since I'd just done about a bazillion loads of laundry the day previous. I had to go look for myself. Sure enough, his drawers were completely stocked-- with clothes full of holes, covered in stains, or that didn't fit at all. :(

It was time to get creative. Later that afternoon, armed with a stack of $4 t-shirts from the consignment store, fabric paint left over from Christmas, an exact-o knife and a roll of freezer paper, we got busy.

The awesome thing about making your own stencils is that the possibilities are endless. Some of the silhouetted images we found online and printed off included X-wings, a stormtrooper, a yellow submarine, Lego minifigs, dinosaurs and the famed E.T. bicycle flying in front of the moon.

The boys were so proud of their creations. :)

I know that freezer paper stencils aren't anything new-- I've watched them circle the blogosphere and pop up on Pinterest for ages-- and yet it still felt like a revelation to apply them to their actual wardrobes and not just reserve it for some special occasion or handmade gift.

Have I mentioned that E is obsessed with The Beatles? He knows every word of every song, and the only way the dentist convinced him to brush his teeth properly this year was to tell him to time himself by brushing to a Beatles song. Needless to say, he was pretty thrilled with his new t-shirt. :)

We still have four more shirts to finish! Happy Weekend!