Week 40: T-shirt Love

 Ok guys... I just looked at a calendar, and counted the weeks... I'm WAY behind some how.  So this week, we cover weeks 40-43. Aaannnddd... GO!

Back in August, one of our dearest friends had a birthday.  I was really struggling over what to do for him, as I often struggle for gifts for guys, but also because we were at our poorest. 

Luckily, the night before his birthday, a craft idea came to me.  And it was something I could do in a super small amount of time.  Yes!

I stole my fave photo of him and his darling dog off of Facebook, cropped it to just him and Brakley, blew it up, and printed it out on regular paper in black and white. 

 How cool is this photo?!?

I cut Mateo and Brakley out, hugging the edge of their shapes, to make a silhouette. Then I traced it onto freezer paper and cut them out again.  I did my best to keep the frame intact, and then ironed that part onto a new t-shirt, so that the negative space was my friend and his dog.  Freezer paper makes a super tight seal when ironed, allowing me to paint cover it without any paint leaking past the edge. It's like painters tape for fabric paint. 

I mixed orange acrylics with a fabric medium and painted it onto the t-shirt.  I let it dry for a few hours, then peeled the freezer paper off, and ironed to set the paint.  

Ta-da!

He's contemplating how much he loves it.  Turns out it's a lot. 

Me too.