4th of July Fun!

I know that this is alittle late... but better late than never right?
  I tried to get this up yesterday, but the photos took forever to load and I was trying to pack for vacation. We are now on "vacation" and my 3 year old fell asleep on the 6 hour drive. We got here (Maine) at midnight and he woke up at 5 am because he was at Meme and Papa's house and wanted to see them! So since I am up at the crack of dawn on my first day of vaca... why not create a post right?

Now onto the 4th of July goodies...
  Does anyone else procrastinate things? Because I do and it drives me crazy. I don't mean to. I just always think I have more time/days than I actually do. So I did projects yesterday morning instead of getting ready to go. So here we go.
First I made a shirt for "Mr. Cowboy". I actually made this for Memorial Day but it works for the 4th as well! I took a white polo, rubber stamps, and fabric paint and went to town. (sorry it's wrinkled. I pulled it out of the suitcase to snap a photo).

I was very happy withthe way this came out. It came out better than I invisioned. I found clear stamps at Micheals for $1 that said great grandpa etc. I was thrilled! I had planned to do that anyway... and was prepared to stamp each individual letter. I was VERY happy that I didn't have to.

 It was fun to make this and to honor his grandfathers. Everett Jr. and Wesley are still living and we will be spending the 4th with them. They have not seen this shirt yet, but I think hope that they will feel honored to have "Mr. Cowboy" wearing their names.

Bleached Star Shirt:

I cannot take credit for this idea. My sister makes these babies and does and INCREDIBLE job! I stole her idea and have called her several times asking questions. It's fun and WICKED easy!

 Materials:

T-shirt

stickers/freezer paper

bleach in a spray bottle*

cardboard (for inside of shirt)

* Make sure that you have bleach that can be used for cleaning. My first attempt (around Valentine's day) failed miserably because I didn't "cleaning" bleach. The other stuff slightly faded the shirt, but DID NOT give me the look I was going for.

Process:

1.Put cardboard inside shirt

2. Put stickers on shirt as desired

*You can also cut out a design from freezer paper and iron it on.

*if using stickers they should be thicker/plastic stickers. (The bleach seeps through the paper ones)

3. Spray in the bleach

There's not particular rhyme or reason to spraying. I likes the look of going up the shoulder so tat's what I did. Do whatever you think looks good.

4. WAIT (it's the hardest part)

*Some colors take longer than others. Let the bleach sit until you get hte color you like. Sometimes you don't get the color you're looking for. I got frusterated because one of hte shirts didn't come out like I wanted too and tried bleaching it again... but it didn't lighten any.

5. Hand wash in HOT water. I added some laundry soap to the water.

6. Wash in washing Machine. (We live in a small apt and don't have a washer and dryer, sadly! But I just hand washed it really well and it works just fine.)

7. Dry!

*The colors are come out lighter once they are dry. Always dry them before you determine if you like them or not. Drying makes all the difference!

***A side note: Make sure you take off the stickers before you rinse the bleach off. I wasn't sure I should. I guess I was worried about it bleeding or something.  But TAKE THEM OFF FIRST! or else you get a gooey/flakey mess. (example below)

 

So that is basically it! Here's the final product. (I don't have after pictures or "Mr. Monkey's" Made in America shirt yet. But they will come).



Now for the last project! An Independence day door hanging!

This is made from a stair tread from an old slide. I was so excited about this! I am not going to do a step by step break down of this project at the moment. I need to go relieve my mother-in-law from the sleepless monsters that have invaded her house!

But here are some close up shots for you. The tutorial will be come in days to come!

Well... Happy Independence Day! I hope you all have a great, fun filled day!
Hills