Summer Art Projects

I always have a few great ideas for summer. This summer I thought I'd do an art project every week. Dan and I came up with a few good ones and then I was going to search the craft blogs. (which I have not yet done.)

This week (the kids have been home for over a month) we did this one.

Freezer paper stencils on tee shirts

The assignment:

Choose an animal that makes a good sillhouette. We used tracing paper and Ranger Rick magazines to find some good animal shapes. Some worked, some didn't. We spent quite a few days on this to find just the right image. (Jack was set on a sea turtle so we found one on google images.)

Trace the shapes onto freezer paper. Jack traced his own, I retraced Sam's original tracing and then did it on freezer paper, and I just did the whole thing for Charlie (except finding the fish he wanted).

Choose a color for the shirt and the paint. We did this a few weeks back when we were at Old Navy. I also already had a few colors of fabric paint the kids could choose from. I got it at Michael's. I'm sure you can get it at most craft stores. You're looking for something in a bottle or tube (but not puffy paint).

After that we just followed the tutorial. Pretty easy (especially if it's really just the sillhouette).

Now I'm thinking of all types of projects using this technique: throw pillows, more tee shirts, framed pictures.

What great things are you doing this summer?