It’s All About The Kids

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girls on the deck

The first thing to do is get the supplies together. I like to pick up paints, markers, stencil…..all kinds of fun and creative things to have on hand for a crafty day. Also buy a cheap plastic tablecloth to protect your table.

I also washed and dried some muslin and shirts for the girls to work with. A while ago I won a $10 gift certificate from Sassy Kid Blanks and bought a couple of these cute shirts for my grand-daughters. These short sleeve shirts are cotton knit and really washed up nice. I bought a size 6 and 7. The girls are aged 5 and 7 and they fit perfectly. The company seems to be out of business so I removed the link to their site.

I couldn’t forget about my daughter or…..me…..so I had a couple t-shirts for us to play with. Make sure you cover your table, the paints that we used really had a over-spray. The first thing I did was give everyone a piece of muslin to practice on. We put pieces of foam-core board behind the muslin.

It was fun to just let them chose their own colors and do what they wanted.

Learn how to spray the paints

Sometimes they got a little silly…..

Double fisted spraying

Look at the concentration!

Practice on muslin first

I kept the iron hot and ready to use. I put a old towel done first and whenever there seemed to be too much paint on the muslin I pressed it and heat-set the paint. I believe the directions said to wait 4 hours but…..we were impatient and heat-setting works wonders. Then it was time to try out the stamps.

using stamps

After using the stamps I did the same thing……heat set the piece. They even used the colored pencils and fabric markers on the designs.

more stamping

Can you see how she is trying to decide what she wants to put on her shirt…..it was interesting because at this point the younger one already had the front of her shirt done. This would be me….contemplating.

deciding what to create

We had to get the shirt ironed right away so she could try it on. She picked out the stencil and colors on her own.

by the river

The girls wanted to do the backs too and the kitty stencil…..disappeared (I finally found it today.) so she went with this little butterfly and flower stencil.

closeup of the back

I found it very interesting that neither of them used the stamps on their shirts.

closeup

Here is the back of both of their shirts.

Back of the shirts

Whenever my grandchildren come over they seem to head to my quilt room first…..they know there will always be lot of colorful fabric, paints and crayons for them to use.

Front of the shirts

Now are you wondering what my daughter and I made…..here is a piece she made that I think would look great as a little tote. We both also made t-shirts and…..we used the stamps.

stencil in black
Practice on muslin

I still have the pieces of muslin and I’ll make them into something. There is my t-shirt too.

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60 Comments

  1. Shannon Whitehill says:

    These shirts are so much fun! I did a similar craft with pillowcases at girl scout camp when I was a kid!

  2. Those shirts are wonderful. I have lots of stencil and stamping material with my Silhouette–and all I have to do is pull it out and get the children busy. Tuesday is a teacher workday, so this is perfect timing. Thanks for the inspiration.

  3. What a FUN project! And they look so proud of the results!

  4. Carol C Thomas says:

    Such cute projects and look at the girls happiness.

  5. What a fun project to do with kids! I see lots of different ways and items to use this technique on. Super!

  6. Ruth Griffeth says:

    It looks like all of you had a lot of fun! Actually, you guys had a BLAST! Your shirts all looked wonderful.
    Thank you for a great giveaway

  7. Thanks so much for this inspiring post! I have a four-year old granddaughter and she would love doing something like this! You have provided a great idea for us to create joy and memories.

  8. How fun! They must love having you as their grandma 🙂

  9. Andrea York says:

    What fun you all had making those shirts! So adorable. Kids are so very creative and it's fun to see what they will make!

  10. Those shirts are too cute. I see what you mean about overspray, I wonder if there is a way to avoid that? I am super nit picky and would want clear images, and no overspray.

  11. Those shirts are too cute. I see what you mean about overspray, I wonder if there is a way to avoid that? I am super nit picky and would want clear images, and no overspray.

  12. What a sweet gran! The girls did a great job. Thanks for the giveaway.

  13. That looked like tons of fun. I bet the girls had a blast. Thanks for the giveaway. I follow FQS on FB, via e-mail and You tube.

  14. Sherry VF says:

    I think you have some budding crafters there! Great idea. svonfumetti at yahoo dot com

  15. Lorna McMahon says:

    Lovely shirts and grand daughters. Looks like you all had a wonderful time! Crafty fun!

  16. teachpany says:

    I love this idea. The shirts are adorable, and the girls are so cute. I like the blanks, too. Thanks for sharing the info. I've done some tie died shirts. Those are fun with kids, too.

  17. Lisa Marie says:

    Very cute shirts the girls made! Creating with kids is such fun.

  18. What great shirts! And such lovely girls. 🙂

  19. Christine M says:

    What a fun activity for the girls. Their shirts look great.

  20. Karen - Quilts...etc. says:

    the kids are so cute in their decked out clothes!

  21. Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio says:

    I love the first photo of your happy granddaughters. They are so cute and proud of their artist shirts too.

  22. I am going to have to remember that technique when my grandson gets old enough to do some crafts.
    I used to love doing crafts when my kids were little.

  23. It's clear to see the girls were having a lot of fun–thanks for sharing some of it with us!

  24. What fun!!! Enjoyed seeing the creative minds through the looks on their faces…

  25. Such cuties! I should try this with my nieces and nephews. Just finished altering ninja turtle costumes for an adult and a one year old and made Lexi a girl ninja costume complete with tutu, belt, shirt (with chestplate), bows for the skirt and her hair and face mask. Too cute! I got all the fabric from JoAnn's on sale and then used a 30% off my total, I figure that I spent less than $20 for the ninja girl. My total bill was $58 and saved $62. That was all the fabric for Lexi's costume, crystal strands for the wedding reception and a prepackaged fleece tie Star Wars throw for Christmas.

  26. Very cute girls and such cute projects. What a great memory-making day.

  27. This looks like such a fun project and the girls' faces look so pleased with their creations! So sweet! 🙂

  28. Well, you learn something new every day. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I didn't know there was fabric spray paint! I'll be on the look-out for that! Looks like a lot of fun was had by all 🙂

  29. Jacqueline Frances says:

    Hey there Connie,
    What a neat idea! I have boys and they are not at all crafty, it is nice to see the little ones enjoying themselves.
    I enjoy reading your blog very much and love the great tutorials you have done.
    Thanks so much for the giveaway,
    Jacqueline in Pitt Meadows

  30. Createology says:

    Beautiful and talented granddaughters. You are such a wonderful grandma to embrace creative bliss with your girls. Shirts and muslin turned out fabulous. Creative Kids Craft Bliss Dear…

  31. I can see you are a Great and fun Grandma.
    I can see your kids just running to see what Grandma is up to today. I just love all the painting going on. Thanks so much for showing us all the fun! They are so cute in the shirts.

  32. Josie McRazie says:

    What great imaginations they have!!! So fun to see what they come up with!! I'm sure I will see these shirts around the neighborhood!! (I often see the girls playing in the yard!)

  33. We had a play date like this at our grandma's studio! I love multi-generational craft days. Thanks for the chance at a gift certificate.

  34. Vicki in MN says:

    I can just tell you all had loads of fun playing!!

  35. What a fun time you all had! I have done similar tees with my Grangirlie's few years ago! Love your idea for doin' fabric & making tote, or even quilt blocks would be fun! Have young Grangirlie now, am teaching her to sew this year…think this would be fun to "design her own" fabric! Thank for the reminder of this project! 🙂

  36. Those are two adorable cuties you have there! What fun! Carole @ From My Carolina Home, contact craftnut at rocketmail dot com

  37. It sure looks like your grands had a lot of fun creating their shirts! Thanks for sharing!

  38. Soma Acharya says:

    So much fun!!! The girls look very cute in their pretty shirts 🙂

    -Soma

  39. IHaveANotion ~ Kelly Jackson says:

    What a fun post! I love that the girls were so creative and playful in making their shirts. The spray inks are something I was just recently introduced to….so tempting!

    Smiles,
    Kelly

  40. The smiles are their faces say it all!

  41. It looks like you all had a lot of fun. I can't wait until my 2 yo grandchildren are a little older and we can have fun also. Take care and God bless, Cory

  42. You have very cute grandchildren. And I like the ruffles on their shirts too. 🙂

  43. Happy Cottage Quilter says:

    What a fun craft to do with a child! Your grandchildren looked like they were having a wonderful time!

  44. I love doing things like this with the grandkids. What a great job, Thanks for sharing with us!

  45. Sally Hurley says:

    You are such a cool grandma!

  46. That looks like a lot of fun 🙂
    javerill42 at yahoo dot com

  47. What a fun day with your granddaughters. I love their results; they seem to be really enjoying spray paint.

  48. Elizabeth says:

    Beautiful grandgirls, and the shirts turned out awesome!

  49. I love to do lots of crafty things with my grandson. Thanks for the great giveaway.

  50. Looks like you all had a lot of fun Connie! Great shirts.

  51. Oh my what beautiful and infectious smiles your gkids have. And, such talent too! Love their artistic sense of color and design. What fashion statements in those beautiful shirts. Love it!

    SewCalGal
    http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

  52. My husband keeps asking me why I am holding on to all of the craft supplies I used when I was a Girl Scout leader. I keep telling him I will need them when I have grandchildren. You have just proved my point. It's fun to see your grandchildren having so much fun. That was a great project.

  53. What a wonderful project to do with the girls! They look so thrilled with their finished projects too. I'll bet they love coming to Grandma's house.

  54. what fun shirts! I remember doing tye dye for a birthday party a few years ago, it was fun, my kids still have their shirts, well now younger ones are wearing the bigger ones 🙂