Making A Life

We are getting ready for the big event on July 1st.  My very patriotic 5-year-old has inspired the making of Canada day t-shirts.  This craft is probably the easiest that I have ever blogged about, so no excuses.  It was a very good thing that it was fast because one child was riding a scooter over my feet, while the other was climbing on the dining table.  Crafting with kids what more do I need to say.

Materials:

• Red craft paint
• Textile medium – optional
• HANDS – come on I know you have those, feet, or paws would also suffice
• White T-shirt
• Paint brush

Instructions:

1. In reality you should always wash clothing before you print on it, but who has time for that – so lets say optional

2. Put paper towels inside the shirt (3 layers) to make sure that the paint doesn’t bleed through to the back of the shirt

3. Lay the t-shirt stuffed with paper towels all smoothed out on a flat surface

4. Mix the paint with textile medium per the textile medium bottle instructions.  Textile medium helps the paint stick and not fade when washed.  It also waters down the paint making it easier to work with and faster to dry but if you are planning to wear this only for one day you are safe to skip the textile medium.

5. Make the kids wash their hands, unless you want cookie, pasta, juice and who knows what else as part of the maple leaf

6. Have the kids practice stamping the shirt with unpainted, clean and dry hands (I know that’s a lot to ask)

7. Paint one kids hand red – TIP paint one kids hand at a time if you have more than one kiddo

8. Help them place their hand on the shirt, and press it down (gently)

9. Get those hands washed before you have red hand prints on the couch and dog

10. Using a paint brush paint the solid sides of the Canadian flag, if you are not brave enough to free hand it, then use painters tape to make rectangles, but only after the hand prints are dry.  My rectangles not perfect but I think are in keeping with aesthetic of the hand print.

11. Let the shirts dry completely, I would leave them over night to be safe.

12. Iron to heat set the flag and if you are feeling like super mom iron out the wrinkles.

We live in a great country so get out and celebrate on July 1st.  Happy Canada Day!