Shirts with "sole"

The kids had two friends visit for a sleepover last night, so we made fun souvenirs from the event. I found this idea in an old Family Fun magazine that I 'borrowed' from a doctor's office recently. My policy is this: you make me wait more than 20 minutes past my scheduled appointment time, I'm most likely going to swipe a magazine. I mean, after 20 or more minutes of waiting, I'm bound to get engrossed in an article or find an idea I want to remember later. Keller says this is illegal. I think waiting too long for scheduled appointments should be illegal.

Anyway, I digress. . .

The five kiddos and I made t-shirts with "sole." Here is a supply list for any who may be interested, followed by step-by-step instructions and photos.

Supplies
*Plain t-shirts (we had a collection leftover from tie dying, and I picked up a few cheap white undershirts as well)
*Fabric paint
*Cosmetic wedges or pieces of sponge
*Shoe(s) with a cool sole on the bottom
*Contact paper
*Templates or free-hand drawings of things the kids will want on their shirts
*Squares of cardboard to put inside the shirts so the paint doesn't bleed through (I used boxes from frozen pizza which I dug out of the recycling bin)

Step 1:

Cut out a pattern from contact paper (Lesson learned here: If you give kids the option of an elaborate hand-drawn T.Rex or snowman, versus a printable simple cut-out peace sign, they're going to pick the most labor-intensive option for me).


Step 2:

Put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt. If you need a picture for this, then you might want to reconsider your potential for completing the project ;)

Step 3:

Peel off the backing and stick the contact paper onto the shirt.


Step 4:

Apply fabric paint to the tread of your chosen shoe by using a sponge or cosmetic wedge. (No picture of this one either, as this was the time I had five little pairs of hands grabbing for paint that would permanent dye their clothes, the curtains, and any other fabric they might touch).

Step 5:

Keep reapplying until you have decent coverage on the fabric.


Step 6:

Peel off the contact paper and Voila! It's kind of a messy job to pull off the template, so I took that job to avoid 'cross-contamination' from contact paper to shirts or hands, etc. The shirts need to dry for about 4 hours, and then you are supposed to wait 72 hours before washing.










Step 7:

Scrub the sole of the shoe with liquid soap before it has a chance to dry.

Here are a few other photos of how the kids amused themselves during the sleepover. I love having this little posse of boys who are not afraid to express themselves ;)


(I have incriminating photos of their buddy, too, but decided to leave them off the blog. Basically, I'm okay with embarassing my own kids, but not someone elses!!)