Banksy Onesie

My new favorite craft tool? Reynolds Freezer Paper, which was instrumental in creating this fab Banksy creeper for Miss Maize.

I got the idea after reading and completing this tutorial. I was so successful I decided to try a different stencil. Want to create your own? Here's what you need:

With my first freezer paper creation, I used a white onesie which I dyed using Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye. But, it was sort of a pain and the color wasn't as vibrant as I would have liked. This time around, I used a super-soft, super-vibrant and super-cheap Rabbit Skins creeper from the stash I picked up at ShirtsInBulk.com. Smart move.

I found the Banksy image by doing a Google Image search, copying, pasting and resizing, then printing it at home. Who is Banksy? A brilliant graffiti artist. Read about him here.

You can buy freezer paper at the grocery store. I got mine at Kroger in the tinfoil/baggie aisle.

Tulip seems to be the most readily available fabric paint and it worked just fine. I applied it with some cheap brushes I picked up at Michaels. 

Finally I used my X-acto knife and cutting mat. And eventually an iron. (With my first shamrock creation, I only needed scissors but something this precise required help from a fine blade.)

How did I do it? I attached  the Banksy print to the matte size of the freezer paper using double-stick tape. Then, with my X-acto knife, I carefully cut around the image, creating a stencil. When I was done, I trimmed the edges to better fit the onesie.

Looking good on Instagram.

Next, I placed the freezer paper stencil on the onesie, shiny side down, and ironed it onto the fabric. No steam and I pressed fairly hard, sliding the iron over the paper for about 3 minutes.  

Maizey supervised. 

The freezer paper sticks to the onesie and you're all ready to paint.  Slip something behind the stencil, inside the fabric, to protect from bleeding. (I used cardboard from a Kleenex box.) As for the paint application, I used a brush (I've heard that those foam wedges work as well) and did two coats. Follow the paint instructions about drying - Tulip recommends four hours.

Watching paint dry.

Four hours later I carefully peeled the paper off the shirt - using tweezers for the finer details. I pressed the shirt again (hot iron, no steam), with a piece of plain fabric over the paint. This is supposed to set the design and smooth the edges. I waited a couple days then flipped the onesie inside-out and laundered it with the rest of the dirties. It came out famously.

I'm not sure what's cuter - the shirt or my little muffin-topped lovely.

So much and so little

 Eight months ago today, Mary Elizabeth joined Will and I, truly making us a family.

She was so tiny. So small. So thin. So dependent on us. It was amazing and overwhelming and daunting. I remember waking in the middle of the night, thunder booming outside, and getting up just to look at her in the tupperware-like bassinet next to our bed. The feeling? Indescribable. And here we are, eight months later. I just left her bedroom. I got up only to look at her. So much has changed, yet at the same time, so little.

iPhone fun

Mom got an iPhone.

 

She's aspiring to be a professional mom blogger. Enlarging Paparazzi Marge.

Rocky Steps

Call me guest blogger

Good friend, children's book author and fellow blogger Maria Dismondy asked me to fill in while she jets around to school speaking engagements. Tasked with the cloth diaper topic, I pulled from this post and this post, added some new material, refreshed, enhanced and advised. It's been fun. Though I love that Enlarging Marge has turned into the Maizey photo journal, I miss blogging. Might be hearing more from me in the future... Topics? The part-time conundrum, onesie craft projects, baby-food making, adjusting to the mom wardrobe, life in Milford, joining a CSA... Watch out! Words to come.

7 months and 77 degrees

Spring has sprung directly into summer, it seems. These shots were taken March 16, when I was 7 months+ 2 weeks+3 days old and it was an amazing 77 degrees. I didn't know quite what to make of the grass, but it was alright since Mom had a Grandma Betty blanket down for me (and Kip too). We brought the fun inside to try to get some standard monthly shots, but I just didn't want to cooperate. I wanted to laugh, grab my toes, roll onto my belly and M.O.V.E. (right off the bed), all while attempting to eat my 7-month sticker. So Mom got me naked and let me go.


Seven month highlights? I'm a big girl. Mom and Dad guess I'm about 20 pounds (an educated guess helped along by Uncle Pete's postal scale). My favorite food is yogurt. I especially like when it's mixed with pureed pears. I've just started feeding myself yogurt puffs. (Meaning? I mash my hand into my mouth until they dissolve.) I'm fascinated by fasteners. Zippers, clasps, clips, buckles and buttons keep me rapt. (Today I spent 8 minutes fiddling with the clasp on the car seat.) I am starting to wave when prompted with a "hi" or a "bye" and sometimes respond to "soooooo big." I don't crawl on all fours yet but army crawl to get whatever I want (I'm especially speedy when Kip's paw's in view). Sometimes I sit up on my own but I often fall over. Why? Because I always want something that's just out of reach. My belly and chin are ticklish and Dad loves to get me giggling. Bedtime was 7:15, but now that daylight savings time is here, it's more like 8. I love looking at other babies - in books or in person. And I still love my mom most of all.


(Seven month lowlight? I just got my first stomach bug - and on school picture day, no less.)