My daughter has reached the age where she seems to ruin her t-shirts within hours of putting them on for the first time. Between preschool art time, lunch and her dirt-princess play in the garden, every shirt she owns is covered with splotches and stains. But instead of constantly throwing them out, I’ve started giving them new life with some carefully places stencil painting. It’s a great money saver and give me to opportunity to make her shirts a little more fun than just plain old t’s.

Things you’ll need:
T-shirt (you can use a new one too!)
Fabric paint
Foam brush
Freezer paper
Craft knife or digital cutter
Iron

Things to do:
1. First, look at the stains, decide which areas will need to be covered and make a small mark on your paper to help you place the stencil shapes.

2. Cut your design, using either a craft knife and traced shapes or a digital or die cutter, out of the freezer paper. Remember you want to take away the area you want painted so make sure the remaining edges are smooth.
3. Press the stencil into place, plastic coating side down, with a warm iron, paying particular attention to the edges.

4. Paint a light coat of fabric paint onto the stencil, making sure the exposed fabric is evenly coated. Allow the paint to dry slightly and add a second coat if needed.

5. Once the paint is dry, peel the stencil off of the shirt and heat set the fabric paint according to the directions on the package.