Freezer paper stencil (and mind-rending cuteness that will make you shriek with joy)

All of a sudden, my little girl knows how to smile for the camera, and wow-- what a difference it makes for her photography-challenged mom. I seriously cannot get over how cute she is. And what a big girl she's turning into.

If someone had traveled through time to show me these pictures while I was pregnant with Nora, I would have-- I don't know-- yodeled to the heavens and danced in the street.

She's just so stinkin' cute.

She practically sparkles.

And can't you just tell from looking at the pictures that she's super smart and funny, too?

I would have seen these pictures when I was pregnant, and I would have known that all those weeks of sleep deprivation and breastfeeding anxiety and general upheaval were totally, 1000% worth it.

I would have seen that parenthood just gets more and more fun.

Well, this one would probably have just reminded me to go take my prenatal vitamins.

***

What's that, you say, that's an adorable little tank top with an orange with little heart-shaped seeds? I MADE IT, FOOL!

Ok, I didn't make the tank top, but I did draw the design and paint it onto the shirt using freezer paper stencil, my new obsession.

Background: Every few years, I take up a new hobby-- painting whimsical patterns on flower pots or making my own lip balm or dog food-- and I become fixated on that hobby to the exclusion of all else. I start fantasizing about quitting my job to make doggy meatloaf all day. I create a g-mail account for selling doggy meatloaf to the masses. I gaze into empty storefronts and imagine where I'll put the cold case full of different varieties of doggy meatloaf, and what other sidelines my doggy deli will sell that might provide a higher profit margin, like cutesy embroidered leashes and orthopedic senior dog mattresses, to allow me to continue my mission of selling only the finest premium doggy meatloaf. I set up a table selling doggy meatloaf at a local dog shelter event, nobody buys any, and I lose all interest in doggy meatloaf and never make it again.

It had 17 ingredients, people. I don't cook like that for the fruit of my womb, much less my dog.

Anyway-- I can feel a freezer-paper-stencil mania coming on, because this craft is SO easy but comes out looking so cute and polished.

In case you're interested in trying it, here are some quick instructions.

Materials:

freezer paper (like wax paper, but with wax only on one side)

pencil

x-acto knife

cardboard

cotton t-shirt, onesie, or whatever

fabric paint (I bought Crayola fabric markers)

1. Using a pencil, draw a stencil-able design on the non-waxy side of a piece of freezer paper. The simpler the better. I think coming up with the design is the hardest part.

2. Put the freezer paper on a piece of cardboard to avoid damaging whatever surface you're working on, and cut out your design with the x-acto knife. Remember that the portions you cut out will be the colored parts; it's a lot like carving a pumpkin in that sense.

3. Iron your freezer paper pattern onto the garment, waxy side down. Put another piece of freezer paper waxy side up inside the garment to avoid paint bleeding through to the back of the shirt.

4. Erase the pencil marks so that they don't smudge into your color. I didn't do this and I regret it.

5. Use fabric paint to color in the open spaces in your design.

6. Let the paint dry, and then peel the freezer paper off. Run an iron over the colored portion for 4 minutes to heat set the color.

And voila! Pretty sharp, no??