If you’re into that thing where you make cutesy matchy holiday shirts for your kids, this is for you.
If you’re into crafts that take next to zero effort, and make you look like Pinterest Royalty, this is for you.
If you’re into doing crafts WITH your kids, you’re my hero, and you can totally rock this.
That is Leyna’s “Show me your shirt! Say ‘TaDa!” pose. She does her best to humor me.
Okay, so all you need to make this is:
a t-shirt (or tank top, or whatever you want to put a flag on)
a sponge (the really big ones are awesome for bigger shirts)
red, white, and blue fabric paint
paint brushes
Sharpie
a magazine or cardboard- just something to put inside the shirt to keep the paint from bleeding through
Draw your flag onto the sponge, but remember to do this backwards. And don’t get too caught up in perfection. No need to have exactly 13 stripes. This is an artistic interpretation.
Next, paint your sponge. You don’t want to completely saturate it, but you do need a nice thick layer of paint on it. It helps if the sponge is just the tiniest bit damp so it doesn’t absorb all the paint. But only a very tiny bit.
Place the magazine or cardboard into your shirt, behind where you plan to place the sponge.
Flip the sponge over and place it paint down where you want it to print on the shirt. MAKE SURE you have it right side up before doing this! After pressing down firmly on the sponge for a couple minutes, making sure to apply pressure to the center and all four sides, carefully remove it. TaDa!
To add stars, you can dip the handle of a paintbrush in your white paint for dots. Or, if you want to involve the kids some more, have them dip their pinky fingers in the white paint and add stars that way.
I used the paintbrush method because I’m NOT the type who likes to do crafts WITH the kids. Especially while pregnant and unable to drink half a bottle of wine.
I kid. Sorta. It was their bedtime.
Let it dry overnight, and you’re ready to go.
You can watch me demo this project and some easy, peasy “firecrackers” on D: The Broadcast in all my nearly 37 week pregnant glory in the video below!
