How-to: Bleached t-shirts

So for a fun back-to-school craft we made bleached t-shirts.  I shared them in my last post, so I am posting how we did them today.  Super easy, and way fun!  My daughter and her friends made them at a back-to-school party at our house.

Supplies needed:

*t-shirt:  100% cotton, cheap ones work great, and darker colors work best (don't need to prewash them, and no problem if they are already washed)

*clear contact paper

*spray bottle filled with regular bleach (no water added)

*big bottle of regular vinegar

*big bucket to fill with vinegar

*design you want to put on your shirt

*piece of cardboard to insert into flat shirt to separate front and back

So the first thing you do is figure out what design you want on your shirt.  I have a cricut, and my kids chose designs from my cricut, and we just put the contact paper in the cricut and cut out their designs.  If you don't have a cutting machine, simply trace your design onto the contact paper and cut it out.  Make sure if you do letters that you get them the right way.

Peel the paper off the contact paper and stick your design on your shirt.

Place the cardboard in between the front and back of your shirt so the bleach won't bleed through to the back, and take the shirts outside.

**remember you will be spraying bleach, so wear appropriate clothing when you do this--i.e. clothing you don't mind getting a little bleach on.  And do it in an area you don't mind bleach getting on.

Have your bucket full of vinegar near to where you are spraying your shirts.

Place your shirt on the ground/table or whatever in the sunlight.  Hold your spray bottle with bleach over your shirt and lightly spray your shirt.  You can move around the shirt and spray or just spray in one spot.  Doing it different ways makes different results.  Let it dry in the sun for a few minutes--it is cool to see the shirt change.  The change happens faster in direct sunlight.

As soon as it has bleached as much as you want it to (several seconds to a few minutes), quickly slide out the cardboard and dunk the whole shirt (with the contact paper still on) in the bucket of vinegar.  This stops the bleaching process.  You may want rubber gloves when you do this.

Rinse the shirt in the vinegar, and take off the contact paper.  Ring out the shirt over the bucket and let dry outside.  Stick the shirt in the wash and wash it to get out the lovely vinegar smell :)

Ta-da!  Cool new shirts!

You get different looks depending upon how you spray your shirt.  This one was sprayed really close and with lots of bleach.  The other discoloring happened because??? we had bleach on our hands?  Not quite sure, but it is the same on the back, so it looks like we meant to do that :)

This was was sprayed a little farther away and not so much.

This one was sprayed closer and more concentrated.

This one was lightly sprayed.

This one was lightly sprayed all over the front.  (This is Miss O at her back to school night showing off her locker)

Hope those directions are clear enough.  If you have questions, just post them in the comments, and I will answer as best I can.  

Thanks for visiting and happy t-shirt bleaching!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 30

And the countdown begins--2 weeks and 2 days until school starts, but who's counting? (um, me!)  We still have had unbelievable heat here.  It doesn't look like it is letting up anytime soon, and I so wish it would.  Miss A has started practice for high school cross country.  Miss O is busy working on smoothie recipes for her cookbook.  Miss E has a school music drumming circle camp this week, and Mr J is having fun commentating on the Olympics, "oh, that dive was just horrendous!" (exact quote from my 7 year old)  Too much fun!  Here are some shots from our week. . .

Sunday:  The past few weeks on Sunday evening we have enjoyed watching an episode of Anne of Green Gables.  What a classic, and having them in VHS is very classic (i.e. old).  I was worried our VCR wouldn't work to show them, but thankfully it did.  I may have to put these my Christmas list this year to get in DVD.  Good stuff.

Monday:  We got a fun care package from Ben's parents today.  Getting packages in the mail is always way fun!  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!

Tuesday:  Miss E is getting glasses!  I suspected as much when she came home from school the last day and said, "Mom, I had a hard time seeing the board today."  The eye Dr confirmed my suspicions, and today she picked out these cute frames.  They will be ready to go by school time, and the good thing is she is excited about her glasses--yeah!  She looks cute in them.

Wednesday:  Hit Wal-mart today.  The school lists were out, and Mr J was very meticulously checking his list as we got all his school supplies. 

Thursday:  Today was my mom's 60th birthday.  All the family got together and compiled a list of "60 reasons why we love Nana!"  It wasn't hard to come up with that many, she is awesome!  Love you Mom!  Happy Birthday!

Friday:  My kids go through craft stages.  This summer they have been the friendship bracelets and then colored duck tape projects.  Miss O can make anything out of duck tape, and they have the coolest colors to make things in now.  Duck tape wallets have been her projects lately.  These are just a few she has made.

Saturday:  Every 3 months our family is in charge of cleaning our church building.  Today was our day.  Miss O and Mr J work hard on making the doors and windows nice and clean.  They are good workers.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all have a great week!!

Blue Jeans Week 31

Let it begin. . . school started this week.  I have very quiet days, but we have crazy busy evenings and weekends.  That is life right now, and I am grateful for it.  I love my life.  Hope the beginning of school goes well for all of you.

Sunday:  afternoon relaxing and listening to Dad read in the front yard. 

Monday:  The girls have been on a God's Eye making kick.  They decorated my kitchen light with their awesome creations. 

Tuesday:  Miss E relaxing and reading--enjoying one of her last days of summer.  I think she was too absorbed in her book Dealing with Dragons to notice the blanket had fallen on her head.  As long as it wasn't over her eyes so she couldnt' read, it didn't bother her :)

Wednesday:  Back to school party #1.  Miss O had her back to school party today. They had a relay race and this was their "school" work station where they had to quickly finish a math worksheet.  The girls had fun. 

Thursday:  First day of school for Miss O, Miss E, and Mr J.  Miss O has her bag of Kleenex ready to go.  Who would have thought that Kleenex was such an essential school supply :)

Friday:  Miss A has her first day of school. 

Saturday:  Our 2nd and final back to school party this week.  This was Miss A's party.  They had fun playing volleyball in the backyard.

Well, I am happy to have back to school parties over and school actually started so we can get back in to a "normal" (whatever that means) routine.  I am a schedule and routine person, and school lends itself to that.  Spelling tests, research papers, and math quizzes here we come!