The Spray Paint Shirt

Teaching high school, I see lots of puffy-paint shirts the students make for various sports and activities.  While the puffy-paint shirts can be fun, they take forever to dry, and sometimes take a long time to make.

A couple years ago, I came up with this idea for a quick way to make team shirts that would dry quickly as well.  They are fun to make for team-bonding, or could be fun for a party activity.

Here's what you will need:

• spray paint
• t-shirt(s)
• cardboard letter cutouts (I found mine in the craft aisle at Walmart)
• a flat surface (and maybe a drop cloth, tarp, or newspaper if you don't want paint all over)

First, lay out your t-shirt.  Try to get out all wrinkles and get as flat as possible.  The more flat your shirt is, the better your letters will turn out.  You may notice that I have some seepage of paint around the wrinkle.

Place your letter cutouts on the shirt.  I have used both the letters themselves and the outlines before.  Remember that if you use the letters themselves, it will create the negative space to look like the letters; this leaves less of the shirt its original color.  If you use the letter outlines, it will color the letters and outline the rectangles the color of the paint; I think this creates a more bold look.

Spray over the letters until the shirt reaches the desired color.  You don't want to spray too heavy, or it will leave the shirt crusty, and can bleed through. 

Pull off the cardboard and let dry.  After about 20-30 minutes, they should be dry to the touch, and you can move them.

Tips & Tricks

• The thinner the cardboard you use, the more quickly it will get wet and warp.  I recommend trying to do all of your shirts at once, and throwing out the used letters.
• I have used the kid's craft foam to cut letters and different shapes before.  This also works well, but is more work up front.  These also do not last for too many uses before warping.
• Spray in a well-ventilated area.
• Spray paint travels.  Be sure that you spray in an area where it will not matter if the paint molecules attach themselves nearby.
• Let one side of the shirt dry completely before spraying the other side.
• I wash and dry mine like any other t-shirt.

Cupcake Toppers in ... 1 - 2 - 3

I have to confess that I am generally not a fan of cupcake toppers.  It is the snobby cake decorator in me that wants everything on a cake (or cupcake) to be edible.  Last year, when the craze for cupcake toppers hit, I was less than thrilled.  I like to expend creative energy on edible decorations.

However, I finally gave in.  Last August, my niece and nephew had a superhero birthday party.  They wanted cupcakes with "the little toothpick things" as the 3/4 year old described them.  I was walking down the kids craft aisle of the craft store, when I saw these foam stickers, and...BAM I knew what I was going to do.  I grabbed a bag of the stars, a paint pen, and headed to the checkout.

When I got home, I couldn't wait to get started.  I used the white paint pen, and a fine black sharpie to write on the foam stars.  I wrote superhero words like "bam," "pow," and "zap."  I also added a few "happy birthday's" and many letter "m's" for their names.  The stars already came with that fantastic border, so no other decoration necessary.  When I was done, I had a pile of stickers that looked like this:

To construct the topper all I had to do was pull the back off the foam stickers, and place a toothpick between two stickers (sticky sides together).

Stick in a cupcake, and you are ready to go!  How easy was that?  I used the "Grasshopper" (mint chocolate) cupcakes from this post, and chocolate cupcakes with strawberry icing.