Why do I forget how awesome freezer paper stencils are? They are so easy they feel like cheating.
I stenciled this shirt for a just-turned-four year old boy. I stole the design from this shirt, but honestly I like mine more–even if the R did get a little crazy.
1. train bag 2. yellow stripe 3. hot dog shirt 4. color wheel
For your perusing pleasure, here are some freezer paper stencils from the archives .
I haven’t been down in my studio for a good three months. Three months! You could call it creativity block or you could call it my own personal soul sucking, fear mongering, mental fog inducing, self-esteem deflating, psychosis making machine. Not to put too fine a point on it or anything.
I try not to ask myself why I tape flowers and leaves on the wall, or make my kids’ undies, or crochet cozies for our ottoman, because there is no satisfying answer. But questions do creep in: why not make something less ridiculous? why not make something that is actually profitable? why waste your time making silly things to show the internet? why do this when so many people do it better? why not use that expensive education of yours? Once the questions start, they don’t stop, and they become debilitating. Soul sucking now seems a more appropriate term than creativity block, don’t you think?
But making things, be it underwear, tools, flying suits, computer programs, or whatever, is what humans do. Our survival once depended on our ability to solve problems creatively. Now that drive is part of who we are and when the urge to make things goes unfulfilled we feel less human.
So I’m trying, trying to make things again, trying to feel human again. I know I hit these creative brick walls yearly and slam into them repeatedly until I find a ladder, but this time the ladder has been hard to find. I cleaned up my studio yesterday–even slapped some paint on the wall–hoping the ladder was there somewhere. Does this happen to you (hit a wall, let the sewing machine gather dust, avoid even thinking about making)? How do you get past it?
I never seem to remember to buy sidewalk chalk, but we always have the ingredients on hand for chalk paint. Making chalk paint is super easy; drawing with chalk paint takes a bit of practice.
Our first attempt turned out mostly colorful blobs, but the second time was a success. I was doodling quilt squares [sewing nerd!] and my kids wanted to learn how to make them too. They told me their log cabins had roofs, obviously.
Be warned, fingers and toes will get painted.
But other cool stuff will be painted too!
Making hula hoops is surprisingly simple and cheap to boot: some polyurethane pipe, a connector, and duct tape. Done.
I scanned some random directions quickly when I was in the hardware store, but there are many good tutorials for making hula hoops out there. This video by Elizabeth Mitchel–who is awesome by the way–tells you how it’s done.
Raid the recycling! Slap it together with hot glue! Decorate with tape! and whatever else is lying around!
My kids call it the guy house, “because it’s for guys, Mom, not dolls.” Playmobile guys, lego guys, little people guys, calico critter guys, everybody can go swimming in the stripy pool!
What I really wanted to do was spray paint the whole thing one color (safety orange!) but my kids were having such a blast decorating it that I couldn’t spoil the fun. Tape turned out to be the easiest way to make it awesome. Mostly we used duct tape and the washi like tape from target. Bonus: the tape box made a sweet hammock.
Go glue things together!
