Great news and a DIY New Baby gift for under $4

Some great news to share, gentle readers! Wednesday afternoon my sister safely delivered my second perfect and beautiful nephew. I adore new babies.  There is a wonderful warmth in being needed, and tiny ones need you 100%.

Unfortunately my sister lives half way across the country from me, so I  will not be able to snuggle tiny Easton for a while.  But I do want to celebrate him! So I am going to make him a little onesie as a "welcome to the world" gift. Its not an expensive or time consuming gift, but it gives me the feeling of having done something to celebrate this new guy, and its a small token to let him know I'm thinking of him.
This is how I faux screen print.

What you will need

What you will need:
- white or light coloured onesie/t-shirt (Wal-mart $3.50)
- freezer paper **This is not wax paper.  Freezer paper has wax on one side but is plain paper on the other. You cannot buy the white stuff on a roll here in  southern Ontario.  I bought mine from Safeway when I was last in Alberta.  If you cant get your hands on the white stuff, butcher paper is exactly the same just red.  Red paper will not affect this craft.  Most independent butchers will allow you to buy it by the foot from them for a minimal cost.** (Safeway $6/ per roll.  Need about 20 cents worth for this project)
- fabric paint , darker the better-  on hand
- Cricut cutting machine OR a craft knife and a tiny bit of artistic ability
- scrap cardboard
-iron
-foam craft brush



1. Choose your image or phrase you would like to faux screen print.  I chose "Special delivery" but I have also done a car, firetruck, pirate ship, bicycle, "Birthday Boy"....you can do almost anything as long as you keep the image from being over complicated. Next choose the size that would be most appropriate for your project.  For this 3-6m onesie my phrase was 6 inches wide.

2.. Place the freezer paper wax side down on your cutting mat (or cutting surface if you are doing it by hand). Load in your cutting mat and allow it to cut out your desired image. on the Cricut I use the "kiss cut" feature. Unload your mat.  OR you can use a skill set I will never possess to cut the image by hand from the paper.  Some people have found it helpful when doing this by hand to draw the image on the paper first, then cut- or print your image from your computer and lay the sheet under your freezer paper as a cutting guide.


3. Because my phrase had quite a few tiny bits (centers of "a"s and "e"s ect) I decided to iron the whole, lightly cut image to the onesie as is.  Then after ironing I  removed the letters for "special delivery" to achieve the negative space design I was after.  If your image or phrase is more simple you can skip this step and go right to step 4.

Ironing WAX SIDE DOWN

4. Iron the negative image freezer onto your onesie. Place the freezer paper wax side down on your garment. I use the cotton setting on the iron.  Press firmly and iron slowly, but keep the iron moving.  Take care that all edges are well ironed.    My next step included peeling the letters up from the shirt, leaving behind only the ironed down negative image.

Negative image remains on the shirt

5. Place your scrap of cardboard inside the onside to prevent the fabric paint from bleeding through

6. Run a bead of fabric paint on your garment. Using your foam brush brush it over the desired area.  To get even coverage and prevent any possibility of bleeding I use a dabbing technique around the edges.

add fabric paint

paint the image

7. Allow the paint to set for about 30 seconds before peeling off the freezer paper.  Don't forget about those "a" and "e" centers.  I use a knife to help me lift them off.  Allow to dry completely.

peel off the freezer paper

8. Admire your totally customized, very inexpensive gift!

Finished product

For the record this can be used on many kinds of garments.  This is a sneak peak at the birthday gift I made for That Guy at the same time as I was making this onesie. Cute, right?

That Guy's new underwear birthday gift, teeheehee

Enjoy, and happy weekend, gentle readers!