Oh Baby!

I recently made 3 different bibs for my new niece for Christmas. I wanted to give her something 1. homemade and 2. unique. So I went to my local craft store and bought 3 plain white bibs. While I was there I saw a really cute iron on transfer, so I bought it.

First, I washed the bibs. I really hate this step because it seems (when I have to do it) like a waste of time. I have to remind myself that if I don't do it, then whenever the thing I'm making gets washed, it'll get all messed up and all my hard work will be for nothing. Ok, that's my pre-washing rant for the day :)

So the first one was the easiest, all I had to do was follow the directions on the iron on and....iron it on. So this is what the final product looks like:

Then I wanted to try out stenciling using freezer paper. That's one of those, "I saw that on Pinterest and I NEED to try it on *something*!!" crafts. My sister is in love with elephants, she and her husband even went overseas and rode elephants, so cool! Anyways, baby niece has elephants on her crib bedding. For sister's shower I copied the elephant graphic, put it in Word and used it on the invites. I still had it saved, so I printed it up again to use it on a bib.

After I printed it, I taped the paper to a south facing window (any window with lots of light shining through will work), then a taped my freezer paper over it and traced the outline. Because of the ear, I traced two. Then I cut to make my stencils and got this:

So freezer paper sticks to fabric when you iron it, shiny side down. I did the body of the elephant and the outline first, using plain old acrylic paint. I did 2 coats, letting it dry between. After the 2nd coat dried I peeled off the 1st stencil and then I did the ear in the same way.

Voila! Look at how crisp those lines are!! I am amazed!! Freezer paper is my new best friend!

For the last one, I used the same 'window-as-light-box' technique. I found this amazingly funny bib that I knew was *perfect* for baby and family. So I found a font I liked, measured the bib and printed to size. Taping the paper to the window was easy, taping the bib was a little more tricky, but not impossible. I used my handy dandy fabric marker to trace it lightly, as it was pretty awkward to write at a 90 degree angle on fabric that kept wiggling around. So I got the basics down, took the bib off the window and finished making it all nice and pretty on th

e table where it was WAY easier!! My fabric marker needs to be heat set, so that was my final step and I ended up with this