Crafty post: It's been a while

 I think I overdosed on crafting in the early pandemic but we did one last weekend that was 1) super easy and 2) came out SO CUTE. I got the idea originally from a TikTok video (I still don't know how to use it but I do love me some instagram reels so maybe I'm getting closer?)

These came out so well and the final result is something that the girls were really excited about. And just in time for spooky season! We started with plain black cotton t-shirts (3/9.99 at Joann's, BTW). I bought a few packs of holiday foam cutouts and at the last minute threw in a couple of the unfinished wood shapes. I think all told I spent about $10 on shapes and $10 on the shirts. So NOT an expensive project. 

We laid our shirts out on a drop cloth on the driveway. I think you could skip the drop cloth and just put the shirts on the concrete? We laid the shapes on top of the shirts, and then spritzed them with a mix of 50/50 bleach and water. And right before our eyes we watched the black turn orange where the bleach had been sprayed. We played with various amounts of bleach spray (Averson was a little heavy handed, I was more conservative.) Once the bleach dried, which took literal minutes, we moved the shirts to the washing machine and ran a load on its own. 

They're the perfect October shirts and now we're thinking of non-seasonal options like doing jeans (you may recall my sister buying bleach-dyed jeans off the street in San Francisco) or other shape ideas. This, like most crafts in my house, will likely get out of hand. 

A few tips: Less is more. I'd start with light sprays and add. 

Spend a little extra time on shape placement. Sydney tried to "redo" a few sections and was frustrated. 

I really liked how the wood cutout worked. The Halloween cutouts were 50% off when I went and it was totally worth it. Also, we used both big and small foam shapes. I'd use big ones only next time. 

Don't forget the backs if you're going for an all over look! I flipped ours over and did a quick spritz so it didn't look like they'd face planted into bleach.