My First Freezer Paper Stencil!

I have a kid who likes drawing, coloring. She does these great pictures on her MagnaDoodle, then Zen-like erases them. So I've learned to be fast with the camera when she does masterpieces, such as this train. (Ok wait-- she is still awake in her sleep, murmuring "chugga choo choo... chugga choo choo... chugga chugga poo poo..." She'd called me back into her room, saying she'd had a poop, but there was no poop. I'm thinking as she drifts to sleep, her subconscious is working out how a wonderful train might be related to poop.)

I couldn't draw a train like this if I tried! And I tried after I saw hers. And it didn't even come close to this wonder and magic.


I've tried to keep her artwork from getting too messy, but I also like giving her new things to try. Which means mess is inevitable, but this smile makes it all worth it.


So I thought I'd introduce her to the wonderful world of freezer paper stenciling. Yes, she's a little young for painting, but FPS seemed like a perfect step toward that.

Aaaaand... it worked great! She came up with the concept (rainbow on a white shirt) and totally rejected my fascist notions of what colors a rainbow should have. I drew the rainbow stencil, cut it out (the most painstaking part of this whole process is the Xacto'ing), ironed it on and, after initial attempts to suggest the cloud color or where red should go, let her have at it.

I thought it turned out beautifully!