Thrifty Gifty #9—Freezer Paper Stenciling

Freezer paper stenciling is big fun, I think because it seems so “primitive” (freezer paper?) yet gives you such satisfying results. I’m certainly not the first to do it; you can find any number of tutorials on the internet. I’m just going to add one more.

Last year, I did this shirt for Firstborn for Christmas. If you do letters, or an image with similar negative space (like the inside of the ‘o’), be sure to save those pieces of freezer paper after you’ve cut them out. You will have to iron them on separately.

I’m going to do another t-shirt, because I was again doing this late in the evening and it’s what I found hanging in the closet. You could do it on any article of clothing with a smooth, flat fabric. In keeping with my theme, thrift stores are, of course, a great source of clothing at bargain prices.

You are not limited to clothing, though. You could do a canvas tote bag, or a plain throw pillow, or on fabric that you would then use to make said throw pillow, or whatever.

So, you need freezer paper, fabric paint in your choice of colors, an image to use as a stencil, and the item to be stenciled (plus an iron, paint brush and a craft knife). For my image, I used clip art.

I taped the image to the dull side of the freezer paper, then cut through both layers with the craft knife. (The shiny side has light wax coating, which is what makes it stick when you iron it.) If you’re artsy, you could just draw your image right onto the freezer paper. I haven’t tried running the freezer paper through the printer, but I suppose it could work, unless the printer created enough heat to melt the wax. I didn’t want to mess with that.

Next, put your item on the ironing board and arrange your stencil where you want it, shiny side down. Now put another piece of freezer paper under the fabric, shiny side up. That bottom piece will adhere to the back of the fabric and keep it from shifting, and also prevent the paint from leaking through.

With a warm, dry (no steam) iron, carefully iron over the stencil, making sure all the cut edges are adhered to the fabric, so the paint doesn’t leak under. Paint the image, getting good coverage, but not too thick. As much as you can, it may help to move the brush from the outer edge towards the middle of the image, rather than from the middle to the edge. (Sorry, no photo of me painting.)

Ideally, wait until it is totally dry to peel off the paper, but I didn’t have time for that tonight. It turned out fine, but there is some danger of smearing the paint if it’s not dry.

When it is totally dry, heat set it with the iron. After that, you’re good to go. I have washed Firstborn’s shirt many, many times in the last year and the paint still looks good; no flaking or anything.

This project is limited only by your imagination! Naturally, your cost will be affected by the item you choose to stencil, but you could do t-shirts for probably $3-$5 each—even brand new t-shirts can be found for $5. Freezer paper comes in a big roll which will last you a long time. Fabric paint is pretty cheap, but you can always use your Hobby Lobby or Michaels coupon to get it for even less.

Have fun with this one! I can practically guarantee you will be looking for more things to stencil once you’ve done your first!

First Weekly Thrifty Gifty Round-up and Linky Party

I'm also going to join the parties at The Inspired Room and Pennywise Presents at Infarrantly Creative.

In the first week of December, Homebody gave to me…

Four cozy pillows…

Two apothecary jars…

One sweater stocking…

Three framed artwork….

One rice heat pack….

Nine jeweled magnets…

Two monogrammed vases…

And one recipe card holder.

And spent about $23 total for the whole lot! Beat that, Santa!

I can’t wait to see your stuff! Join the party, and show us your own thrifty gift ideas, or your version of one of my ideas. Mr. Linky will be open until Sunday at 11:59 pm.

1. use the code on my sidebar (upper right) to put my button in your post
2. link back to my Thrifty Gifty post
3. link to your specific post, not your home page

Thrifty Gifty #8—Framed Thrift Store Silver/ Recipe Holder

Jan. 14: Joining 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence.

So, I have a list of ideas for this series. For some of them, I know exactly what I’m going to do, and some of them are very vague. I also, for the most part, did not work ahead for this.
This means that several times I’ve been trying to come up with and execute a project in the evening so I can get it posted for the next morning. This is one of those times.
I knew I wanted to do something with pieces of silverware I have picked up here and there at thrift stores. I wasn’t sure what, and since it was 9 pm, I needed to use only items I already had on hand. Here’s what I ended up with.



I took a thrift store frame and spray painted it black (and yes, it was 40 degrees and raining) and put a pretty wrapping paper behind the glass. I had Craig bend the tines of a fork up, and I hot-glued the fork to the glass.



Now, you could skip the bending part and just leave it as a display of pretty silver, maybe adding a couple more forks of different patterns, or a place setting of knife, fork and spoon.





(Imagine that the fork tines aren’t bent, and that the other pieces don’t have cord tied around them because they hang on my kitchen Christmas tree.)

My original idea was actually to use it to hold a photo, which could be changed out whenever you wanted.



That was okay, but as I was sitting here typing, it suddenly occurred to me that it would make a great recipe card holder on your kitchen counter. And it kind of makes more sense, too.



You should be able to make this for $2-$3, max. It would be nice to give it with some pretty recipe cards, either blank, or filled in with your favorite recipes.

Joining Reinvented's Trash to Treasure Tuesday.

Thrifty Gifty #7—Monogrammed Vases

Joining Works for me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family and Rustoleum Revamp at Shanty2Chic.

Reminder: the first Thrifty Gifty linky party is this Friday! Show off your super inexpensive gift ideas, or something you’ve made using my ideas. Use the code from my sidebar to get my button.


For this one you will need vases or other glassware. Naturally, I got mine at the thrift store for about $1 each. You will also need Frosted Glass Spray; I used Rustoleum (useless trivia: did you know that Rustoleum was invented by a sea captain who noticed that fish oil prevented rust, and he was going to call it Fish-oleum until his wife stepped in?).

I used a craft knife to cut my letters out of contact paper.

I sprayed too close and too heavy the first time, and the contact paper bubbled up and the spray seeped under. On the other vase, I did a better job, and this method worked fine.

I used nail polish remover to wipe that off, and started over, this time in negative. If you’re doing it this way, it would be easier to use premade stickers, rather than cut out your own like I did.

Spray lightly a few times, let it dry, and carefully peel off the stickers. Fabulousness!

Wanna see it again? Yes, I think you do.

If you look closely, you can see that a little bit of the frost peeled up with the sticker on the bar of the A. Be really careful, and maybe even use your craft knife to slice along the edge of the sticker before you peel it up.


I think mine are a pretty good facsimile of these from Pottery Barn, except instead of $19-$44, I spent under $2 each.

You can, of course, put anything you want on any kind of jar. How about “yum” on a treat jar, or similar labels on pantry jars, like Martha’s.
The spray says you can handwash with liquid soap and water, but don’t use the dishwasher. The frost comes off with acetone, and I was able to scrape it with my fingernail so it’s definitely “for display only”. But it looks good!

Thrifty Gifty #6—Jeweled Magnets from Earrings

Joining DIY day at Kimba’s and The DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights. My Thrifty Gifty series will run through Christmas. Linky parties on Fridays for you to show off your thrifty gift ideas and creations--first one this Friday!!

I’ve been wanting to do this one for over a year, ever since I saw it here. I felt like I should be able to find old clip-on earrings for about a quarter. However, the best I could find around here was the occasional .50, but most often $1 a pair. Eventually I sucked it up and collected a few pairs.

In addition to earrings, you will need magnets and strong glue, such as E-6000. I already had these magnets from Dollar Tree. They came in a pack of ten; they’re about 1/4” across, so probably not the strongest magnets ever. You can get more powerful ones at Hobby Lobby or probably Michaels.

Anyway, I smashed these with a hammer to break up the colored plastic and get the magnets out. Then, I used pliers and wire cutters to pull the clips off the back of the earrings.

Some came off easily and left a nice flat surface, and some I was unable to get the connector off the earring back. I did what I could to get as flat a surface as possible. For some, a gentle tap with a hammer did the trick. Some I was able to take the back right off, as below.

The final step is to glue the magnets on the back and let them dry.

Jewelry for your magnetic board or fridge!

A little set of these would be a fun teacher gift; magnets are always on the school supply list. Or you could do the whole shootin’ match for someone and make a magnet board to go with it. The tutorial for my magnetic chalkboard is here. Use a thrift store frame and sheet metal from the hardware store; you could leave it at that or add chalkboard paint for dual-purpose.

Parting shot: I have always loved this photo of me, with 1-yr-old Pinkerbelle, my sister and 3-yr-old Skippy at the church Trunk or Treat. Mostly because of the finger up Skippy’s nose. Classic!