Freezer Paper Stencil Princess Shirts using the Cricut

When my daughter requested another princess themed party, I, of course, agreed.  But since her birthday was days away from my due date of my third child, we decided on a day at Fairytale Town which included some party time in the castle. For the favors and to help keep track of the little ones at the park, I made custom bright pink princess party tee shirts.
I found a design that I loved on the Princess Party cartridge for the Cricut.

Cricut Princess Party cartridge

 Because it is part of ProvoCraft's "Events" line there are a lot of great images on this cartridge that help you put together a custom princess themed birthday party.  Everything from cupcake wrappers and treat boxes to invitations and party decor is included.  There are even some 3D images like a shoe and castle that would really look great as a cake topper or add to a tablescape.

Cricut Princess Party cartridge

This was the first time trying the freezer paper stencil idea.  Although it was time consuming, the project was pretty simple.  Pick a design and cut it out with a die cut machine.  I used my Cricut Expressions but you could use the Silhouette as well.  I taped the edges of the freezer paper on to my mat and cut with the shiny side up so it doesn't slip around.  The only tricky part is reversing the image when you cut.  On the Cricut, you can flip the image.  I used my Gypsy to create the my mat file.  Using the Gypsy was especially helpful because unlike regular stencils, freezer paper stencils are one time use.  So for each shirt I needed to cut one stencil. With the Gypsy, I only had to figure out the sizing, spacing and flipping one time.  Then I could just cut a new stencil whenever I was ready to make a shirt.  Because of drying time, this project took a couple days. 

 After you cut the stencil iron your freezer paper design down (shiny side down) on to your prewashed and ironed shirt.  The stencil will adhere to the shirt.  Make sure you put a piece of cardboard in the shirt so the paint can not soak through.  Now for the fun part- PAINTING!

 My mom helped me with this part and I could not have done it without her.  We painted each shirt different.  Each shirt was unique in color combination even though the image was the same.  After we let the paint dry over night, the freezer paper was peeled off to reveal the image.  It was so fun because each time we would peel off the stencil we would say that we liked that shirt the best. 

We also added to the princess BLING by gluing flat backed gems and pearls on to key parts of the design.

The stencil worked great.  Even with thick layers of paint applied, the images had crisp lines.  The most important step was insuring the whole stencil was ironed down properly.

I just love how they turned out. Look at those cuties!!

One of the benefits to bright pink was that the shirts did the intended job.  It was easy to keep track of all the girls at the park and it was a party favor that the kids loved. 

 Every time my little one puts it on she starts talking about how much fun she had that day.

  EVERY PRINCESS NEEDS A LITTLE SASS!!!

Check out this link to the Super Hero shirts I made for the boys.

What's your favorite party favor?