Cutting and Using Freezer Paper Stencils

Freezer paper stencils are so fun and easy to use youll wonder why you didnt try it sooner!
1. Create your design. a. Method A: If you want your letters to be the part that is painted, then create a border around the letters of some kind. In this example, the word Samantha will be painted and optionally, anything outside the scalloped border. The white parts will be the freezer paper stencil. For this method, you may want to choose either a stencil font or create bridges to connect the centers of your letters to the outside. Otherwise, youll have to save the centers of your letters and iron them on in place. b. Method B: If you want the letters to be unpainted with a field of color, create a decorative border around the letters and a second border around the decorative one. In this example, the letters will not be painted, but the scalloped rectangle around it will. Optionally, anything outside the plain rectangle can also be painted. The white parts will be the freezer paper stencil.

2. Place your freezer paper shiny side up on your cutting mat. Cutter shown is the KNK Maxx, but any cutter will cut this material. Its important that the shiny side is up because the shiny side wont stick to your cutting mat very well and may shift during cutting.

3. Open your design in your software and mirror it so that it is backwards on your screen. This is so that when you cut it out it will be forwards when you iron the shiny side down on your material.

4. Remove your freezer paper from the cutting mats, saving the parts you plan to iron down to your material. a. Method A: If you didnt use a stencil font, be sure you save the centers of your letters so you can iron them down in place. b. Method B: Be sure to save the dots of for each i or j and any punctuation so you can iron them down in place. 5. Iron all the relevant parts for your stencil down to your material. Grown-ups should do this part! Be sure you have the shiny side of the stencil down or youll iron it to your iron! Use an iron set to medium-high and press down for a few seconds without moving or rubbing.

6. Paint all the areas you want painted with fabric or other appropriate paint.

7. Kids will want to decorate the rest of their project, too! 8. Allow the paint to dry completely. If you try to remove the stencil before the paint is dry, you may blur your edges and they wont be clean and crisp. 9. Carefully peel the freezer paper off your material. A pin or tweezers will help get any little bits left behind.

10. Be sure to follow the manufacturers instructions on both your garment and the paint for laundering. 11. Enjoy your new wearable art project!!!

Try combining these two methods in one project like the shirts below!