Hey, Mom, Could You…?

Day #5 of 31 Days of Storytelling

I had something else all written and lined up for today's storytelling. Then last night I heard these words from my oldest daughter,

"Hey, Mom, could you help me make 6 Texas Longhorn shirts by Friday?"

We don't live in Texas.

We don't live in the Southeast.

"You are so creative, I know you will come up with something great."

Aww, shucks. Ok.

OK?!

So here is a bit of the back story.

This is for my daughter's 8th grade gym class. They have been learning teamwork by dividing up into groups for flag football teams (they drew team name's out of a hat). They are graded on attitude and spirit and performance, etc.

Somehow my daughter ended up as the coach.

Much to the chagrin of some of the boys on her team.

So on attitude day, the Texas Longhorns were awarded a 5 out of 10.

McDaniel tried to talk to them.

McDaniel tried to talk to the gym teacher.

McDaniel REALLY wants an A+ in gym.

The teacher told her that these type of situations were what real coaches dealt with all the time.
And that there would be an opportunity to make up some points on spirit day.

And THAT is how you make a day disappear.

We quickly realized since we don't live in Texas or in the Southeast, that finding anything to purchase with the Longhorns logo locally would be impossible.

So I investigated the quickest, easiest way to make 6 shirts without me hand painting each one with fabric paint.

And then poking myself in the eyes with a sharp stick from INSANITY!

Did I tell you my daughter wants each kid's last name on the back of the shirt too?

Makes you want to give her a squeezey hug, doesn't it?

So my online search led me to fabric spray paint.

Fabric paint by Tulip. Minus orange.

But I had a color issue.

It had to be orange.

"Burnt orange," my husband said.

Burnt orange?

This from the guy that sometimes wears a brown and a black sock because they are the "same thing".

Burnt orange!

I was lucky, there was orange in the fabric spray paint. Not burnt orange--more of a traffic pylon orange.

BUT. 

WHO. 

CARES?!

I picked up a 6 pack of men's undershirts from Target.

(And two bags of candy corn. It was going to be a long afternoon!)

I printed out an image of the longhorn logo, which I cut out with an exact knife to make a stencil.

I used big vinyl stickers for the letters for the last names.

Remember to put a piece of cardboard or a plastic trash bag between the shirt before painting.

I tried to put hairspray on back of paper to make an adhesive. Did. not. work.

YEAH! Only a small oops.

Vinyl letters after I sprayed them. FYI:  These are nicknames so the identity
of minors have not been revealed without their permission.

Just peel the letters up after you spray the paint. I didn't even wait
for it to dry because I needed to reuse some of the letters.

Not bad for a last minute DIY. Not perfect, but not hideous.

And I only used half the spray bottle.

I will be interested to hear if traffic pylon orange fabric paint and some men's undershirts was enough to earn back those 5 lost attitude points.

Hook 'em Horns!