Going Overboard...A Blessing & A Curse

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love crafty projects. Not like the kind you buy in a kit, but coming up with my own. I feel very blessed that I have a creative mind, but sometimes it is a huge pain in the *** because I can't just do something halfway and be done with it.

Our swim team assigns team buddies to all swimmers. An older swimmer is paired up with a younger one, and they are supposed to encourage and cheer each other on throughout the season. From time to time throughout the season, buddies also trade gifts.

This Saturday's meet is our first home meet, and has a "Beach" theme. I came up with the clever idea of making personalized beach towels for Jack & Olivia's buddies. Sounds easy enough, right?

I bought a couple of $3.99 solid towels from Target, and tried out writing on them with a bleach pen. I was sure it would do the trick and look super cool with the color bleached out in the shape of each swimmer's name. Four hours and a wash load later, nothing had happened. I guess the cheap Target towels are also bleach proof...a good thing if you're using them in the house and want them to stay color safe...a bad thing if you're actually TRYING to bleach them!

I started thinking of other ways to accomplish what I wanted, and searched the aisles of the craft store for fabric paint that wouldn't be scratchy on a towel. I didn't want to freehand it, since I wasn't sure how wide the spray nozzle would span. I saw stencils next to the paint, and thought "Hey, I could do that!" So, I bought the paint and decided to give it a try.

First, I created a name stencil using old shelf liner paper and my Cricut. It took multiple tries to get the letters sized right, the blade depth just right, and the stencil placed in the center of the contact paper.

Then, I took the towels outside and placed the stencil on.

Using the Spray Stencil fabric paint, I lightly sprayed the stencil opening.

I let it dry for about an hour, pulled off the stencil, and voila! Success!

I contemplated trying to do the outline of a shark on the other end, but managed to restrain myself and leave well enough alone.

All in all, the project took about 6 hours. I messed up spraying one towel and had to make a second trip to the store for a new one.

I love that I'm creative and want to use that talent to benefit others. But sometimes—like today, when I'd rather have been just laying on a lounge chair with a book watching the kids swim—I wish that I could be satisfied with something less than original. Chances are, the kids' buddies would have been just as happy with a plain old beach towel.