DIY Elmer's Glue Dye Shirts

For our trip to the Wizarding World, my sister and I made our own dorky Harry Potter shirts! Ours didn't turn out perfect so I'll include some tips to avoid mistakes that we made ;)

What You'll Need:
a plain tee or tank
Elmer's Glue Gel- the blue one!
tub/bucket/sink for dying
a flat surface such as a storage bin lid for drying/designing
fabric dye 

What To Do:
First, soak your tee in water and completely wring it out. Place it over the lid or other flat surface.

Use the glue to draw your design on your tee. This part of the tee will remain the same color as the fabric. Make your designs clear and spaced-out in case the glue spreads a little bit. Leave the shirts flat to dry completely. If you want to add something to the back, be sure the front is completely dry before adding the design to the back. 

Obviously my design would have benefited from a pencil sketch to begin with- the pencil will wash out later if you want to draw out a design in pencil first. 

Allow the shirt to completely dry. Once dry, prepare your dye bath. We used Rit dye to achieve the colors we wanted. I used teal and Lindsey used a combination of tangerine and scarlet. Soak the shirts for 10-30 minutes, depending on how rich you want the color to be. 

Wring your shirts out and lay flat to dry. Once dry, rinse for about fifteen minutes in a bath of cool, soapy water. Then wash and dry in the washing machine like normal.

Ta-da!

My glue dripped a little bit during the drying process because I did not dry it flat #epicfail but you can learn from my mistake! It's such a simple process and we will totally do this again! 

Tutorial from Sweet Verbena 

not your typical artist

(stolen from Annie's instagram)

Have you ever noticed how lies from the enemy hold us back from fully, passionately following after Jesus?

Have you ever noticed that believing those lies isolate us from others? 

That believing those lies is like putting back on the shackles we've been freed from? 

Maybe that's just me. I've been letting myself buy into some lies and this entire past week, God has gotten my attention. Even before Influence, the messages in chapel and the content of my quiet time started to break away my strong grip on these lies. 

At Influence, the first session I attended was about being an artist with Emily Freeman. Now, I would never consider myself an artist and sometimes, with this blog, I struggle because of just that. I don't really have a strong writing style. I'm not funny or intellectual or poetic. I just have my story, and sometimes I feel like it's not enough. 

So Emily starts speaking and immediately I am encouraged and affirmed by the Holy Spirit and convicted of believing lies. One of the very first statements she made struck such a chord in my heart.

"An artist is a person who is brave enough to move towards what makes her come alive."

By Emily's definition, I don't have to be able to compose lovely melodies or dance gracefully or write poetically... if those aren't the passions that God has placed in me. 

Maybe it is administration, organization and checklists that make my soul sing. Maybe it's holding a sobbing student in my office as she sorts through hurt. Maybe it is making cupcakes for someone when I have no idea what else to do. Of course those things don't sound like art. But then Emily said this-

"A God who turns ashes to beauty can turn lists into lyrics, a program into poetry, and management to music." 

And that might have been when I wondered why the heck I hadn't brought tissues with me because the tears just started flowing. 

Can God really take things that are mundane or seem insignificant and use them for His glory? Yes. 

"being small and ordinary isn't a flaw. It's actually a prerequisite."

And of course I knew this! It's echoed all throughout scriptures in the stories of Moses, David, Rahab, Ruth, every single disciple and so many more. But how powerful is it to realize that the Creator of all things can work through us more powerfully when we are ordinary and humble? 

Our God is creative. He began with an act of creation- full of depth and purpose and beauty. We were made in His image and are to be imitators of Christ. We are God's poema, His creation, His masterpiece (eph 2:10), and I think that God values creativity and art, especially as described above. That understanding of who God is and who I am in Him is enough to drop those chains of insecurity, fear and doubt. Because my God creates, loves and wins. 

"What could be more dangerous to the enemy than to be fully awake to the Creator?" 


Right now, I'm taking some steps to pray over and really seek out what it is that makes me come alive. Emily had some great suggestions in her session. Whenever the audio becomes available I highly recommend that whoever missed the session listens to it!

Was anyone else in this session? I would love to hear how God spoke to you through it.