Super Secret Christmas Project #1

The Freezer-Paper Transfers

All I get for Christmas is....an alpaca?! Yes, that's right. Our nieces and nephews got an alpaca from us for Christmas. Rather, we bought an alpaca through World Vision for an impoverished South American family in the name of our family. Alpacas are pretty amazing animals. They can live up to 25 years and provide income for a family through the sale of their wool. They are easy on the environment because they "mow" the grass instead of tearing it up which helps prevent erosion.

To help the kids visualize the alpaca we bought some t-shirts and printed an alpaca design on to them. We used a freezer-paper method that I had read about here. It was pretty easy and my friend Amy had lots of fabric paint left over from other projects that we got to use for free (Thanks, Amy). I liked the way the waxy side of the freezer paper kept a really clean edge all around the image.

We had so much fun with the alpacas that we ended up buying a fish pond through World Vision and Nate designed a fish logo for the men in the family. Then, because I wanted to try a more complicated multi-color pattern, I whipped out a bird design for the women of the family. Although the pictures may not show it, I think they all turned out pretty well. (And we only ruined one t-shirt in the process).