Family Road Trip T-shirts (Pinterest Poser Challenge)

One of my favorite things about summer is my annual road trip.  There is nothing better than the open road in my opinion.  Even if it's the open road in a minivan with four kids.  I seriously love it.  

Last year, I decorated the minivan.  It was a huge success.  But a year later, all the paint hasn't quite come off the minivan which we now refer to as "Daddy's polka dot car."  He loves that.  This year, we have a fancy new leased minivan.  While I'm happy it has working air conditioning (the polka dot car doesn't), I'm not happy we can't paint the hell out of it.  But it's probably best not to, I get it.

So in honor of this summer's road trip, I made T-shirts.  Yeah, that's right, family road trip shirts that must be worn (at least on the first day of our travels).  

In this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge** I look to Pinterest to live out a dream---matching t-shirts like we are a band traveling from gig to gig.

**In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,* every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

*My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.

This craft is actually based on another Pinterest Poser project that I did last Christmas, based on a pin/project from DesignMom.com.

For our road trip, I took the kids to Michael's to pick out our T-shirts.  I envisioned all of us in the same color, but then one of the kids said something like "we're all individuals mom with our own minds" and my heart burst with pride.  So, I told them to get whatever color they wanted.  Instead of a family with matching road trip T-shirts we sort of look like a group traveling the southeastern United States to promote Skittles.

Not pictured: The purple Skittle rep 
who was away at camp at the time this picture was taken.

Figuring out what to put on our shirts was the next step.  Out of safety concerns I didn't put their names on their shirts.  Remember growing up in the early '80s and all those shirts we had with our names on the back?  Sparkly names, big and bold for anyone out there to read.  I'm not overly anxious about the world, but that just seems unsafe.  So, no names.  I wanted to list the cities we were going to just like a concert t-shirt, but that's a lot of letter cutting.  

We're heading down south for a family reunion this year, so I tried to use that to brainstorm ideas.  We are are on an extremely tight budget, Tim is not able to come with us because he has to work, I haven't started packing and we leave in a few days, we are loud, rowdy and a lot to handle....with that in mind it seemed perfect to put this on the front:

Ready or Not

And this on the back:

Here We Come

So if you are on the highway next week and you see a van with pink fuzzy dice and what looks like a band of kooky characters representing the rainbow, give us a wave or a honk.  Because ready or not, here we come.

How To Make Family Road Trip T-shirts
Supplies Needed:
Cheap T-shirts
Contact paper or Duct Tape paper (the second choice works better in my experience)
Bleach
Towels
Scissors

How To:
Step one and two and three: Pick your phrase.  Write it out and cut it out.
I just drew out my letters and traced them onto contact paper.   I cut out the letters on the way home from dropping Lucy off at camp.  Tim drove and I cut and cut and cut.  Depending on your phrase it can be pretty tedious work.

Step four: Place your letters onto the shirt.

Step five: Put a towel inside the shirt so the bleach doesn't bleed through to the other side.

Step six: Pour bleach into a bowl, dab a towel into the bleach and start dabbing the shirt over the spot you want the phrase.

Step seven: Let it dry.  Actually throw it in the dryer once the bleach is almost dry and this step will go faster.

Step eight: Wear it with pride you crafty person you.

Words of Warning:
Not all my shirts turned out perfectly, bleach can be pretty tricky.  I bleached parts I didn't mean too.  If you use too much on the towel when you dab, it will seep right through the contact paper, your towel and the shirt.  And well it can just be pretty messy.  Bleach with caution, people.


Have you made something from Pinterest lately?  Had any great successes? Or advice?  Or warning about a project that's a total waste of time? OR any family road trip stories? Do tell.

Please share whatever you're working on in the comments here or over on Facebook.  
And follow us on our road trip on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  The adventure begins this Thursday.

Come on over and follow my Pinterest boards.

Here are some of the projects I've already attempted, the good and the bad:

Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

Come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here.