If you’ve read my blog for long, you know that despite having no children of my own, I do spoil the little ones in my life. My best friend’s son turned five on Thursday. Last year, everything was about the pirates and I made him this. This year? It’s all Star Wars, all the time. I had to Google what a “clone trooper” was (his Halloween costume) because I am of the original Star Wars generation, being just seven years old when the first movie came out, and I’ve only seen one other Star Wars film beyond that first one. I like the original. But…Star Wars, I’ve found out, has come a long way since the C3PO and R2D2 and hunky Han Solo of my youth.

I prefer to make something when a gift is in order. With boys, it gets soooo much harder as they get older. But then I remembered seeing this idea from Amy. And a unique birthday gift was born…
I started with two tiny downloaded images from the web…drew them larger and put them together into one cohesive design. Cut out a freezer paper stencil…the tedious part…
Ironed it on to the t-shirt, and ironed on another piece of freezer paper to the inside of the shirt front, for stability and as a paint blotter for any that might seep through. stippled paint on for about a half hour making sure everything covered evenly…Waited patiently over night to remove the stencil…and VOILA! An original Doris Screenprint!I wish you could see this and touch it, it really does look just like a professionally screen-printed design! Not bad for a girl who didn’t know what a Clone Trooper was a week ago, huh?!?His Star Wars/Lego birthday party is today, and I can’t wait to give this to him! I also have several more “screen print” designs in mind for future projects.