Ashley, Lincoln, NE

Who: Ashley, 27

What: cotton

When: middle of August

Where: Lincoln, NE

Why: My dear friend Sara and I really got into The Hunger Games series this summer. We also enjoy trying to make things for almost free that people like to spend money on. We found a great process using freezer paper to create our own stencils and so The Hunger Games Shirts series was born. It also helped that the local grocery store was having a a $1/shirt sale. I drew the Mockingjay from the cover of the book on a plain sheet of paper, used it as a stencil and cut it out from the freezer paper. Using an iron on low-medium heat, I pressed the plastic of the paper to my shirt. When it was cool I slipped a paper bag between the layers (to prevent bleeding through the fabric) and painted my way to Hunger Games happiness. As soon as the paint was on, I lifted the stencil with a pair of tweezers and VOILA! The details on the sleeve are 2 different versions of the same stencil- one using positive space and the other using negative space. I actually like the negative space one more- it seems more industrial and true to the tone of the books than the nice, pretty positive space version. I hand-lettered the 'Hunger Games, 12' on the front- mainly because the Mockingjay stencil was a little off kilter. I am the envy of every librarian in this shirt.

*you can find more of Ashley's crafts at her blog.