Color Run T-Shirt {Tutorial}

We live for the play dates with the moms' in our playgroup. From crafting, to visiting local sites, to taking turns trashing each others playrooms...we do it all. And we love it! But every once and a while, it is really great to go out and do something for ourselves.

Which is why we decided to do the Color Run together. The Color Run is a 5K run/walk that focuses more on the fun aspect of a race. You know, the whole "It's the journey not the destination", which is totally what this run was about. Every kilometer of the race had volunteers who hurled different colored powder at you (which is a lot more fun than it sounds, trust me). So everyone started out wearing white shirts and ended up looking like hippies who did a very bad job tie dyeing their shirts. It. Was. Awesome!

Since we did the run as a group, we had a team name: Color Me Mommy. Sweet name, right? We decided to make shirts emblazoned with this name to unite us in our cause. Or because we wanted an excuse to get together, paint, drink wine and eat cheesecake. Whichever.

Not necessary for the project but it is definitely recommended.

Making the group shirt was really fun, and, if you follow our tips, pretty simple!

Materials:
Shirt
Acrylic Paint
Foam brush
Piece of cardboard
Contact paper

Optional materials:
Silhouette machine
Exact-O Knife
Wine

1. Decide on  your design! To me, this is the hardest part. There are so many amazing fonts out there that I have a difficult time narrowing down my favorites. But I know you can do it!

2. Once you have finally decided on your design, cut it out. (Anyone else have a flashback to Full House? Just me? Ok.)  If you have a Silhouette or similar cutting machine, this part is fairly simple. Just run your contact paper through the machine. I use the cheap-o contact paper from Target instead of the expensive stuff from the Silhouette store, when making my own shirt stencils. I have found for these type of projects that there really isn't much of a difference. If you don't have a fancy machine, then you have to do it the classic way: print, trace and cut.

As moms, we have learned to do all sorts of things one handed. Even stenciling an awesome shirt.

3. Weed your design. Which basically means removing all the parts of the design that you want to be painted.

4. Now, CAREFULLY remove the contact paper from it's backing and apply to your shirt. You can move it around a bit if you need to in order to get it exactly where you want it. Once you have the stencil in the correct spot, press that baby down. I like to use a credit card to really smooth it out, especially around the edges where the paint may have a chance to leak through.

5. PAINT! For stenciling shirts, I have found that gentle patting with a foam brush, that has very little paint on it works the best. In a way, it's similar to spray painting: several light coats are better than a few heavy coats of paint. Don't forget to slide your piece of cardboard between the front of your shirt and the back, or the paint will leak through.

6. Let your shirt dry completely before you remove the stencil. Trust me on this one. You can use a hairdryer to speed up this process. Then, slowly pull your contact paper stencil off the shirt. If you have any small pieces to remove you can use an Exact-O knife to gently pry them off.

7.  Wear your shirt and represent.

Our Experience:

Team "Color Me Mommy" before the race. So fresh and so clean, clean!

Willie Nelson Lydia, sporting goggle eyes

We all had such an amazing time at the Color Run. My favorite part was the party at the end of the run. They handed out color packets to everyone, counted down and then it was a free-for-all. Total color explosion. My only advice to someone who is thinking about doing the Color Run (other than to absolutely do it) is body scrub and a loofah.~Lydia

Yes, that is a blue tongue!

I'll be honest and say that I was not at ALL thrilled at the idea of getting dirty. Especially having stuff thrown at my face. No. Way. I was second guessing even participating in the race, but I'm glad that I did! We all had such a fabulous time creating our shirts together and it was an awesome experience to be there with some of my closest friends. I even got down on the ground and rolled around in a street awash with yellow color! (Jill made me do it.) While I had a rather lofty goal of running the entire race (with very little training), in the end I was happy that we all finished it as a team. :) ~Emily

I feel fabulous, darling!

When I heard ‘The Happiest 5K on the Planet’ was coming to Houston, I jumped on the opportunity to enter this race. So, I contacted my mommy buddies and asked,persuaded, convinced them to do it with me! I’ve done my fair share of 5K’s in the past, but this one takes the cake for sure! I may have a few color requests for next year (ahem, pink!), but I can assure you, you’ll see me at the start line next year :) ~Karla

Oompa Loompa or Jamie? You decide.

As soon as I heard about the Colour Run, I was so excited to participate. I love colour and love to get dirty, so this was right up my alley. I had never done a 5k before, so decided that I was going to try and run the entire thing. Before the race I was so nervous, because I'd done little to no long distance training for it. But, to my elation, I ran the entire thing (in about 25 min)! I was very proud of myself and am definitely looking forward to running it again next year!! :) ~Jamie

Paint freckles!

Let's see, the last time I ran a race... Jr. High track, baby! I am a mom to three, three and under, so to say I was unprepared is an understatement. I am happy to say that not being prepared didn't matter with this run. It turned out to be so much fun! I may or may not have done a snow angel in the yellow section(ahem Emily). Bottom line, I would do it again in a heartbeat. ~Jill

Now we're team Color Me Dirty!

What about you? Would you ever do the Color Run? Or do you prefer a cleaner, more sane race environment? Let us hear from you!