Kids and Clorox - Who Knew They Mixed Together So Well?

If I were to say to you, "Hey, let's give the kids Clorox pens and see what happens!" you would probably shoot me one of those "she's lost her ever-loving mind" looks, turn on your heels and walk away.  But I'm rogue like that.  I like to toss a tiny firecracker into the crowd (figuratively speaking, folks) to shake things up a bit.  
We've been highlighting (mostly) crafts this week and I've mentioned that my friend Jody came up from Atlanta a few weeks back.  She is the queen crafter (no really, you should see the embossed note cards she made me - amazeballs!) and she brought up some really fun crafts for the bonus daughters to make.  The koozie/coozies (never will know which is the correct spelling) were all her idea.  And a big hit.  She also brought up a lucha libre mask kit (click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about, of if you'd like to order a real mask of your own) and we ALL made them (pretty sure the ensuing photo will make the front of the Christmas card this year).  

Rocks can be helpful for holding the shirts down.  So they don't fly away. (????)

But I also had a trick or two up my sleeve and told the bonus daughters and the lake neighbor kids to get a colored tshirt and be thinking of a phrase or saying that's important to them (the shorter the better).  I bought Clorox bleach pens and we were set.  
Turns out these handy pens aren't just helpful in the laundry, but also keep bored kids under the age of 15 occupied for at least a solid half an hour.  

You can use other markers to enhance your design (see bow tie above).  And yes, that's wine in that glass.  For the grownups supervising the bleaching.

Here's how:
We took their shirts and put a piece of heavy cardboard between the front side and the back side, inside the shirt (just like with the tie-dye shirts, which we did the same day).  Now take your pen and carefully write your saying or message on the shirt.  It looks like this at first.

The Clorox looks very white while on the shirt, but on black at least, turns the fabric gray.

The key here is (once again) patience while it dries.  Which is harder than it sounds with ten (I think it was ten - there were tons of them and they move quickly, so it can be hard to count them) kids running around.  That's why we had the second craft - the tie-dyes.  Once the Clorox is dry on the shirt (about an hour or so), you very carefully take it to the sink and quickly wash out the bleach by running cold water straight through it at first and then a quick general soak.  Have the washing machine ready to go, so you can pop the shirts in there to get any trace of leftover bleach out.  

It almost looks Halloween-ish with the orange outline around the letters.

Key tips:  
1) Make sure you know how to spell what you want to write. 2) It may be a good idea to "sketch" out what you want to write on your shirt first.  We did it  with our fingers, just to make sure the words would fit, but you could do it with a pen or pencil. 3) You can't really do the front AND back, so choose carefully. 4) Bleach is still bleach.  Even when crafting.  So, be careful with whatever clothes you're wearing. 5) 100% cotton shirts work best.
Now, go turn your kids loose with some bleach pens, get a glass of wine and call it a day.  A win all around.  You're welcome.