DIY bleach Mickey Mouse shirt

I know this cruise is a little over 7 months away, but if you know next to nothing about me, you know that I am a planner. Things can get super hectic over night and I like to have all my ducks in a row. 


My list of fun Disney crafts is practically a mile long, and there are just too many great ideas out there to try. The first thing I wanted to try was a personalized bleach shirt for the kiddos to wear on the day we board the ship. Enter Amber's DIY bleach Mickey Mouse shirt!

So if I could find my card reader, you would have had pictures of the whole process, but true to form, it is lost. You get to see the picture of the finished product taken with my cell phone. It's not the best quality, but you get the idea, right?!


This was simple!!! I mean, super easy. I went to Hobby Lobby because they were having a sale on their t-shirts and grabbed a blue shirt to try this totally easy technique. This blue shirt was a whopping $2 and I got it a size bigger than what he is wearing now to account for a growth spurt between now and then. 


If you want to make one of these, here is how you do it:


Lay your shirt on a flat surface, free of anything you don't want the bleach to discolor. Line the inside of it with plastic trash bags, aluminum foil, or just something that will stop the bleach from seeping to the back of the shirt. 


I googled an outline of Mickey Mouse, printed it, and transferred it to contact paper. It really needs to adhere to the shirt so the bleach doesn't bleed underneath the outline. Then I rummaged for some lettering in my craft cabinet, and found some cute adhesive letters that were just the right size. Then arrange them on the shirt whatever way you wish. I played with a couple of lettering positions and settled on placing the Mickey just under the collar, and then placing the letters slightly curving underneath that.


Then mix up a spray bottle of bleach and water. I started out with about 1/4 bleach and the rest water, and it didn't give me the dramatic color difference I was looking for so I added more bleach. It ended up being about half and half....but it is really up to you. 


Lightly mist over the letters and contact paper. This is where you get to be creative. You can make it very dramatic or very subtle....just spray away. Be careful not to spray yourself or anything other than the shirt you are making. Let the shirt dry and then peel away all the stickers. You are done!


This shirt cost me about $2.50 total and Jansen loves it. We might use this same technique to make some personalized pillowcases for the trip. If you take a pillowcase up to Guest Services at the beginning of your trip, they will return it on the final night, autographed by all of the characters. How fun is that???