Yee haw! Here in Houston, it's rodeo time. Want to join in the fun? Gather your jeans, cowboy hat, boots (real or pretend), belt with the biggest buckle you have, and a white t-shirt! White t-shirt? That's not very cowboy-ish. It will be, I promise!
Supplies: white t-shirt, black tea, medium sauce pan, scissors (cowboy stamps and paint optional)
Cost: Approximately $3
Directions: Parent supervision required!!!
With a parent's help, fill a medium sized sauce pan about 3/4 of the way full with water. Bring to a boil. Remove saucepan from heat. Add 4 to 5 tea bags and let steep for about 10 minutes.
Remove tea bags. Wad up your white t-shirt and add it to the sauce pan. Make sure it is totally immersed. Let your shirt sit in the tea for a few hours or overnight.
Take your saucepan to the sink and pour out the tea. Wring out your shirt and put it in the dryer until completely dry.
Lay your shirt out on a table. Carefully, with parent supervision, make vertical cuts about an inch apart and about 3 inches up all the way around the bottom of your shirt. This will make a nice fringe.
Do the same thing to the sleeves.
Now you have a plain cowboy shirt.
If you'd like your shirt to be a vest like the one in the picture, you can cut a straight line from the middle of the neck to the bottom of the shirt.
If you want to add a little extra to your shirt, dip some cowboy themed stamps in acrylic paint and add a few stamps to the front of your shirt. Make sure to slip a trash bag inside your shirt BEFORE you do this, so that your paint will not bleed through to the back. Let paint dry completely!
Put on your jeans, boots, tea stained cowboy shirt, belt, and hat and you'll be ready for the rodeo - be it a real rodeo or one of your own in the back yard. These also make good Indian shirts, so make an extra one for your friend for a romping game of cowboys and Indians.
Upload pictures of your cowboy creation to the Kid's Craft Along Flickr group. Yippee ki yay, get along little doggies!
