Mont Marte Fabric Paint Sticks keep your kids crafting!

I was worried that you’d find my blog post subject for the week a little bit too light but with everything that’s happening in the world, I think you’ll definitely enjoy my post featuring great ideas on how to keep your kids busy while keeping your sanity.

I received a box of goodies featuring Mont Marte Fabric Paint Sticks and was given the assignment to test them out. And I found some great ideas of what you can do with them. My problem is I have so many ideas I might need more than a week to show them all.

Let’s begin the incursion with the Mont Marte Fabric Paint Sticks. They come in a set of nine bright permanent colors for untreated fabrics. This means you can use these to hand-draw designs onto t-shirts, pillows, bags and even fabric shoes. The possibilities are endless.

I decided to give them a test run with my kids to see how easy it is to work with and how messy the place can become!

You can rest assured! They are really fun and easy to work with. There was absolutely no mess to clean up after the fact, or very little. But there are a few tricks I learned along the way. So let me show you how I decided to set things up.

I opted for some Fabric Creations muslin. One package is 42″ x 108″ which gives me plenty of material to make 3 really big tote bags. I cut out 3 rectangles (20″ x 42″) for the totes and 6 rectangles (4″ x 42″) for the straps.

I placed my Fabric Creations muslin rectangles on my dining room table and taped them into place so they couldn’t move when we would be using the paint sticks. However, please do keep in mind that the paint does go through the fabric and leave a lot of paint on the table surface once done. I didn’t have any problems cleaning up after as the paint is water-soluble but I’m sure you appreciate the heads up.

Now keep in mind the muslin rectangle will be folded in half to make the tote bag. So it’s important to make a note this way up in the middle so your kids know which way to draw. Also, mark the clearance space you need to make the tote bag. I suggest leaving a 2’’ clearance space all around.  You’ll notice in the pictures that my kids didn’t really remember my instructions, so I strongly suggest to mark the information with an air erase pencil. Better be safe than having another UFO on your hand.

Note: Should you want to paint on a T-shirt or pillowcase, you should add cardboard under the fabric so the paint doesn’t bleed onto the other fabric below.

This is the best part! Let them use the Mont Marte fabric paint sticks and paint to their heart’s content. You can keep your kids busy for hours and keep your sanity! It’s also a good way to get to know their new interests.

It’s important to remind them also they need to let the paint dry before adding another color on top. This is where a blow dryer comes in handy. It only takes a few minutes for the paint to dry and they can add another color to the drawing. But beware! It does make it thicker and might not withstand the washing… should the tote bag ever need to be cleaned.

Once the kids are done with painting their tote bag, remove all the tape from the fabric and table and let dry for about an hour. The instructions say to heat set with an iron for 5 minutes on a dry hot iron. It was the perfect occasion for me to take out my cool new Oliso Pro TG1600 Smart Iron in a cute pink color! I recommend placing a cloth between your iron and the paint as it will stain your iron and might bleed elsewhere on the fabric.

After setting the paint with the iron, I also placed the painted fabrics in my dryer and set on heat dry for 20 minutes.  Ensuring the paint is heat set is crucial if you want the paint to stay on your fabric after it’s been washed. And remember fabric is based on threads being woven together. There are holes in between the threads… so the paint that’s set in these areas will eventually wash away. So ensure you wash your tote bag alone the first time as the colors will bleed.

You’re all set! The fabric has been painted thanks to Mont Marte Fabric Paint Sticks and you have kept your kids busy while staying sane. Come back tomorrow as I’ll show you more great fabric painting project ideas.