DIY Stencil

I've used freezer paper to make my own stencil for quite a few projects in the past ranging from painting canvas bags to painting a wall in my daughter's room.  My most recent project was to paint material because I couldn't find what I wanted in the store.  I was making a ruffly apron for a friend and really wanted one of the ruffles to have gold stars, but alas, I didn't see anything I liked.  So I bought some glitter multi-surface paint from the craft store, pulled out my freezer paper and got to work.

I drew a ton of stars (ok more like 40) on to the non-shiny side of the freezer paper and then using an exacto knife, I cut them out.

I then cut the stars apart and placed them on the piece of material (shiny side down) in a lay out that looked random-ish.

Using my iron (steam turned off), I quickly pressed the paper down so that it stuck to the material.  (I may have also contemplated the largeness of the weed growing outside my window.  If I squint hard enough, it looks tropical and I can imagine there is a beach outside my front door.)

I painted the glittery gold on.

Finally, I peeled off the paper and let the paint dry completely.  (Once the paint is dry, I put a cloth on top of the stars and quickly ironed to heat set them.)

Here is the finished apron.  I think my fabric design of gold stars on a pink background really makes the apron lovely.

And, just for fun, here is the wall in my daughter's room.  I painted the tulips with the same stenciling method.  Yes, I actually ironed paper on to my wall.

Have you ever used freezer paper as a stencil?  Or possibly ironed a wall?