My son is singing in a "Barnyard Moosical" for school on Monday, and has been asked to dress like a cow.  Now, I'm not about to go spend money on a cow costume that he's going to wear once, so I went to look in my craft closet to see what I had.  I found this shirt that James stained last year and isn't really wearable.  Luckily, I could never bring myself to throw it away.  I thought for sure I could think of a way to use it for something, and I was right!  Yay me!  So, I grabbed the shirt, a sharpie, some cardboard, tole paint, and a paint brush.

I stuck the cardboard inside the shirt, and drew some spots with my sharpie.

Then I filled in the spots with the black paint.  Yes, I know that's not the purpose of this paint, but it's what I had on hand, and it works!

I let it dry a few hours, then flipped it over and spotted the back.

Throw in a pair of black gloves for the hooves, and there you have it: A free cow costume that was really easy to make! 

Disclaimer:  The paint is really stiff, and it will be uncomfortable, so he will have to wear an undershirt with it.  If you are going to plan on doing this a fabric paint would probably be a lot better.

Update:  Here is a picture at the performance.  I didn't sit close enough to get a good picture during the singing, but this is him in his classroom.  What a cutie!