Monday, July 12, 2010

DIY Personalized Sign

I had a spot to fill on a shelf in my living room and I really wanted to put something there with some meaning. I started looking for quotes that could relate to us, but I couldn't find anything that resonated with me. So, I decided to use the lyric from one of my favorite songs. I love it, it's the ring tone on my phone when the BF calls, and it is one of my all-time favorite bands! I started with a wood plaque that I bought at Wal-Mart and spray painted it white. I decided on how many lines I would need and found the center of my board. I marked my lines with a pencil.
I picked a font that I liked and used Ashley's Subway Art Tutorial and Jen's Beachy-ish Subway Art as inspiration. I cut out my words using my SILHOUETTE onto some vinyl. I used my lines as a guide and placed all of my letters on.
The lyrics are from one of my favorite songs "Bumblebee" by The Band of Heathens. They are a Texas Country (Americana if you're not from Texas) group, and I love them! If you click on their link, you can actually listen to the song in the playlist on the right. It makes my heart happy! :)
So after all the vinyl letters were placed I painted over it with a mixture of two blues, then went back and added a couple layers of each color. I wanted to do this for when I started sanding at the end, to give it some dimension.
Then, I let it dry over night and used my Silhouette's Hook Tool to remove each letter. Then, I headed out to the garage and used my sander to rough it up a bit. I sanded the edges and over the letters and paint a bit.
I thought I was done at this point, but the white underneath was a little too stark for the look I was going for. So I took some brown paint and diluted it with water to give it a little stain. I just brushed it on then quickly wiped it off.
Perfect! And now it sits so nicely on my shelf.
 


20 comments:

  1. Cute. I would have probably used the vinyl as the lettering on the blue...so thanks for the idea to put it on, paint and then remove it.

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  2. It would have saved a lot of time, but I only had vinyl in baby pink, which didn't really go so well with my color scheme! So, this was an easy alternative!

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  3. Really really cute! That is a great idea to pull the vinyl off after painting if you don't have the right color vinyl! I have that little sander too - it's great!

    Love it!

    XOX
    Jen

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  4. Super cute, Love the idea! I need to get a Silhouette!!!

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  5. great job! I had so much fun with my friend's cricut...now I want one of my own!

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  6. What a good idea. Do you know how to make letters on the cricut (vinyl) the same font but taller and skinnier? I am trying to use opposite font but when I make the letter taller it makes it fatter as well and I just want it to be skinner and taller? Does tha make sense?]
    Thanks! Tara

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  7. Great Idea!!!

    www.mythriftychic.blgospot.com

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  8. Thats really really cute - now maybe I will have a reason to get my cricut out of the box and use it.....bought it two years ago and have never even opened it......
    p.s. Jennifer if you like texas amaricana bands then try to find a band called OUR RELIGION (NOT religious music at all) I think you will find them to be awesome as well.

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  9. Hey! I found you on pinterest, thanks for the tutorial! I LOVE BoH, we'll, actually I'm obsessed with Texas Country in general. :)

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  10. I looooove that song! And The Band of Heathens! Glad to know someone else out there likes them too! Awesome DIY by the way!

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  11. So cute. Did you place each individual letter down separately or did you use transfer Tape?

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  12. Great job !! Love the idea !!..<3

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  13. Love this project! Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Love this. I tried a patriotic sign using stencils and it didn't go so well. Paint seeped under the stencils a lot.

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  15. I love what you guys are up too. Such clever work and exposure! Keep up the very good works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my own blogroll. team login

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