We Interrupt These Wedding Posts...

I found the pictures from a baby shower gift I made that I wanted to share!

I made another Personalized Name Art for a friend of mine's nursery. I used the fabulous tutorial from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo that you can find here. She gives a very detailed tutorial and it's very easy to follow. She makes hers 5"x7", but I wanted this to be a statement piece so I made mine an 8"x10".

I previously made one of these and it turned out like this

You can find that tutorial here.

I did this one more like Ashley's tutorial and I love it!

Here is the closeup. 

The new Mommy and Daddy loved it and it is now hanging in their little Archie's nursery!

Pottery Barn Knock-Off: Painted Numbers Canvas

When I saw this on Pottery Barn's website I knew that it would be perfect for my sister. It's totally her style. It's not for sale through the website anymore, but I can only imagine the price tag on something like this!

Photos from Pottery Barn here.

So, I decided that I should just make my own! I used a 20x16 canvas that I got at a garage sale for $2. I read on Little Blue Boo's blog about mod podging newspaper or phone book pages on your canvas to be able to sand it down at the end, and give it a more rustic and distressed finish.

 Here's what it looked like after it was covered in phone book pages.

 Then, I painted over the whole thing in an antique white acrylic paint. When that was dry I went over that with a bright white acrylic paint. I didn't cover the whole thing, but more in random places to give it a streaky effect.

 Once that was completely dry, I found my center and drew lines in pencil so that I could work in sections. For the numbers I used my Silhouette to cut out vinyl letters. I google searched "Pottery Barn Numbers Canvas Font" just to see if anyone knew which font they were. Lucky for me, Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming had made a cute mini version and told us what fonts she used to make hers. So, I played around with mine until I liked it the best. I ended up using two fonts: Engravers MT and Century Schoolbook. I typed them into word and then went back and forth between my document and the picture that I had from Pottery Barn to decide which number fit best.

 I kept working in sections to make sure that all of my numbers fit correctly.

After I got all of the numbers places where I wanted them I used my brayer to make sure that all the edges were really stuck well. At this point I was busting at the seams to go spray paint it and see what the finished product would look like! 

I took it outside and gave it two good coats of flat black spray paint. I made sure it was completely dry and then brought it in and peeled away the vinyl letters! Loved it! But I knew I would love it better after I sanded it. I just used a piece of fine grit sandpaper, wrapped it around a block, and really hit the edges and where my phone book pages were a little crinkled.

 I was so super happy with it!

 I had to test it in my house before I gave it to my sister. I thought for a minute that I should just keep it!! :) Just kidding! I love the way the edges look and the crinkles. It really makes it look like a sheet of canvas.

Take that Pottery Barn!

Linking to:

 

 

   

Polly Want a Crafter? Craft Linky Party 5

Fall Mantle

My fall mantle has been up for a couple of weeks, I just hadn't taken pictures of it for some reason.  The color block piece that you see on the right was taken from Jennifer at Hope Studios tutorial on a Paint Chip Mosaic. It's made out of paint chip samples for a home improvement store! Go check out her tutorial on how to make this super inexpensive artwork! Today I wanted to show you how I made my leaf art. First, I bought a certificate frame from, where else, Dollar Tree.

I spray painted the frame black. I removed the cardboard center and hot glued burlap to it.

Then, I cut out a leaf using my Silhouette onto cardstock as a stencil.

Silhouette Image Leaf_0476

Then, I used the saran wrap technique to apply my orange acrylic paint. I think by using the saran wrap, it doesn't give it such a "perfect" look. More like and aged, or rough look. 

I put it back in the frame and super glued some buttons on to give it some dimension. Simple. Easy.

Love it.

Super Easy Project!

My Mom was in town this weekend, which really motivated me to do a bunch of projects that I had been wanting to do. This first one was SUPER easy, but it makes such a great look when it's all finished!

Using my Silhouette, I cut out vinyl letters in Georgia font. Stuck them straight onto some plates that I already had that matched my kitchen, and Voila! The hardest part of this project was making sure they were straight on the plate hangers and hanging them on the wall! 

I love them! They really add a pop when you turn the corner! Yay for fun easy projects!

Baby Name Board

I'm not an artist. I think there is a real difference between someone who can craft, and create things, and an artist. Being an artist takes some real talent. So when I saw this post over at Little Blue Boo I put it in my "Dream" folder. Ashley is a true artist! I absolutely love the way the layering on her pieces looks. She has made a bunch of these, and they are all different, unique, and just perfect!  You can see some of her other ones by clicking here, here, and here. 

So, a friend of mine was having a baby shower and I thought I would just attempt to create something like this. I kept saying to myself that if I messed up it was OK. I could just sand it down and use it for another project, right? Right. So, with Ashley's projects as inspiration I started working on my piece for Miss Kallie Joann. I used different elements from her pieces that I absolutely loved. I started with a wood plaque and spray painted it white. I added some vinyl letters that I cut using my Silhouette. I spray painted the whole thing with Valspar's Tulip Pink and peeled off the letters when it was dry.

I then painted each letter with a fine tip brush. I used all acrylic paints.

 I used Ashley's advice and bought a medium point and fine point black paint pen. I outlined everything with the medium point paint pen.

 I then added different elements to each letter. For the stitching, I used a fine point black paint pen.

 I used a stencil in two of the corners. I outlined them with a pencil, and then filled them in with the paint pen.

 For the centers of my flowers I added stitching to my button holes and hot glued the buttons on.

 To add more dimension, I used a paint brush that the tip had come off of and added dots to different parts of the letters.

 I free handed the little saying with my fine point paint pen.

 I love how it turned out. I think for my first one, it worked out pretty well.

 Most importantly, Kallie's Mommy loved it!!