I know we are all looking for warmer temperatures to go along with the budding trees and peeking flowers. My yard is starting to look beautiful with the pink and fuschia azaleas, bright yellow daffodils and even the sweet purple and lavendar violets trying hard to show their little faces toward the sun.
With all the lovely colors coming up, I had to turn towards a spring palette to alter my newest piece. I found a "L" at my local WalMart in the craft close out basket for a dollar. Being that "L" is my initial, of course I had to bring it home. I thought I'd share how I made this simple little bit of Spring for my craft room.
What you'll need:
wooden initial (if it is prepainted no worries, if not, you'll need to give it two coats of white acrylic paint)
chosen patterned paper
chipboard
rub on letters
white paint
coordinating ink
embellishments as desired
paint brush
liquid adhesive
strong double stick tape
Instructions:
Turn your paper to the wrong side of the paper lay your letter on it to trace. Once traced, cut out using a craft knife or scissors. Set aside.
Once your letter is painted, rough the surface just a bit using an emery board or fine grit sandpaper to accept the adhesive.
Coat the letter with your liquid adhesive. I like to use an old credit card or similar card (those junk mail ads for more cards do come in hand to use as a spreader for glue) to spread your adhesive evenly across the surface of your letter and carefully place paper on letter right side up. Using a clean edge (like a bone folder or even a brayer) roll over or smooth over paper to remove any air bubbles. Set aside to dry.
Cut your chipboard into four small rectangles. I used three little pieces that came from a package of Fancy Pants chipboard embellishments. They were the insides of four chipboard bookplates.
While your letter is drying, base coat paint your chipboard rectangles with the white paint. You can speed up the drying process of your painted chipboard using your heat tool.
Once dry, use your rub ons to spell out your message. While I love the message "Live Laugh Love", I chose to change mine around to read "Laugh, Love, Live" to convey the message that to laugh and to love is to live. The fourth message is self explanatory!
Ink edges of tags with coordinating ink.
Adhere any chosen embellishments to your tags and set aside.
When the paper is dry and firmly affixed to your letter, carefully trim to edges of your letter using a craft knife and a steady hand!
Once the paper has been trimmed, use an emery board to lightly sand the paper to give the illusion of the design having been painted onto the letter rather than paper having been added to the wood. The paper will fade into the paint rather than having solid edges showing against it.
Adhere your tags and any other embellishments using double stick tape or glue dots.
If desired, finish your project with two coats of matte finish modge podge. Set aside to dry for 24 hours.
Enjoy!
Materials used for this project that can be found in A Walk Down Memory Lane store include Basic Grey Two Scoops 6x6 paper pad, Basic Grey [Un]dressed Chipboard Hardware, Gloo, Double Stick Tape.
