DIY - Wall Sayings and Name Plaques

I got crafty! I fed a much dormant side of myself and did these projects before the girl's party.

#1 - The Wall Saying

When the girls were tiny we would rock them to sleep while listening to lullabies. One of the songs was the Dixie Chicks "Lullaby". I would sing it to them every night. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the blog you can activate my playlist and listen to it. The chorus line is one of my all time favorite sayings so I had to have it on their wall. I priced several different places online and was slightly horrified by the price of custom vinyl letters. So I happen to read this on one of my favorite blogs Thrifty Decor Chick and decided to try it. Notice that she started out with, like, 3 words. Can I do that? Oh no! I have to do a whole blasted paragraph!

So here's what I did.

~First I scoured my fonts. I am pretty much one of those people who have to try out every single one of anything I am looking for. Yes, the 15th one would have worked, but what if the 22nd one was better? I used LibbyScript2 in font size 250 for the first part of the words. The Loved, Forever, Never, and Ever are Palace Script MT. Loved, Forever, and Never are font size 400 and Ever is 500. I printed them on regular paper, but next time (Lord, did I just say I would do this again??) I will print it out on cardstock.

~I used an exacto knife to carefully cut out each letter ( and each middle parts also ). And you must keep every tiny little middle piece as well. It was a long and grueling process. I mean, take a look at all those swirly (sworly?) lines!

I have to stop here and say that I know I should have taken pictures of the whole process. Sarah actually did and that's probably why she has 1400 followers. Yep, she is just that good, folks. Maybe I will take pictures next time.

~I cut and taped each page together to make each line of words. Then I taped it all up with double sided tape. I used white sticky tack for the little middle parts of the O's and E's and such. Those 3 sentences do not do justice to the careful process this took. I used a level and everything! When I was finish I had my own stencil on the wall.

~Then, I used black stencil paint and a stencil brush to dab and hit the paint on right over the paper. Even as flimsy as the regular paper was, there are very few outside-the-lines mistakes and none that you can see across the room. I should have done question marks at the end of the first 2 lines and I should have done Cause instead of because, but...I am pretty happy with the final result.

All in all it was well worth it, especially since instead of spending between $75-$100, I spent about $6 on the paint and brush, both of which I will use again. Most rewarding is the fact that Gary is impressed. I have to say, I shocked the crap out of myself, too.


#2 - Name Plaques

So many things just came together to work for this. I have to give my mom most of the credit here. I had the ideas but she actually did the work while I ran around doing other things for the party.

~I bought the wooden plaques for .50 cents each - half off at Hobby Lobby. The ribbon was also half off. The letters are from DCWV - Once Upon a Wall. And the ladybugs and trim? Those are from a wallpaper border.

They are the same little bugs that are everywhere in their room.

~She painted them blue using the same paint that we used for the wall border. You can see that in the picture at the top of the post with the Wall Saying. She painted the grass on the border so I thought it best for her to also paint the grass on these so it would match.

~We cut out each ladybug, flower, and dragonfly from the border. That black and white trim on the bottom is also from the border. We added that at the last minute for extra snazz and it really made it. We glued them all on with craft glue.

~The letters were white and I was going to exchange them for black, but mom ended up painstakingly painting each letter that pink. (WOW!!) I would not have had the patience for that, but once again, it really made it.

~She painted a coat of Modge Podge over the whole thing to seal it all in.

~Then she hot glued the ribbon on the back

I wasn't really sure what I was going to use to hang them. I was thinking little nails. With pictures, frames, or anything I am putting up on the wall, I always use pushpins first so that if I have to move it then it is not a hole, just a tiny pin mark left behind. I found these ladybug pushpins I bought ages ago in my drawer of pushpins (I love when I am organized enough to benefit from it!)

~So then we used a level again to make sure it was all straight and used the ladybug pushpins and AGAIN, they really finished it off.


LOVE IT!!

P.S. I bet you didn't believe I would ever post this, did you? Hmm?? I know, I have promised so many posts that never saw the light of day. As I said, I am back :-)