Made My Own

Very popular these days is art done on canvases or wooden planks, that have an old rustic look to them, that have little sayings on them like 'if you're looking for a sign this is it' or the house rules or place names. While at first I thought they were rather nice and 'oh how I would like one but which one to choose', now I'm seeing them everywhere and they have become quite common and not so enjoyable to me as everyone has one. So I made my own.

I purchased a black canvas (which was on special, even better) wrote out on a piece of paper what I was planning to put on it and got busy. I decided to put the names of places we have visited in New Zealand. By using places we have been it would mean so much more to us.

I pulled out the Cuttlebug machine, bright coloured paper and the alphabet dies and started cutting.

As I cut letters and formed words I placed them on the canvas. Pirongia was first on and in the middle. This is where we live and it needed to be big and bold.

                                   

While I was still cutting out the words and placing them on the canvas, Master 12 came by flapping something, got a little too close and look what happened.

                                   

At first I yelled (very briefly) then I saw the funny side of it and just laughed. Trust him to do something like that! Luckily I had taken a photo so I could put it all back to how I had it. Amazingly I didn't loose any of the dots of the i's either.

When I was happy with the layout (again!) I got the Xyron sticker maker and started to feed the letters through it one place at a time and then stick them on the board. If you are into crafting one of these Xyron machines are so, so useful. This is the smallest but so easy to use, easily moved around, stored and refills of the sticky rolls come in either repositionable or permanent. Not only can you put paper or card through them but also ribbon, lace and probably much more that I haven't even thought about.

Once it was all stuck down I got the Mod Podge out to seal it and give it a finished look. This was the scary part. The Mod Podge is white and even though you know it will dry clear it's still scary to smear it all over your hard work. There is always 'what if' sitting in the back of your mind.

                                      

Of course it dried clear! How silly of me to worry. So after about three coats I deemed it done and onto the the wall it went. It is in our dining area where we all spend quite a bit of time and not just for eating.