We're baaaack....and a new tutorial!

Whew! It has been a while and for good reason...it has been back to school frenzy for me! I teach Pre-Kindergarten full time, so I had taken a few weeks off to focus on my classroom and getting into a school year routine.  As much as I needed the break, I sure have missed my painting, blogging, and junking! It is so good for my soul!

So to kick off our return, here is a tutorial on our latest sign!

First, I started with what used to be an old step stool...I simply removed the legs and  sanded the top of the stool. You could use any scraps of wood nailed or hot glued together.  I then cut out the letters for the quote using contact paper and my Circuit cutter-super fast and super easy. You could simply cut out the letters from contact paper if you do not have an electric cutter.  I then attached the letters to the wood and made sure they were stuck on well.

Next, I chose my stain and applied two coats (24 hours apart) using a disposable foam brush.  I applied the stain moving in horizontal strokes, swiping clear across the boards in even coats. You DO NOT want your stain to be clumpy nor soupy. It needs to be done in even, clean coats.   Once the
stain was completely dry, I removed the contact paper to reveal the quote. Now, you could just leave it as is from here and be done, however, I wanted my quote to "pop" a bit more and to make it match my decor a bit better, so I took acrylic paint in French Vanilla and painted in the quote, using the "stencil" the contact paper had left me.  I used a fine tipped brush and applied two coats just to be safe. To finish the sign out, I lightly sanded and distressed it and then sealed it with polyurethane.  Since it was going indoors, I could have simply waxed it, however, I chose to use the poly just to better seal the stain. To hang, I simply attached photo hangers to the back.

This project was super easy and I love how it turned out! It would make a great wedding or anniversary gift!

Happy Painting!

Stenciling...my "Ah Ha" Moment

For years, I have looked at people's beautiful stencil work and am so envious! I have tried and tried to stencil numerous things over the years and it has always ended in epic failure for me. Either it would be smudgy after I removed the stencil or it would be globby...I tried more paint, less paint, spray paint....taping stencil, spray adhesive on the stencil...read every article I could find on the subject. No improvement.

My first ah ha moment came after visiting one of my favorite blogs, The Handmade Home. Ashley had created a beautiful wall art piece using a stencil she had been given from a company. I headed to that company's website and WOW were the stencils awesome! The one I REALLY, REALLY wanted was $49.95...I just could not make myself fork over that kind of money when I was not even good at it (yes, I am thrifty...$49.95 is probably very reasonable...just not in my world)! However, it got me thinking that maybe I needed to invest in a better stencil instead of the small, cheapo, flimsy ones. So I headed to Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon in hand (you can also use the electronic one via your cell phone, iPad, etc while checking out) and found very large wall stencils ($16.99 before coupon). I really liked the Moroccan Theme stencil shown below:


It is thick and large enough to easily use on a table top. Here is the biggest Ah Ha! moment...I ACTUALLY READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and bought the re-positional spray adhesive it recommended in the instructions. Hobby Lobby carried it as well and I believe it was around $5. I already had some stencil paint on hand in the brand it recommended, so I decided to just give it another try with this stencil (Both items are shown below, along with a tub of stencil paint as just another option; it is a thick cream. I chose to use the bottled paint).



I lightly sprayed the back of the stencil with the adhesive spray and it was so nice to be able to pick it up and move it without any nasty residue! It really was very easy to reposition and yet it still stuck really well once I got it where I wanted it. Now here is where I veered from the instructions a bit. I had given up on stencils...I was done, right? So I gave my roller to my oldest daughter for her arts and crafts adventures. I wasn't going to buy another one until I knew I could nail this stencil thing. So, I just used a foam sponge I had in my bucket of supplies. I put the stencil paint on a paper plate, lightly dipped the sponge in the paint, dabbed it again on plate just to get any excess off, and then rubbed it across stencil lightly. I don't usually "dab" it on the stencil as I don't like that sponge painted look it sometimes leaves. So I basically just wiped it across the stencil with a light hand. The nice thing about stencil paint is that it dries pretty quick, so once I was done with one section, I just removed the stencil, moved it onto the next section and repeated the process until the table top was covered. Easy! Here is a picture of what it looked like right after I was done with the stencil.



I wanted a really distressed, worn look, so this white was too white and too "Hey, I just stenciled this piece!"
So I distressed it:
Covered it in CeCe's clear wax:

Then finished it off with a coat of CeCe's clear wax tinted with Hershey Brown:

Now, I must admit, I am not used to taking step by step pictures to share with others. I seriously did not even remember to turn the garage light on!! DUH! So, please understand you are looking at pictures taken in my dirty garage with the only light coming from the open garage door. None of this is rocket science, and most of you that are pros are probably thinking "Really? This is basics lady", but as I like to say, everyone starts somewhere, and this is my somewhere! I love working at something until I get it how I imagined it (expect wreaths and that is a whole other story)!!! As I say in all my tutorial tips, this is just what worked for me. There are thousands of ways to do this, thousands of techniques that work for others, and a million and one ways to achieve the look you want. Just imagine and play!


Here are a few quick tips:
1. You don't have to go out and buy stencil paint! Regular Latex or Chalk Paint will work just fine. However, keep in mind Latex paint is a bit runnier, so go easy with how much you put on your roller. Plus, it is going to be harder to get off of your stencil afterwards.

2. Use re-positional spray adhesive to adhere stencil to your surface. So much quicker than taping and sticks great!

3. Wash stencil immediately after use. Do not let the paint dry on it (Trust me on this one...learned why they tell you this in the instructions...the hard way).

4. If you are nervous or not sure what look you want, practice! This stencil came with a practice board and you can try it on that first, saving you some time and work if you don't like the finished look.

I am now headed to Hobby Lobby for a more difficult stencil to try. Eventually I hope to learn to free hand...maybe even master the harlequin pattern as my fellow painter and friend Allison has, but, until then, I am happy to stencil away! Hope everyone has a great week and Happy Stenciling!!