Getting Crafty

One of the perks of being at home right now in my life is that I am having the opportunity to explore my crafty side (as in arts and crafts, not duplicity). I thought it would be fun to record one of my attempts and post it here. What follows is taken from a variety of sources as far as ideas and methods, so if you want to copy them, have at it!

I made a board for hanging jackets and such by my mom's back door. I knew she liked this saying, so I found a way to incorporate it, too!

I started with a piece of reclaimed wood, just a pretty board I found. It had kind of a pink hue and a nice grain, so I decided to make that the color of the text, rather than using another color. (If I had wanted, say, white words, I would have painted the board white before proceeding with the next steps.)

Similarly, four old-fashioned glass door knobs volunteered to be part of the project (actually, it was stumbling across them that made me want to do the project in the first place). I marked out spacing for the knobs while making sure to leave room for the text above.

 

I then set to work picking a font. I usually like to mix complementary fonts to emphasize important words. Seeing the whole sentence in each font, the plainer and the more decorative, gives me a good indication of how the different fonts present themselves (i.e., how many curlicues, if the font is narrow or wide on different letters, etc.). For a project like this, it's important to pick a font that isn't too narrow. Sometimes making it bold will help, sometimes not.

Once I have the font picked, it's time to size the phrase. Again, I use size for emphasis. Usually, I end up printing off a test run, going back to the computer to make it a lot bigger, printing it again, and then using some words from each printing.

 

 Eventually, though, you'll figure out what you like.

 Once you've come up with a satisfactory arrangement, glue the text to the clear side of self-adhesive plastic book covering. You know the stuff; the library always covers their soft-cover books with it.

Give the glue lots of time to dry. The more it adheres, the easier your next step will be.

Cut out the words or letters along the black and white. I use a combination of scissors and scalpel to accomplish this. The paper may want to pull away from the plastic. Just hold it together long enough to get the words cut out. After that, it doesn't really matter anymore.

Peel the backing from the sticky plastic and carefully arrange your words. If you're the type of person who likes to make guiding lines to get everything straight and centered, now would be the time to do so. I have found it to be helpful (when dealing with whole words strung together with a cursive font) to just peel and stick part of the word at first and then peel the rest, smoothing it as I go.

Once I got the words stuck satisfactorily, I coated them with a layer of paint that blended in with the hue of the board. You see, some of the paint will seep around the edges of the letters, so I wanted that seepage to be as unnoticeable as possible. (Again, if I were doing white lettering, I would have coated them with another layer of white paint to minimize seepage of a contrasting color.)

Of course, once that's dry, slather on whatever top coat color you like!

 Next comes the really hard part. Wait. For several days. Seriously, you want this to be good and dry.

The next thing is to discover your lovely sign! Armed with a scalpel or other sharp object, gently outline the lettering and peel back the plastic.

I finished it off with a textured daubing of the same color I used for the letters around the edge of the board and with a top coat of matte finish (or use glossy, your preference).

 A bow, and it was ready to go!