Sign Makeover–By Imperfectly Polished

Jessie is my “in real life” friend.   She actually goes to my church but found me on Ucreate.   Isn’t that hysterical?   She sent me an email saying, “I saw you on Ucreate and I think you go to my church.”   I was so excited to meet another craft/DIY/home blogger that I had her and Mike (he hubby) over for dinner.   They are an amazing couple.   I am so excited to introduce you to her.

Hi, I’m Jessie and I blog over Imperfectly Polished.   I am so excited to be here at Infarrantly Creative today and share a little DIY artwork with you all.   I am a stalker of Beckie’s blog like you all so its is an honor for me to be here today!   Thanks, Beckie:)

After recently making some changes in our living room with new slipcovered furniture and a new gallery wall, I decided this piece needed some adjustments to fit in a little better.

The ole’ “Live Laugh Love” quote is nice, but I wanted to make the piece a little more meaningful to us.   So here it is now:

And here is how to make your own.

You’ll need:

• board or old art work that you want to makeover
• paint colors of your choice {I used white and gray}
• paint brush
• painters tape
• stencils or freezer paper to make your own

I started by measuring my center board and decided on two inch stripes.   You can obviously use whatever width suits you.   Then I taped off every other stripe area.

It took me two coats of white to cover the area and then I removed the tape while it was still wet.   Sadly, some of the original cheapo graphic started to peal off and I smudged some gray, but mistakes are fine because they will be covered later.   After the white stripe dries, tape the edge of the white and paint the gray until covered and remove tape.

I let this dry overnight before moving on.   Next, lightly sand over the whole board.   You can really use whatever you have laying around if you do it by hand, but I think mine was 80 grit.   This gives it that rustic, aged look.

Next, I made a wash with my gray paint.   Put a small amount {maybe a 1/2 tablespoon} of paint into a paper cup and mix in a little water until your paint is thinned out.   Brush this lightly over the striped area.   I also brushed some over the blue area to give it a more aged look and lessen the brightness of it.

After that dries, stencil on whatever word or design you choose.   If you have a fancy, schmancy Silhouette or Cricut machine you could easily use that but I went with the tried and true freezer paper and Microsoft Word method and it worked fine as well.   I used a different shade of blue for this part and only put on a very light coat of paint through the stencil.

And there you have it!   A new piece of artwork using what ya already have.

And here it is in its new spot above our pretty new slipcover:

Cost: free!

Thanks so much for having me Beckie and I hope to meet you all at imperfectlypolished!

Jessie

THANKS Jessie for stopping by and sharing your talent here on IC. Please go check out Imperfectly Polished’s other amazing projects.

BLUE Board & Batten Hallway

Door into a Built-In Desk

Mail Center Made out of Scrap Wood

I’d love for you to join me this week in the BlogFrog International Delight CoffeeTalk community — Your place to share, sip, and inspire.