Weekend art camp: save the date DIY

This piece was made following a DIY from 'a beautiful mess' blog, an endless source of inspiration.  The project outlined the steps to converting a found work of art with some vinyl stickers and white paint.  I got to thinking that it would be a neat twist on our 'save the date' sign, and something that we could decorate our married house with down the road.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have been reading lots of DIY blogs about jewelry making, skirt sewing and the general re-purposing of all things good.

Welcome to weekend art camp: I decided to make my own background and began by breaking out the neon paints, layering in shapes and patterns.  Next, I cut out the letters from the vinyl sticker sheet and laid them out on the cradleboard to get an idea of spacing, etc.  I used a ruler to draw straight lines across the surface as a guide for my lettering.  After the stickers were in place, I painted two layers of white acrylic that had been thinned slightly with water-I wanted to have the 'ghost' of the painting show through in the background, rather than completely whiting it out.  After the white paint dried, Steven helped to carefully pry up the stickers, revealing the bright colors beneath.

This was a fun and quick craft project, using things I already had around my studio.  Stay tuned for more 'weekend art camp' posts!