Last fall I joined a weekly Bible Study/craft group. We shared our worries and our joys and discussed our Daily Devotion and how it applied to our lives. THEN... we made a craft.
Yes, I know! THAT is a great combination!
I'm going to share the awesome book I worked on from week to week in another post. But, out of all the techniques we were taught from our inspirational leader Diana, this reverse stenciling thing was so easy and packed a punch.
I knew right away I could use it in more wedding crafty goodness. Daniel and Katie's wedding was taking place in a barn with the reception taking place in a big fancy tent. And in between the two was a trailer housing the bathrooms!
Then there was the thought "how can those bathrooms look crafty and charming?" With some cute signs of course! So, with the bride's blessing, I began this simple little project.
•First I cut scraps of paper with mostly yellows and grays and used a mixture of white glue and water (very watery) to adhere the pieces all over the canvas board.
•I cut out photos of Daniel and Katie from when they were little. The 'photos' were actually photocopies that I did on a laser printer at a local FedEx Office Print and Ship Center.
•please note that the photo is just printed on regular paper NOT photo paper!
•Next you will need a set of alphabet stickers
You select the font and size
The color doesn't matter
you'll be throwing away the letters that you use in this project
•I placed the letters right on top of the paper scraps that were already glued to the canvas board.
•Next I used an artist palette knife to spread Patching Plaster OVER the background of the canvas board INCLUDING over the letters!
I went close to the photo's edge but not over the photo. I used
Patching Plaster by DAP sold at my local Lowe's
This is actually a great compound for lots of art projects. I keep my tub in my studio, not in the garage!
Also, it's nice to let a little of the background paper show through here and there.
• Before the Plaster dried, I removed the letter stickers.
I used a straight pin to pick at a corner of a letter. With the pin I was able to lift the sticker up and off of the canvas.
I did this step immediately after I finished spreading the plaster. Once you get a corner lifted with the pin you can gently pull up the entire letter with your fingers.
Here is the result!
When it is completely dry you can apply a protective finish. Then just add a ribbon to the back for hanging.
• •• ••• •• •
As I said at the beginning of this post
I learned this technique from my good friend Diana.
Here was my first attempt.
I will show off my little book in another post.
You'll even see how these pages changed and took on new life.
Another thing to note by looking at this example is how bold the paper is for some of the letters and not for others • lesson learned • use strong colors like what I used for "my" and the "han" of hand.
