Somewhere a while back I was looking for some craft room inspiration and I found a bunch of links to other people’s create spaces.  I wish I could remember specifically who it was, but one of the ladies had worked with her husband to turn their garage into an amazing workshop.  Above the door was a sign that said CREATE in bold black letters with a different primary color behind each letter, all mounted on wood.  She said she saw it in a shop and just had to have it for her new space.  Well, I started out planning to recreate that, but then I got sidetracked, yet again, by my paper addiction.  I collaged various papers onto each 9″ chipboard letter and sealed them with Golden matte gel.

This blue paper (and also the flowers in the middle of the “E”) is from a few 6×6 pages designed by Christy Tomlinson.  I love the “she knew she could” message.

I was incredibly happy with the letters, but the 12×36 canvas looked so dull in white…

… so I jazzed it up a bit.  (I used Blick Violet Deep matte acrylic, Golden Ultramarine Violet, Carbon Black, and Cerulean Blue Deep fluid acrylics.)

I adhered the letters to the dry canvas with E6000, which has so many precautions listed on the back that I opened all the windows and barred my daughter from the room.  Still, when I lifted the canvas, it was heavy and one of the letters came off.  Urgh.  So I set about “mod podging” as many of the gaps as I could, going around each of the letters to seal them down.

Well, it seemed like a good idea to me since it dries clear, but I could still see it and it would drive me crazy if I looked at this sign multiple times a day and only saw it’s flaws, so I covered the entire thing with another coat of Mod Podge matte and let it dry.  Ta da!

Before and after:

Tell me… If I made a few gold, white, red, and green ones that say “JOY,” would you be interested in purchasing one for your holiday decorations? I hope so because I kind of already started…

What other words would you be interested in?

You can see more “Behind the Art” posts here.