Lately I have been working on little decorative accents for my house. The garage is an area that has been overlooked. It's not an area that anyone in the family ever thought of decorating, until now. Why shouldn't the garage entrance to the house be inviting? In an effort to try to give the garage a face lift, I made a welcome sign. My husband really likes the sign for it's simplicity. It's for the garage so I didn't want to go over board on embellishments.
This was a quick, easy and inexpensive project.
Directions for Mixed Media Welcome Sign:
Art Minds Clear Pine Craft Wood 5.25 x 12 inches- available at Michaels
Liquitex Acrylic Paint- Payne's Grey, black
SVG Cuts Maple Manor cutting files-Chat Noir
Gesso
Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel- Clear
Heat Gun or Ranger Melting Pot
Teflon coated craft tweezers
Golden Crackle Paste
Lavender color flowers
Martha Stewart Leaf Paper Punch
Black Card Stock for Chat Noir and outline
Scrap of olive card stock for leaves and gold for cat's eyes
Sheer Purple ribbon
Vinyl for electronic cutting machines- light purple and black
Computer font or Sketch font from Silhouette Design Store
Hot Glue Gun
Sharpie Marker- black
Tim Holtz Distress Ink-Twig
Craft mat or ceramic tile
Old paint brush
1. Cut Chat Noir and outline out of black card stock to dimensions given in cutting file. Glue the cat to the outline and then glue a scrap of gold card stock under the image for the eyes.
2. Melt the UTEE in the Ranger melting pot and use tweezers to dip the cat until the entire image is coated. Set aside on the non stick craft mat to harden and dry. If using the heat gun to melt the UTEE, place the cat on the craft mat. Spread UTEE evenly over the cat and heat until the UTEE has melted. Set aside to harden.
3. Coat the wooden sign with gesso on both sides and let it dry. Coat the the entire piece with Payne's Grey, let it dry and add a second coat of paint.
4. After the paint has dried, apply a smooth coat of crackle paste with an old gift card. Set aside to dry overnight. Don't try to rush the drying with a heat gun, the crackle pattern will be more noticeable with air drying.
5. Once the piece is completely dry, apply a thin coat of black paint with a foam brush and wipe off with a soft cloth or paper towel, until the only black paint that remains is in the cracks.
6. Using a font from your computer or a purchased font, cut Welcome out of black vinyl, to fit the center of the sign. I used the Silhouette Design Store Sketch font and cut it at 7.25 inches long. Use the offset option to make an outline of Welcome and cut it at the same dimensions as the black lettering, out of light purple vinyl.
7. Adhere the purple Welcome outline to the center of the sign and place the black lettering over the outline.
8. Glue Chat Noir to the left side of the sign, letting his tail hang below the bottom edge of the sign.
9. Glue flowers around the right side of the sign and next to Chat Noir. Punch leaves and glue under the edges of the flowers. I used seven leaves but you can use more or less.
10. Place a few drops of the distress ink on a craft mat and dip the tip of the paint brush handle in the ink. Dot the ink randomly over the sign. Picking up additional ink from the craft mat when necessary.
11. Glue a piece of sheer purple ribbon behind the top edges of the sign to make a hanger. Cut two pieces of ribbon large enough to tie small bows. Glue the bows to the top front edge of the sign.
