After Christmas it's hard to know how to decorate. I'm not quite ready to jump into the next holiday. And though I don't want my home to be bare, I want it to be fresh and clean.
This year I made a personalized wooden sign using vinyl as a stencil.
I've made a few wooden signs lately and just love how they turn out. So when my home was bare from taking down our Christmas decorations, I thought a personalized wooden sign would be perfect!
I have piles and piles of scrap wood and leftovers from various projects in my garage. It's actually kind of embarrassing how much stuff is out there!
I was happy to pick a piece of wood out of my stash that was about 14 inches by 40 inches. I then painted it white with craft paint. I used my silhouette to cut vinyl with our name, the year my husband and I were married (20 years this year- holy cow), and the states where we've lived.
The weeding, or taking the extra vinyl off of the backing paper, is my favorite part. I used contact paper to pick the letters off the backing, then apply them to the painted wood sign.
I applied craft paint over the top of the entire sign. I like the rustic look, so I don't care if the paint isn't perfect. But if you'd like perfect lines, use mod podge over the top of the vinyl letters. Then paint over that. The mod podge seals the letters so the paint won't bleed underneath them.
Carefully peel the vinyl letters off, revealing the words.
I like things to look really worn, so I sanded the letters and the edges of the sign. The more worn, the better in my opinion!!
The sign ended up being the perfect piece to decorate my mantel for winter.
I grabbed a few things from my stash to round out the decorations.
I like the look of these faux plants, along with glassware, wooden and brass candlesticks.
I found this mini card in my stash (my hoarding tendency pays off) and put it into a vintage floral frog.
I wasn't quite ready to let the twinkle of lights go, so I added some to my winter mantel.
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It's time for this month's Inspire My Creativity link party.
My friends have been hard at work creating awesome projects. There are even some new friends here!
Check them out:
Shani | Sunshine & Munchkins
Anna | Practical and Pretty
Ali | Home Crafts by Ali
Meg | The Kusi Life
Amy | Leap of Faith Crafting
Jaclyn | The Dotted Nest
Victoria | Dazzle While Frazzled
Sydney | Tastefully Frugal
Lindsay | See Lindsay
Julia | The Quiet Grove
Pam | P.S. I Love You Crafts
Marie | The Inspiration Vault
Then please link up any projects you have been working on lately.
An InLinkz Link-up
Also, come back next month for our next link party. It's always the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
On February 14, our theme is Dollar Store Craft. My head is already spinning with ideas!
linking up to: The Creative Circle Inspiration Monday
