Tuesday, September 11, 2012

DIY: Colorblock Framed Messages


Yes. That is fake wood paneling stenciled onto particle board. Pretty awesome huh? haha. I can't take credit for it, though. I wish! This is a wall in our laundry room, and, it was begging for a pop of color and a little reminder for us to empty our pockets before running things through the wash. Which is a reminder we so desperately need, haha. So I made this color-block framed message out of an old thrifted frame I had laying around.

Here's a little DIY tutorial if you wanna make one, too:

1. Type something up in your favorite fonts, flip it horizontally, and print!
2.
Use the print-out as a guide, and paint wherever you see negative space (everything but the letters themselves) I used about three coats of "antique white" craft paint, but you can use whatever you want! (note: because of the thickness of the glass, you'll want to look at the letters straight on as you paint, because the slightest change of angle when you view it, can skew the perspective of the letters.)
3.
While that's drying, paint your frame! I used "golden yellow" and "roman stucco" for the short sides, and then mixed those colors with a bit of white for the long sides).


You can paint the glass all the way to the edge, but I kept the messy unfinished edges because I like the way it looked, and it fit the unfinished look of my laundry room, too. Do whatever looks best to you. I put some tea-stained graph paper and woodgrain contact paper inside the frame. You can use whatever you want, though - fabric, a photo, scrapbook paper, whatever. I think it'd look really cool painted to the edge, with a photo peeking through the letters. Hm, maybe I'll do that for a "home sweet home" sign, heehee. The possibilities are endless with this one. Below is a little sample of some signs I typed up for a 5x7 frame, and reversed. The links to download the reversed jpegs are below the picture.


right-click and "save as" to download:
home sweet home
check your pockets
home is where the art is
bless this mess

Have fun with it! :)

-Elizabeth

8 comments:

  1. haha, love this cute message! and I think these would look really nice around the house!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, it starts to get addicting! The hard part is coming up with a phrase that isn't too cheesy, haha. Sometimes that's unavoidable though, haha.

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  2. such a cool project! and there's so many different directions it can go! I love it!

    -Hannah

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    1. Oh, I know! I love how many ways you can make it yours - leaves a lot of room for creativity and happy mistakes :)

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  3. such a cute project, also that message is perfect (we always end up washing stuff with at least one thing in the pockets)! X

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! and, oh my goodness, same here. The other day, I found a ballpoint pen when I was getting the clothes out of the dryer. the ink was all clumped to one side, but luckily none of it came out! hahaha

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  4. Oh, this is so much fun! I love your quirky quotes! :)

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  5. These are fun. I have all black frames on my wall right now. I might need to change them up and add some color.

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