Guest Post - At The Picket Fence

I'd like to welcome Heather and Vanessa from At The Picket Fence.  They are sisters that blog together and they are simply the best.  I'm so honored that they agreed to do a guest post while I am away.  I know you'll love them as much as I do.

We are so excited to be hanging out over here today at DIY by Design! When Judy invited us gals At The Picket Fence to guest post for her while she's on her lovely European Vacation and Cruise (and not we are not jealous. not at all. not one tiny bit. nope) we were so honored!  Vanessa has been following Judy's beautiful blog from almost the beginning of it's conception and Heather jumped on board when Vanessa said, "You have got to go see my bloggy friend (that's what we like to call y'all) Judy's FABULOUS blog!" I was hooked! So, thank you Judy for inviting us to be a part of DIY by Design this week!

We all know Drop Cloths are all the rage in blogland. We have seen so many fabulous things sewn out of these humble pieces of cloth.  But I don't sew. Not one bit. I hang my head in shame in the presence of Judy and Vanessa. I wanted to come up with a unique way to use a drop cloth that didn't involve sewing.

Have you ever had one of those projects that you have created in your mind and you just hope it comes out like you imagine it?  Well this was one of those.  Letters seem to be all of the rage these days.  I have seen so many projects using them that I just love!  I knew I wanted to use them to spell out something fun as a piece of art in my new kitchen remodel.

I started out with purchasing some nice large ones and some pretty paper at Hobby Lobby. I was able to get the letters and the paper for half off…which is always great!

I just loved the colors of the scrapbook papers I found and thought that it would be fun to decoupage the letters instead of painting them…messy…but fun! First lay your letter on the wrong side of the paper and trace around it leaving a nice large margin so you can fold the paper over the edges of the letter.  Use a ruler on your straight edges.

 

and free hand your margin around corners

Next using mod podge decoupage your paper unto your letter.  I had to make small cuts to the parts of the paper wrapping around curves.  I also occasionally ended up with part of the wood showing through and had to glue on small scraps of paper to cover those areas up.

When I had completely adhered the paper to the letter, I completely covered the front of the letters in mod podge to seal it and give it a nice protective coating.

 

I loved how they turned out but I wanted to do something a little different than just attach them to the wall. 

That is when I had the idea to utilize some other fun elements.  I think art that incorporates different mediums is really interesting and I was excited to try something unique and different.

I dug up a piece of wood left over from our window seat project that I knew was the perfect size for what I wanted to make.  Next, I washed one of my drop cloths and cut off a large section.

Then using my staple gun I attached the drop cloth around the entire length and width of the board pulling it tight as I went.

After I had completely attached the drop cloth remnant to the board, I was ready to add my next element

What is it you ask?  You are asking aren’t you? It’s galvanized metal roof flashing.  I know not quite what you were expecting…but stay with me.  The flashing comes in a 10” X 10’ section and it rolls out nicely when you attach it to the board. I measured the length I needed and using tin snips carefully cut off the excess

Then using small galvanized nails I centered the flashing on the board and nailed down each corner

Here you can see exactly how large the complete board is and it’s a blank slate waiting to be filled!  Can you envision my project with me now?  To finish up the project I attached picture hangers to the back of my board (it is very heavy) and glued magnets to the back of each letter and then hung it in the perfect spot

What do you think?  I just L.O.V.E. it! I really like the soft colors which match my new color scheme in my kitchen perfectly.

 

Of course my favorite part is what it spells out…

But you know what makes this project super duper extra cool?  I can change the letters out! By holiday, season, or event!  I am already picturing the word LOVE for Valentine’s Day, or NOEL for Christmas!  What about LIBERTY for the 4th of July or Bama Boy’s favorite idea…ROLL TIDE! The options are endless and I am pretty sure you’ll be seeing this project again with some of these ideas so stay tuned!

Thanks for meeting me here at DIY by Design and thank you to Judy for inviting us into your home! The gals At The Picket Fence hope you are having a fabulous time with your family!