Super Simple Fontalicious Wall Art

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super simple fontalicious wall art

If anyone asked me what my personal style was, I would say you could sum it up in the photo above. I LOVE fonts, bold&graphic art, stripes, and pops of color. I had been eying the wrapping paper the project is sitting on above for quite a while before I purchased it at Michaels. It would make fab wallpaper or shelf liner. Or you could do as I did and use it for a photography backdrop. I love it so much.

Anyway, to the project at hand. I wanted to create a project using these two plaques that I purchased at Target for $1.28 each a few months back. They weren’t my style, but I knew I could make other cool wall art of them. They are a hard/faux wood surface and you can find them just about anywhere. If you can’t find them at Target, I suggest looking at a TJ Maxx, Ross, or Marshalls. They have a lot of cheap surfaces that you can modify in different shapes and sizes.

wall art before

Here’s supplies instructions on how to make your own fontalicious wall art!

Super Simple Fontalicious Wall Art

Supplies
– wall plaques (I used ones approx. 8″x8″ so that I could print it out on my printer)
– Aleene’s Tacky Spray
– White cardstock
– Black spray paint
– ruler
– X-acto knife and mat
– Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator

Instructions

1. Spray paint plaque the same consistent color (I chose black) so that it covers image and leaves you with a clean slate for your project.

2. Measure your plaque size and make a document size in your Photoshop or Illustrator document that size. If you are doing this in Photoshop, make sure to set it up to be 300 dpi.

3. Find a font you like (I suggest a Sans Serif, it is easier and more linear looking) and type your letter…as you can see, I chose my initials. Duplicate that letter and flip upside down and place next to it, spacing apart as you desire. Use your align and spacing tools that come with your program if you need to. Keep copying and pasting these two letters to fill your document size. It’s ok if the fonts go off the page, I actually thought it looked stronger being cropped this way.

4. Pick one of the letters out and colorize it in your desired color. Print out your creation, making sure to either make a faint outline around the document page or adding crop marks to your printing settings. Let dry

5. Cut paper according to outline/crop marks. Spray back of print with Tacky Spray. Position and smooth out onto plaque. Now it’s ready for hanging.

Here’s a little detail of the finished art.
fontalicious wall art detail

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

My Punny Valentine’s

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my funny valentines

Admittedly, I’ve been making Valentine’s like this for years. If you didn’t know this already about me, I love celebrity gossip and puns, so mixing the two together is one of my favorite things. I think these Valentine’s are a lot more personal of a gift than a lot out there. You can find images that relate to people (I mean, who out there doesn’t have a celebrity crush or fave tv show?) It’s also a really quick craft – something you can embellish as little or as much as you want.

Here’s the basic rundown of how you make them…

1. Make a simple heart pattern (mine was about 6″ inches wide) and trace your hearts onto posterboard, scrapbook paper, or construction paper.
2. Find images in magazines that fit the basic shape of your heart and cut out.
3. Paint on your paper designs, stripes, dots, etc. I actually painted my hearts entirely with acrylic paint on posterboard, cause it has a nice weight that you don’t get with cardstock, but it’s totally up to you.
4. Use Aleene’s Tacky Glue to mount images on your hearts.
5. Embellish around images using Tulip 3-D Fashion paint, rhinestones, buttons, etc.
6. Write a funny/punny phrase on your card using markers, rubons, and stickers, whatever tickles your fancy.

At a local ad club meeting a few years ago, Michael Osbourne, a renowned creative director, speak on branding and marketing for his design firm. His company sends out Valentine cards instead of Christmas cards each year. I think this an incredibly ingenious way to market yourself or company! Think about it…how many Christmas cards do we toss or not give a second glance to? A LOT! A Valentine card is a nice welcome, and it doesn’t have to be uber mushy or meant just for a loved one. It’s a nice little statement that can truly make someone’s day (especially those single folks who would like to nix it all together). Oh,check out the stamps at the bottom of the Micheal Osbourne bio…he designed them for the postal service…how cool is that? Now that’s one awesome gig! Everyone gets to see your work!!!

Hope you enjoy making these cute Valentine’s!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa

Pretty Pin-up Shrine

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pretty pin-up shrine

This is a project I whipped up over the weekend using the Crafty Chica™ Love Shrine™ Workshop in a Box™ as shown here (with all its contents).

Crafty Chica™ Love Shrine™ Workshop in a Box™

I have always, always loved these little shrine boxes that Crafty Chica developed with Duncan Enterprises (a.k.a. the company I work for). I was super excited when the whole line came out last year at CHA! It was something very fresh and different and bold and glittery! The one thing I admire about Kathy Cano-Murillo (the Crafty Chica) is that she really wants people to explore their own creativity and to make things their own. That’s what I tried to do with this project.

While her style is much more Mexican pop art, my style is much more retro meets modern kitsch and I wanted to celebrate that in my shrine. I also wanted to finally do something with some great images I got from a Cynthia Hart’s Retro Calendar from 2004. Oh, and the center image is Gil Elvgren Pin-up Postcard book.

Pin-up page in old calendar

I chose pin-ups, cause I wanted to place my shrine in my pin-up/glamourized bathroom. I currently have a couple of other 50’s images in there and I thought I could somehow mount it onto the wall. I’m sure a little mounting bracket will work just fine! Anyway, I decorated it with craft paint, glitter, Glam it Up Iron-on Crystals (I love adding bling for earrings on images like this), and the contents of the kit (there’s a lot of goodies that come with the kit, so you prob. won’t end up using it all, but it’s nice to have options!).

I just wanted to share this little project this Fat Tuesday! Until next time Swellions!

Alexa