The first step (and possibly the hardest, especially if you're a little, picky, perfectionist, like myself) is to find the right art to cover, AND, at the right price. Be on the look-out when you're thrifting. Unfortunately, as we learned, this isn't the type of project you can just decide to do one day. We went to about 4 different thrift stores and would have done more had we not been tired and hungry. (And in desperate need of Purel.) Megan was able to settle on a piece of art, and I did end up finding something in the end, but the store refused to sell it to me because it was not priced. ← dumb policy, IMO.
I picked up my piece later in the week, and we continued the project the following weekend.
Step 2: Purchase your letters and paint. Again, not as easy as it seems. First we checked the hardware store, Home Depot, for home address letters. This particular Home Depot didn't carry letters that were standalone. The only letters they carried were in a square. So we checked the craft store, Joann's. There we found really small letters - about 2 inches max, and finally, in the kids section, found these foam letters, which were actually slightly too big.
Yeah, just call me Goldilocks.
Paint can be purchased at the hardware store (interior paint), craft store (acrylic) or any art supply store (acrylic).
Note: I looked for a painting and letters with a saying/quote/lyric already in mind, but Megan found her painting and letters AND THEN chose a saying/quote/lyric to fit. Either way is up to you.
Step 3: Arrange your letters and then stick them onto your painting. Because the letters we purchased were so large, I had to cut mine down to fit. (Megan's idea = genius!)
Step 3: Paint over your painting. Choose a color that will have the most contrast with the background painting. We chose white. Megan's art was more of a photograph than a painting, so the picture started to bleed through the white paint, appearing pink. She had to switch to gold paint - she's not a fan of pink.
Step 4: Wait. Once your paint dries, you will probably need to apply a second coat. Then wait some more.
Step 5: Peel off your letters. Be very careful to not pull up large strings of paint with your letters. Do this step v e r y s l o w l y.
Step 6: Admire your handywork!
We also took some fun graffiti wall outfit photos!
And some pics of my dog, looking nice and sweet...
...and quite frightening. (She makes this face a lot. She "smiles" (i.e. shows her teeth) and then sneezes.)
I also got to play with Megan's fancy, schmancy camera, and now, consequently, have camera envy. If anyone wants to donate to the C&C camera fund, I accept PayPal and personal checks.
