I'm an author (unofficially)

I've been waiting to share a fun project with you and I've decided today is the day to go ahead and do it!

I'm (almost and kind of) a published author and illustrator of a children's book!

Here's the front cover of the book...

A Custom Mother's Day Gift

In honor of Mother's Day, I wanted to share with you this custom sign we made for a friend of mine.

She sent me the poem a while ago and asked if we could make something rustic for her Mother in Law.

Yeah... we do rustic. :)

I first laid the poem out in Adobe Illustrator to set the text  up in a pleasing way.

Then I cut a stencil.

I painted the leftover banner material with ASCP Old White and then Coco, adding some dark wax over that. I normally don't put wax on this material, but I just love Coco with dark wax on it. 

Next I laid out the stencil and painted the serif text in Graphite and the script in Aubusson Blue.

That part was done.

Next up, Eric made a frame with pallet wood. I asked him to make it slightly larger than need be so I could put a burlap matte around the canvas.

I stained the frame and, once dried, measured my burlap out and cut it, also cutting the inside portion out to about the size I wanted it. I then placed it on the back of the frame, making sure to check to flip it over before stapling to be sure it was relatively straight along the inside edge of the frame. I stapled it onto the back at the corners. Then I added the banner, stapling that, along with the burlap, along the whole edge all the way around. I trimmed up the inside of the burlap then, just to straighten the line a bit. 

My friend thinks her Mother in law will love it.

I certainly hope so!

I'm happy with the burlap matte.

I had never tried it before but it turned out really cute. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Hope you have a great one!  

Sharing at Mother's Day Categorically Crafting Party at Someday Crafts

Grungy, Metallic and Manly

Just wanted to share a fun little design I did today for Eric's friend at work. Johnny Rocket is Eric's nickname for the guy and Eric wanted me to do a decal for his buddy's tool box. So, I came up with this. I do believe I like it. Wait... love it!

I am a girly-girl pretty much. I like pretty things and I enjoy doing the shabby chic, cottage-style decor with my business. But, I must say, I love it when I can do a design that is manly. Other than the motorcycle element and the name, I got to start from scratch with no pre-conceived ideas about the design...my favorite way to design something! I love it when I can just go with whatever pops into my head and not have to follow a customer's ideas to the letter.

Logo/sign/decal/whatever designing is fun. Sometimes lately I forget because, unfortunately, we have to build our name up here as far as design goes. The guys at United Sign Company are great at what they do (sign installations, electrical, and all that) but they haven't had an actual designer until they hired me. They aren't exactly known for it. So, I don't get to design as many brochures and logos and fun stuff such as this like I used to. I'm hoping that picks up soon.

This was just a quick layout as a favor to Eric, so I used some clipart that I had on hand. I always keep a nice stock of good stuff to use when I need it. The motorcycle, for instance, is not my handiwork. A little too much detail for a favor, even for Eric. :) But, either way, I just love how this turned out, all grungy with a dash of metallic. (I even managed to add my favorite color in there!) Just wanted to share since I had so much fun with it.