Tuesday, December 20, 2011

JOY! NOEL!! Christmas DIY

Last year was the first year we had our mantel in working condition for Christmas. Well, I attempted to decorate it but ... with our little ladies arrival the day after Thanksgiving, the mantel did not get the attention it deserved. I don't think I even have a picture of the sad turn out.

This year as I was decorating for Christmas I was dreading the mantel because I just didn't know what to do with it! During the rest of the year I have a large family photo centered on the mantel, but surrounded by Christmas decor the photo looked MAJORLY out of place and I needed something large and symmetrical to be the focal point to build from. So I started pondering... then I remember a piece of poster board I bought for Q's birthday but didn't use and a large frame we had stored in the basement.

So I busted out the handy ol'stencils (used previously here and here), craft paint and brushes and got to work. Here's the rundown:

JOY NOEL Christmas Sign
1. Cut the poster board to the size of a large old frame, this one (18x24) we had lying around and weren't currently using.

2. Mixed up some paint colors. I used espresso brown, leaf green, and bronze mixed in different proportions for the two colors.
3. Paint and remove the stencils. This is when I noticed something was off, it was the O, it needed to be green to tie the JOY together (and direct your eye to read JOY not JOEY). Once fixed it looked MUCH better, see photo in step 4.
 4. Decorate the mantel and enjoy the festive holiday decor!

 

 
I contemplated adding a star burst in the upper right corner but didn't end up pulling the trigger. Maybe something I can add next year!

This project was essentially free. I had everything on hand but recently had purchased the poster board for $0.50. The craft paint is about 5 years old, YIKES, and the frame is about 6 years old, both were happy to get some new life!

That's my Shiny ~

J

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