While putting together my gallery wall, I knew that I wanted to incorporate a quote pertaining to family etc… While searching Pinterest I stumbled upon this quote “This is the Life” I loved it! My gallery wall is all about family and our new life we have with our cute little boy! So This is the Life fits it perfect because it really is the life!
supplies:
- plywood or wood
- print-download This is the Life print here
- acrylic paint
- paint brushes
- carbon paper
Using scraps of plywood leftover from my Crate Coffee Table, I cut the size desired for my wood sign. Love it when you have leftover stuff from previous projects!
My talented husband designed a fabulous graphic for me (not sure what I would do without him, I tell ya, I definitely wouldn’t have any great designs that’s for sure!) Printed out the design on regular paper and then used carbon paper to transfer it on to the wood. Get your free print of This is the Life quote here.
Place the transfer paper on top of the wood and behind the image that you are transferring, and tape the corners. Keep in mind that you can always paint the wood before you do the transfer. That will save you a LOT of time in painting “around” the design, but you will have to make sure that it is a light enough color for the transfer paper to show up. I made the mistake of painting the other side black before trying to do the transfer, and it was very hard to see it after.
Then I traced the image with a pencil. Here it is after tracing it all. As you can see there is black paint on the edges. That is because my first attempt did not go as planned. But the best part is that you can flip it over and try again!
Now the fun part, Painting! Using acrylic paint, I painted the letters white, and added a little hint of yellow and blue. I am in love with yellow these days!
Here is the letters painted all white.
After the letters were all painted not it was time to add the black. This took a lot if time, but am so much happier with the outcome. As previously stated, the first time around we painted it first making it so hard to see the trace of the design. We wanted it to have a rustic look and be able to still see some of the wood grain, so we did a little bit of a fade with the black.
Then I added a little yellow and blue accents to the flourishes using a tiny paintbrush. This helped to tie the design into our rooms accent colors, and give it a little flair. I made the hubby do this part as I really do not have enough patience for that. Him being the artist that he is, he has the patience and enjoys it, so he was better off doing it anyways 🙂
I absolutely love how this turned out! This really is the life that we are living and wouldn’t have it any other way!
Looks amazing displayed in my Gallery Wall!
Linking up to: Work it Wednesday, From Dream to Reality, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party, On Display Thursday, Twirl and Take a Bow, The Wednesday Round-up, Shabbilicious Friday, Wednesday Whatsits, Share it, Whimsy Wednesday, Inspire Me Please, Creativity Unleashed, I’m Lovin It, Inspiration Gallery, Be You Tiful, All Things Thursday, Create it Thursday, Creative Spark, That’s Fresh Friday, Freedom Fridays, Link Party Palooza, The Creative Collection, Best of Weekend, Super Saturday, DIY Inspired, Show Stopper Saturday, Skip the Housework Saturday, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Cook It! Craft It! Share It!, DIY Sunday Showcase, Share it Sunday, Do Tell Tuesday, Inspiration Monday, Much Ado about Monday, Monday Funday, Making Monday, Turn It Up Tuesday, Create Link Inspire, Off the Hook Monday, The Makers, Sparkles of Inspiration, Brag About It, Show Me What Ya Got, Tutorials & Tips, The Inspiration Board, Titus 2 Tuesday, Awesome Things Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Wow me Wednesday, Party in your PJ’s, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Link It or Lump It, Your Designs this Time, Motivational Monday, The Feature Friday, Bewitchin Projects Block Party, Thursday S.T.Y.L.E., DIY Inspired, Hit Me With Your Best Shot
LOVE it, Tara! Such a cute quote. And how sweet is your hubby? Y’all make an awesome team. 😉
Thanks, Sarah! My hubby is pretty awesome! He is always helping me with projects!
SO cute! I’ve never used carbon paper before but that looks super easy. Definitely need to try that out 🙂 Pinning!
Thanks, Breanna! Carbon paper is amazing! It makes it so much easier!
Wow, Tara! This is so beautiful! And such an interesting method to create it. I have never seen this way of making a wood sign, but it’s awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. Definitely pinning this!
Thanks, Bre! You will definitely have to try this method, so easy and turns out great every time!
Your sign came out gorgeous! I love the faded areas making it look old!
Gigi @ Old World Patina
Thank you, Gigi!
I just adore this!! Thanks for sharing and inspiring!
Thank you, Elizabeth!
I love this! Pinned. I will be featuring this at our party on Monday! Woo Hoo. We appreciate you taking the time to be a part of our party! Happy Saturday! Lou Lou Girls
So exciting! Thank you SO much, Kimberly! Always love your parties!
It came out so great! Thanks for linking up at the Creative Spark Link Party! I hope you will stop by again today to link up! http://bit.ly/1kbGQ7W
Thank you, Michelle! Always look forward to the Creative Spark Link Party!
So pretty! You did a beautiful job! Pinning 🙂
Thank you, Lauren!
This really turned out fantastic and I love the message too. Great job! Thanks so much for linking up at the Creative Collection Link Party, we hope to see you again this friday. 🙂
Thank you so much, Marie! So happy to hear that you like it!
What a project! This turned out lovely, Tara.
Thank you for sharing your post this week at Brag About It Link Party on VMG206. I’m featuring you at Next Weeks Brag About It Link Party, Monday at midnight!
~ Megin of VMG206
I am so excited to hear that my wood sign is am of the features! Definitely something to brag about 😉 Thank you so much, Megin!
I just made my first sign recently & loved doing it. Yours looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing on the Party in Your PJs link party. I have featured your project on this weeks party 🙂
Isn’t it fun?!?! So exciting to be featured, thank you so much, Melissa!!!
This is so beautiful and I love the way you did it by hand! I would love to have you link it up to my Feature Friday Link Palooza!
Danielle @ Blissful & Domestic
http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/search/label/Feature%20Friday%20Linky%20Party
Thank you SO much, Danielle! Just linked up to the party, thanks for inviting me!
I have to tell you, that you just made my day! I am planning on making my friends a cute sign for their wedding and was trying to determine how to transfer the text to wood, carbon paper! I would have never thought of that, thanks so much for sharing and your sign is adorable! 🙂
Jillian, I am so happy that you found my project! You will see that the carbon fiber makes the transfer to wood so much easier! Thank you, glad you like it!
I love this. Very cool!!
Hello, Hello! Thanks for sharing this beautiful sign at last week’s Link It or Lump It. I wanted to let you know that I picked it as one of the features for this week’s link party – you can stop by my blog (http://www.lovelywren.com) anytime after 7am tomorrow morning to see it, and pick up your “I was featured” button, if you like. Happy weekend!
Hello, Laura! Thank you so much! I am so glad that you liked it and so happy to hear that it will be featured! Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
What a great idea!! I never thought of using tranfer paper on wood but it really makes sense 😉 I need to find a pallet to do something pretty with!
Thank you, Laura! Using the carbon paper to transfer it on really makes it so much easier! Try going to your local hardware store to find a pallet! They usually have some sitting outside that they are just going to get rid of 🙂
Still one of my faves! LOVE it!!!
Thanks, Kristi!
Looks great. This is the second project I have seen with transfer paper (carbon paper.) I can’t believe I never thought to use that? I can think of so many projects that would have been much easier! Nice post!
Thank you so much, Lindee! The carbon paper really makes it so much easier for projects like this!
Perfectly done DIY! It’s the right amount of distressed, but still looks really finished!
Thanks for linking up to our Betwitchin Party! Be sure to come back every Sunday starting at 6am EST over at OurMiniFamily.com to link up your projects again!
~Cathy Mini~
Thank you, Cathy!
Oh, yes it is! Beautiful job and I love that it’s hand painted! I’m featuring you today at Gingerly Made from the Our Favorite Things Pinterest Party.
Thank you, Ginger!