I've not really ever been one to put a whole lot of outdoor decor up for holidays. It's not that I don't want to - I'd LOVE to be able to do that. It's just that my hubby travels a lot, and I know that if I tried to get up on a ladder and do stuff by myself that I'd probably end up dead. Let's just say that I've had one too many mishaps while trying to do big things by myself...(broken mirror, I'm looking at you...)
That's why this project is awesome. It's small enough that I can do it myself, and the only power tool it required was a drill.
I went rummaging through my husband's scrap wood pile, and found this piece about 24" wide and 16" high. Really, you could use any size or shape that you wanted.
I attached some yard spikes with 2 screws each from the front of the sign, so there wouldn't be any sharp screws sticking out the front.
Next, I spray painted it with some black satin finish paint. Friends, always wear your chemical paint mask. I forgot and did a bunch of painting, and my lungs are not liking me right now. Even in a well ventilated area, you just don't need to be breathing all of that in. There, that's my PSA for the day.
You can download the .studio3 cut file here.
Once it was dry, I cut out the designs on contact paper, like yesterday's chalkboard stencil, and attached it the same way with the transfer paper. Because the design is so big, I had to cut it in strips and assemble it.
I had originally intended to roll the paint on, but since the contact paper was once again not sticking very well, I decided to use spray paint. To minimize bleeding issues, I sprayed it with a matte clear coat first. This didn't completely get rid of the bleeding issues, but I think it helped a lot. Then I sprayed it with white spray paint. If I had had some sort of glow in the dark spray paint, I would have used it at this moment. (Do they even make that sort of thing?? Because they totally should if they don't.) Since I didn't have that, I peeled off the stencil and let it dry.
Once it was dry, it looked like this:
Boo....paint spray everywhere...
So, I sprayed some spray paint into a plastic cup - again, wear your protective gear and gloves - this paint sprays back out at your hand a lot. But this way, you get a more consistent sheen. (I wonder how many more times I can say "spray" or "paint" in a paragraph...)
I used a small paintbrush and went back to touch up.
After touchups, I cleaned my brush with paint thinner (most, if not all spray paints are oil based).
I had a small bottle of glow-in-the-dark paint from doing fireflies on my son's camping themed wall, so I hand painted that over the white as best as I could. It wasn't perfect, but better than nothing :D
Here it is during the day:
And here are the best pictures I could get in the dark.
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