the gift .. that almost wasn't

I won't even pretend that I don't use any 'gifting' situation as an excuse to craft.
new house ? crafty gift.
new baby ? crafty gift.
of course holidays, birthdays, etc .. crafty gifts.
I think you get it ...

A co-worker/friend was having the birthday party for her soon-to-be 3 year old. She invited my girls and I to come join in the fun.

Let me just say that this toddler is the cutest little girl with the roundest of cheeks and an absolutely intoxicating giggle. Who could say no to a party in honor of her special day?

I knew that I wanted to make 'word art' like this or this or this .. but with her name to personalize it. I decided I would use one of the canvases that I had leftover from shmelty crayola fun.

I'll try not to dwell on the first part of this project, too long -since obviously from the title; it was a complete fail.

I adhered some sticker vinyl letters onto the white canvas, spelling her daughter's name across it. Then, I taped off some clean lines with painters tape & painted with acrylic paint.

I couldn't paint the canvas all at once, due to tape covering parts of a few sections. So, I let the first few sections dry thoroughly - then peeled it off.

I'm glad I didn't get past the first part ... because if I invested a ton of time in completing the project; then it went bad .... I hate sure don't like that ! lol

I'm not sure if it was the texture of the canvas or the paint .. or what - but the lines that were revealed under the tape > were anything but the clean, defined lines I was looking for..
*frown face*






Then, as if the splotchy edges weren't enough; when I pulled the painters tape up off the silver section ... total disaster. I literally LoL'd .. like a crazy woman. lol

It was time to go to bed, only to return 'tomorrow' .. right back at the drawing board.

But, before I bent this canvas in half and started it on fire ... I decided to cover it with black paint - to reuse another day. *high fives self for not being destruct-o*

fast forward 2 days ... the day of the party LoL - of course !!

I was sticking with the original basics of the first plan .. but instead of canvas I was going to use one of these walmart-bought wood wall plates**.

*I'm not really sure what to call these .. they're just different shaped pieces of wood for decorating.

we used the vinyl stickers again to tape off her name, made a couple of our famous paper plate paint pallets & went to town

After everyone had completed their color splotches .. we got ready to run out the door. I secretly was crossing my fingers .. praying it went right. :)

(my finger crossing secretly takes total credit, btw)

After we were done with the present .. I realized we hadn't made nor purchased a birthday card. Of COURSE! LoL - we grabbed the cardstock and sticker collection and made the fastest card known to man, while the husband sprayed clear coat and used the blowdryer to dry the artwork. we then ran out the door, 20 minutes late to the party. :)