I didn't make a door hanger with Arabella. They're not something I dislike by any means, but I didn't want to spend the money to buy one or have the time (or money) to make one...and I wasn't really sure what I would have done with it when we got home. So I just didn't worry about it. And I was and still am really ok with that.
I wasn't really planning on getting one this time either. But just for kicks, I Googled and Pinterested images and examples and came across this one:
I loved it! There were several variations of it that were just as fun. And the more I looked into it, I learned that the designer, Joley Bean Designs, is a little boutique in Farmerville (yes you read that correctly...)--a little town in Louisiana just north of Ruston where Louisiana Tech is located; my mom's family also lives up there and always has. I had never heard of this little shop, but you can bet your buttons I'll be visiting it next time I'm up there!
Anyway, the more I looked at it and thought about it, the more confident I got that it was something I could make on my own. So off to Michael's and Hobby Lobby I went (oh, sad day... :P)
I found the ribbon at Hobby Lobby (and of course bought it while their ribbon was half off). Everything else came from Michael's (where I used some coupons and scored great deals too!).
These are the four colors of his nursery and I wanted to make sure they were all included in there. These are the match ups I decided to do as far as layering the ribbon.
The paint was Martha Stewart's Satin acrylic paint. It's thick and covered those little wooden pieces extremely easily. The burlap canvas was a little trickier to paint on with it being so thick.
The "mint" color was also very blue once I got it painted. So I had to go get some minty, lime green from Walmart to mix in with that and the yellow. I got a lot closer to mint than before, but it's still pretty blue. Oh well--that's what I get for picking a difficult color!
I put if off for a really long time because I was so nervous. I am a crafter and I love making my own things...but painting, especially words, are not in my comfort zone. I was so scared I was going to mess something up...
But I finally got up the courage and umph to tackle the beast a few nights ago. So down I sat with my paint, brushes, glue guns, and all my supplies and bravely got to work.
{I may have burnt off three of my fingerprints using the stupid high temp glue gun with the ribbon. Work place dangers.}
After many, many midnight texts with my bff (she or my childhood bff normally do the word painting business for me!), I finally bit the bullet, traced out his name, took a deep breath and painted it out. I was even more nervous because I had glued the fleur de lis down first so that limited my spacing tremendously. I solved that by making it look like it intersected the K. Had I not done that, I feel his name would have been too small or too squishy or way uneven. I also didn't leave any room to write his middle name this way, and I would have liked to included that. Oh well. Ya live, ya learn.
Next came the part I was even more nervous about--highlights. I waited until the next night so that I was able to take some time away as well as let the navy get good and dry. They are by NO means perfect nor up to the caliber that my girls are capable of, but for me, they're fantastic! I like how much the name pops with those colors added in.
I also tried to paint a scripture reference in the center oval of the fleur de lis. It looked absolutely horrible. So I wiped it off as best I could and just painted the whole thing grey. I'm actually really pleased that happened. The black didn't look bad necessarily, but I wan't crazy about it up next to the navy. And now, only his nursery colors are used instead of throwing in the random black. (the edges are still black since I painted it after it was glued, so you can really see the dimension...cool touch too)
And here's the final product!
I layered the ribbon (hot glue...low temp) and glued the wooden blocks onto them in the order I wanted them (the writing on those was done with paint pens...which will be coming to the hospital with us so my sister can write in his stats). I trimmed and glued the ribbon (including the top one) to the wooden frame of the canvas. Then I popped them with a staple gun to add some extra stability and support.
I am really pleased with how it turned out and am excited to get it hung on the hospital door in a couple of weeks! It's different from the norm that people get in gift shops, and it's something that will look great in his room (especially since I can easily remove the stat ribbons when he gets older and it'll just be his name).
16 more days--woo hoo!
love, angie
