Be Brave

The fabulous art that you see was a spontaneous and unique piece I made from the Be Brave digital download. It took me less than an hour and was very easy. I printed out the digital download on my home printer and used regular copy paper. I trimmed the edges of the standard letter size paper. One thing you will notice about my craft projects is that they are quick and easy.

The supply list for this project:

sheet of copy paper (Letter size)
acrylic craft paint (3 colors of your choosing)
paint brush
water
plastic palette or plate with dividers
picture frame
scrapbook paper for matte border
glue or double sided tape

The process:
1. Print out digital image from Persimmons Studio on standard letter size copy paper. Trim edges if necessary.
2. Pick three colors of acrylic craft paint in contrasting colors.
3. Mix water and paint to a very translucent consistency. I recommend having a scrap sheet to test the water's dilution.
4. I started by painting the edges and the background. I didn't worry about bleeding over the lines. I tried to make the outer edges darker than the middle to create the illusion of depth. Then swiped some stripes over the top of the background color. All of this was done using the same color.

5. Next I painted a few accent in the watercolor red, then the letters in a blue.
6. Once finished I laid a few heavy books on top of the image to prevent the paper from becoming wavy from the moisture. It doesn't take very long to dry.
7. Once dry I used double sided tape to affix the "be brave" image to the scrapbook paper to simulate a matte border. Placed in frame and hung on the wall.

Sunshine and Coffee with Leah!

We asked you to do some projects with our downloads and a few brave souls dug in and really made some phenomenal projects. One of those wonderful ladies was my friend Leah. Isn't she adorable? Her necklace was a project with a download too but we will share that one a little later! For this project she chose the Sunshine and Coffee print and wait until you see the results! Look for tutorials and project ideas from our customers every week. Oh and if you want to make this easy and fun  project the link to buy the print is at the end of this post!

My name is Leah Norem and I am a stay at home mom to two boys ages eleven and six.  They are wonderful and unique, and I adore them. They make my life exciting and never leave a dull moment.  We also have four cats.

I haven’t met a hobby that I didn’t like.  I love making things with my hands and enjoy the process as much as the finished product.

 

You can find more about Leah here.....

http://www.notthenorem.com

 

Project 1 - **painted Sunshine and Coffee sign**

Sunshine and Coffee digital download

 

wood board
gesso
Sunshine and Coffee image printed on plain paper with toner

gel medium (Golden)

acrylic paint/brushes

oil based marker (Sharpie)

jute twine cord (Bevis Rope)

 

I primed a wood board with gesso in the area I wanted the image.

With a toner based printer, I printed a copy of the Sunshine and Coffee digital image on plain paper.

Since the image has words on it, I had to mirror the image before printing. 

I spread gel medium on the image and applied it to the prepared board. 

Once it dried for a few hours, I held the image under running water and rubbed the paper off and allowed the wood to dry. 

I used acrylic paint to paint the image and an oil based marker to outline the words and images. 

After the paint was dry, I trimmed the wood board to the size I wanted with a circular saw, drilled some holes, and used twine cord to hang it.

 

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YAY!!!! Go Leah! WE love this project so much!

 

You can purchase Sunshine and Coffee from our shop HERE!