Name Letters Done!

Michael decided he wants an outer space room. It seemed like an ok idea until I remembered he had no outer space stuff in his room so some changes were going to need to be made. It all works out since sweet Zach has decided he loves construction vehicles... and we get to reuse Michael's stuff... sorry second child. Anyway. As we consider how we are going to get these rooms decorate I decided the first step had to be their name letters. Since I already had all the supplies... this was the perfect (free) starting point. 

So first letters, Zach. I painted his letters blue when he was born and we were setting up his bedroom... but as we moved very shortly after he was born and never got it together after that... well let's just say poor second child we are just getting around to getting things together. But hey it works out because now we can paint these letters fun to match the digger room! I tried to make them as dizzying as humanly possible and I think I succeeded. Luckily Zach is tiny and he won't complain about the giant foot tall lets that make his sick when he stares at them.

 So how did I get the lines this straight? They aren't perfect but they are pretty good... here's the trick. I painted all the letters with the base color (navy, light blue, orange, and green), let them dry and then covered them with painters tape (one layer, all the tape lined up), then I removed every other piece of tape (left stripes), painted the untaped sections, and then quickly removed the tape (while the paint was wet). Then I covered the entire (dry) letter with a thin layer of modge lodge and took this picture. Yep it was easy peasy, thank you hobby lobby 40% off unfinished wood letters... 2 years ago.

 Ok so the second set. Well this set was difficult. Michael (and Brian) believe in things being accurate. There was only so much space in these letters, the planets aren't to scale, the colors are off, and I think labels are a must. With all that being said I think this turned out kinda cool.

 So how did we do this one? First I searched the internet... fail. No one had done letters that I wanted to copy. I am not so original so I like to try and copy other people's ideas... just being honest. So fail, nothing there. Then I went and looked up pictures of the solar system, got out Michael's "First Space Book" (christmas present), and pulled Michael's giant planet poster into the room. I set the computer (with photos), the book, and the poster up and started sketching. I talked the colors through with Brian, they aren't perfect, but I at least asked. Then I started free handing it. Yep, that's why the planets are just round(ish). I painted the planets, remembered there were moons and hurried to put those in. Covered the entire thing in a thin layer of modge podge and let it dry. Then... this is the kicker, then I cut out tiny letters on my Silhouette Cameo and stuck them to the letters. Then I covered the whole thing in another layer of modge podge. Yep, that's it. So it's sorta great, sorta not, but i'm consoling myself that this is an artistic representation of the the solar system. that my art skills are limited, that it is going to be hung pretty high up... oh and this is for a kid's room.

 Ok this is my favorite one.