Chi-town (only tourists call it that)

I know my 6 die hard readers (5 of which are family) have been oh-so-eager for my blogging return. I've been too lazy to get back into it yet but today (after a gentle reminder from my dear mother in law) I thought I'd get back on the horse.

One of my projects last month was this wall hanging I wanted to copy from Red Letter Words. I had been looking for something new to do and when I saw these, in the words of one of my favorite craft queens Victoria, I thought to myself "I could make that." My parents moved from Chicago a year or so ago after 35 years so I thought Chicago themed art would be perfect for their new game room. So I bought some 14x16 canvases on sale at Michael's and had paint already at home. All I needed (wanted) was a paper cutting machine so I wouldn't have to do each letter by hand. After trolling friends to borrow one with no success, I ended up buying myself a Cricut on Black Friday. Merry Christmas to me! Super fun. To me at least.

So to start, I taped butcher paper to the top of the canvas and penciled in where I wanted the words to go. I then started to cut out the words with the machine, changing font sizes and moving things around as I went.

Then I glued the letters straight onto the canvas with just a glue stick and then brushed the whole thing with a thin layer of polyurethane so the letters would stay put and the paint wouldn't bleed underneath. (A great tip from Victoria!) Then went to town with a little black paint.

Afterwards just peeled off the letters with some tweezers. The wording looked a little stark, a little too clean, so I brushed a touch of black paint over them to rough it up a bit. And done. It was my first attempt and I learned a few things. I made one for my sister, I thought to use thin plastic instead of paper to do the letters and they came off like butter. I feel badly my parents and sister got my first attempts at this but I ran out of time to do any more. I know the letters are a little crooked (my sister's came out straighter) and I would have changed some of the spacing. Maybe added another site or two. But overall I like 'em. I want to make a bigger one for my (being redecorated for the last 4 months but I am creatively and completely stuck) dining room but I haven't decided what city I am going to do. Chicago where I grew up? Seattle where I've spent the majority of my married life? Buenas Aires where my hubby and I spent our missions (different times)? Maybe a set of three? Who knows.

Oh ya... I sewed these crazy pants for Lucas and our nephew Jackson for Christmas. Lucas loves them as I knew he would (see this post) but I'm not so sure about Jack. I made matching pillow cases as well so hopefully that will fly better with him.