Believe Sign

I was shopping in the craft store ...

and I found some fun holiday signs that

were already painted, glittered, and strung with hangers -

but they were blank.

Hmm.

I love blank!!

So, at 50% off I paid $1.50 - $2.00

for a few of these painted, glittered, hangered (ha!)

blanks.

This one came with a beautiful glittery silver bow

tied on as a hanger, but it had to go.

I can't get all "paint-y" knowing I'm trying

not to mess up the bow.

So the bow had to go.

(I actually tried to untie the knots first

to salvage it and use it again after

I painted, but that didn't work out).

I must have left my bow un-tying fingers

elsewhere today.

I wanted to make a glittery "BELIEVE" sign.

So I made a pattern by writing the word

"BELIEVE" on tracing paper.

I centered it onto the front of the sign

and used transfer paper and a

stylus to outline the letters.

I outlined each letter with red paint

loose and quick - not trying to get perfect

coverage ... just a starting point

for the shading I did next.

To shade, wet a flat brush 

and blot it on a paper towel.

Dip one corner of the brush into a puddle

of paint, and brush back and forth

on a palette (or waxed paper) until the

paint becomes distributed along the bristles.

It will be stronger on one side and fade

towards the other side.

You want the part of the brush with the

most paint against the letter,

and the faded side away from the letter.

Think "LEFT" and "LOWER" when

shading; meaning you'll be putting paint

on the left and lower sides of whatever you're

shading - in this case, letters.

Once dry, go over each letter again

with the red paint, this time you're trying

to achieve good coverage

and an overall "even" look to the letters.

Then go over the bottom third of each

letter with a darker shade of red.

Use a liner brush to outline each

of the letters with thinned black paint.

I decided to add some holly leaves,

so I made a pattern and transferred them

onto my sign board.

I painted the leaves a medium green,

and outlined them with the liner brush

and thinned black paint.

Then I dipped a paintbrush handle into

red paint and added some berries.

I LOVE GLITTER!

So I added some of Plaid's Extreme Glitter

... green to the leaves ... red to the letters and berries.

Then for good measure,

I coated the whole thing with

Plaid Extreme Glitter - Hologram.

It looks great smooshed into the Christmas tree ...
here's the one I made last year:

Peace Out