Indulging My Inner Artist

I love arts and crafts.  As a kid I took art classes from a young age.  First, out of someone’s basement and later from an artist in a studio.  I thought I wanted to go to art school and be an animator for Disney.  I ultimately love sketching, especially charcoal and pencils.  It has been years since I have picked up this medium to actually sketch though.  Part of me is afraid that I will no longer have the ability in me to create something out of the nothing of blank paper.  I later also discovered a love for composition and art through photography.  I do the occasional photo shoot for friends and family.  It’s a lot of fun for me.  I also get these ideas for little craft projects in my head and these are a lot of fun for me as well.  (To give credit where credit is due, I stole the idea below from this site: http://sawdustsanity.blogspot.com/2011/03/springeaster.html)

My life currently (as it should) belongs to my kids.  But, everyone needs an outlet and this is mine.  Fortunately, I can also involve my kids in my creative passion when it suits me, but sometimes, it’s just my project in my quiet time once they go to bed.  I love this time.

This past weekend, my niece was in town for a visit and she is very similar to me with regards to her artsy side.  I think Nora is going to be as well, but she is still at that age where it isn’t possible to involve her in some of my more complicated projects.  But, my niece and I had a good time working on this one together after the girls went to bed.

This project was actually pretty simple, mainly because I had most of what I needed for it already… scrap wood, paint brushes, acrylic paint, and scrapbooking stickers.  But, first I had to tackle my fear of this:

The table saw terrifies me.  But, I did it!

We used the scrapbooking stickers to spell out the phrase HAPPY EASTER on one side of the wood blocks and WELCOME SPRING on the other.  We then painted over the entire blocks of wood to make them cheerful and bright.  This was one of those great activities that requires very little thought and allows for your mind to wander or for a lot of great conversation to happen.

After letting the blocks dry overnight, we then peeled off the stickers revealing nice crisp letters.

Then, it was time to add the finishing touches to the blocks and letters.  I wanted mine to remain fairly simple.  The final step was to coat lightly with Modge Podge to give it a protective shiny layer.

The finished product is a fun, versatile decoration that cost me well under $10 to make.

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