Lightning Strikes!

So...for the last few months I've been sitting on a project with a huge dilemma...Okay...huge may be a slight exaggeration as I resolved the issue when...well...like most of my art work and projects, in its own time.  

For those who have read 'about me' you will know that I have a beautiful baby boy who is now 8 months old. His nursery is pretty bare at the moment so a few months back I bought Kaisercraft letters (his name) to decorate for his room. Since then I've been on the search for boy paper. Did I find any? Yes! Did I find any I liked? No! So the letters stayed in the spotlight bag where I bought them from, in my craft room and were left there until lightning struck! 

[insert lightening bolt here]

Comic books! 

Now its been awhile since I have done any decoupage so I did a quick google search and while I was online a pinterest search and found that I had most of the items already. All I needed to buy was the comic book and some white acrylic paint. 

Here is the supplies I used to create this project.

• Wooden letters 
• Paper (of your choice)
• Paint
• Foam Brushes
• Decoupage Medium (I used  Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium - Matt)
• Large Brush
• Sand Paper block and nail filer
• Scissors and Utility Knife (craft knife) for finer detailed areas
• a used gift card voucher

Decoupage, though some projects can look quite intricate and complicated is actually very simple. I basically started by giving the letters a light sand, making sure they were clean and dry (if they have any stickers, don't for get to remove them). I then painted the sides and though not necessary (as no one will see it) I also painted the back of each letter. I let them dry and repeated it three times. I felt it needed a few coats as I found that the wood showed through the white paint. 

Once dry, I lightly sanded them again (mainly the front) so that I had a nice smooth surface to work with. I then smothered the front with my medium and stuck the paper on. I used the gift card voucher to smooth out any bubbles and a brush to remove any excess medium that spilled out the sides. I let them dry, then using my scissors and craft knife I trimmed the paper close to the letters. Whatever paper was left around the edge was then sanded away. I used the nail filer to get into any small grooves, and then to seal it smothered some more medium over the letters.

Here is the finished result:

and a close up shot:

A couple of things I found when doing this project was that I had to make sure that the comic strips of the paper were lined up for the A and M as they were too wide and I needed two pages to cover them. But if you look at the photo of the 'A' above you can't even notice where the two pieces of paper connect. I used my paper trimmer to get a nice straight edge so that the papers aligned beautifully. I also sanded them quite a bit and was happy to have some of the wood showing through as I wanted to create that distressed look. 

Overall I am very happy with the result and can't wait to put them up in his room. All I need now are some 3M Velcro strips and its done!

Oh....and a little something arrived in the post for me today. :)
My challenge prize from scrappit!
Aren't they beautiful?

The complete set of 24 colours. Cant wait to get into them.

Happy Crafting!

 Samantha