DIY: Letter Art

My sister, Angie, wanted me to create a letters for my soon-to-be niece Hadley's bedroom. 

The process started with Angie's (what appears to be highlighter) sketch.

Hence I turned it into a little bit better marker/pen sketch from Pinterest images she sent.

Mind you, my sister is in Colorado and I am in North Carolina, so this is all being done via text/FaceTime.

She found the letters online, so I went to Michaels and picked up the white letters.

I made several attempts on some letters but the following mistakes occurred before getting the below results:  1) paint seeped under stencils  2) paint was easily wiped off or scratched off 3)one layer of paint was not enough...if using the crafters paint which I was.

So to rremedy those errors, do the following:

1) lightly sand off the letters before painting

2) add a gel medium to paint for a thicker consistancy; thus it will 3) to avoid seepage when stenciling.  Also, using a palette knife to apply mixture helped.

Each letter had a different technique applied:

H) 3 coats of paint  (this was the easiest one)

A) mix of gel medium and orange paint used in a circle stencil

D) light turquoise wash as base, then layer of gel medium and turquoise paint with stencil

L) gel medium and magenta paint with floral stencil

E) gel medium and light green paint with chevron stencil

Y) HARDEST LETTER....tape, paint, dry...then repeat about 10 times.  Then cleaning up the lines, making sure they were straight....and then repeat the whole process...probably 3 times.  I was not a fan of "Y" after this.

 

And then my sister wanted...........

 

 flowers....

So this was the end result...

Ready to ship and brighten the room up :)