Family Monogram Board

This weekend Collin & I went to the wedding for my new hygienist and her husband. (For those of you who don't know...I'm a dentist. It's not like she's just the girl who cleans my teeth every six months. She's an employee.) It was a nice and very cute outdoor ceremony and reception. We had a great time and then had some good fun afterwards with the other girls from my office, just hanging out at Brewforia. Not from the area? Brewforia is AWESOME. It's like a mini-mart of beer. That's it. Just walls upon walls of different kinds, primarily microbrews...which is fantastic!

Anyway...diverging from my topic a little there...I decided that I was going to make Annie's present. I was torn between two items that I'd seen on Pinterest, but ended up making the decision that I didn't feel like sewing. So instead, I made her a family monogram board. I got the idea from a Pinterest link that is now apparently defunct, so I can't tell you what blog the idea originally came from. I'm certain that the gal who made that one (or guy...) used some adhesive vinyl. But...I don't have any vinyl of current, so I decided to paint it instead.

I started with a piece of wood that was actually a leftover shelf from my desk at the office. I've owned that desk for nearly 10 years and it was still in the plastic wrap! I painted it black with regular ol' acryllic paint. I used Asphalt from Making Memories.

Source

I LOVE this paint! I originally got it at CKU in a class with Ali Edwards. The class was just as amazing as the paint...okay...maybe more amazing than the paint. Side note - I would LOVE to take more classes with her. She's my favorite.

Me (apparently flushed from excitement) with scrapbook queen Ali Edwards.

Ok...back to the project. Wow. That was a tangent. So... After I got the board all painted black and dried, I cut myself out a large monogram "P" and traced it onto the board (I'll explain how I cut it out in a minute...no...I didn't use scissors.) And FYI...it took me FOREVER to pick the fonts I ended up using in the project. I don't recall the font for the "P" monogram, but I'll share the others with you as we go.

After that, I consulted my paint swatches and decided on a Delta Ceramcoat Rain Grey. I decided that monotone colors would probably be best so that matching to her decor would not be difficult. I'll admit...the painting took me a little bit and there may have been some cursing. I learned about halfway through that using the negative aspect of the cutout as a mask actually worked better. Then I just painted over the top of it and let it dry.

The next day it was down to business. From here forward, I could not have managed this project without my Pazzle. I've talked about it before, but it is just about the love of my life. So we're going to take a slight detour for me to sing its praises.

Why yes...that IS my photo rag quilt in the back ground...

I got the Pazzle for Christmas back in 2009 from Collin's awesome mom, Carole. I had been wanting one for just about forever. The Pazzle is a die cutting machine manufactured just a few miles away in Kuna, Idaho. It's a tiny little company, but man do they make an awesome product. It's like a Cricut on steroids.

The Pazzle can cut out words using any font on your computer as well as the built in fonts. You can pull clip art from your files or from the internet and it will cut that too. You can pretty much cut just about anything. They do have additional software that you can buy to expand your home library of clip art, but I've never had to add anything to mine. It's been fantastic.

The most common question I get about it is...can it cut vinyl? Yep. By darned, it sure can. I've ran cardstock, regular paper, vellum and transparency through this as well. I love it.

So...back to the project, again...I opened my Pazzles software and busted out a plan. I used Scriptina font for their last name, Enchanted Prairie Dog for their first names, Bamberg for the date, and Honey Script for the phrase. I am a font junkie. I literally have a binder with all of my fonts individually listed along with "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." That way, I just flip through and find the one I want. I know...neurotic. Welcome to the way I operate.

Once I had it all lined up, I slid some cardstock into the Pazzle and let it do it's thing. I popped out all the positive lettering and ditched it. I then used some K & Company WackyTac Repositionable Adhesive to turn the entire negative into a Post-It note. Seriously. That stuff is awesome. I got it from QVC a few years back. I'd love to tell you where you could buy it, but apparently they don't make it in the liquid anymore. Incredibly sad.

I took my uber awesome sticky note and lined it up over the board. Once it was adhered, I started painting. There were a few spots where the Pazzle had a little trouble, or I hadn't punched out the positive very well, but I just kept on going. I filled everything in with a total of 2-3 coats. After that, I walked away and let it dry over night.

The next morning I peeled off my sticky note and was pleasantly surprised at how well everything turned out. I had to touch up a few spots and freehand a couple of letters, but overall...awesome. It worked extremely well. 

I liked this project so much that I just might have to make one for my own house. (By the way, Annie says she likes it too.)

This post is part of a series on Creative Crafting...see the other posts and projects here.