I had another one of those 1:30 in the morning moments last weekend, when I just had to make something before I could sleep. Actually, I had already gone to bed and been asleep for awhile, but my mind was still on “high alert” because I was waiting for my daughter to get home from the drive-in movie, so some little sound woke me up, thinking it was her. I decided to just stay up and work on something until she got home.
I had picked up this antique business card a few months ago, and meant to post it for Antique Graphics Wednesday, but realized I never did and decided to make a sign using the image. I love the typography and especially the curved “and”.
I scanned the business card and removed all the background with Photoshop, so the Silhouette could “read” the letters (you can use this image with your Silhouette as well). For my sign, I decided to remove the name of the company and the extra words at the bottom, because it fit the board I had better than way. If you decide to leave the company name on top, you’ll notice some extra cut spaces inside the letters, because the Silhouette reads any little bit of variance in shading as something to cut. If you are using it as a stencil, that part will be removed anyway, so it won’t matter.
My board was an old one that was already painted black, so I just used the vinyl stencil to add the words. I used a stencil I already had to dress up the corners of the sign. Once it was dry, I distressed it, then wiped some wood stain over it to deepen the aged look of the distressed areas. Things were going swimmingly. It looked wonderful. At that point I went to bed, somewhere around 2:45 a.m.
I don’t know what the heck woke me up at 5:30 in the morning, but up I was. I soaked in the tub for awhile and when I got out, the sun was up, so I decided to put a coat of spray sealer over the sign so it would be dry by the time I got home from church. I grabbed the spray can of sealer, shook it and started spraying. The next thing I knew, there was a fine mist of white on my sign! I freaked out, thinking I didn’t shake the can well enough or something, but upon closer inspection realized I had grabbed a can of white spray paint…not clear sealer.
ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Folks, this is why a body needs more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. No, I didn’t take a photo of the disaster – I was too busy having a fit. It was such a fine mist of white that I quickly grabbed some sandpaper and started sanding like crazy, trying to salvage it. I had to sand it a lot to make the white blend in, then I put a new coat of wood stain over it again. I really thought it was going to end up in the burn pile, but by the time I was done, I actually loved how it looked!
Maybe I should work with my eyes half open and functioning on only half a brain cell more often!
It’s available in my shop HERE!
Blessings,
Angie
Great save! That is a really cool sign. And saying ‘cool’ is probably not cool anymore! I have had one or two late night creative bouts during the school year but have a really hard time at work the next day. I save my late nights for summer.
That really turned out beautifully, Angie, even with the paint mishap! I am a night owl, too, and do a lot of work then…a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…
I love your night time rendevouz’s Angie. It is sure to have a roll on floor laughing inside story and notbto mention the fab results. But u do need more than 2 hours sleep:)
Love
S
Another cute creative moment…….. courtesy of the middle of the night.
Bliss
Well, the sign looks great, but I’m sorry for the stress it caused you! BTDT!
love your sign Angie–been there done that with sleep deprivation. I know I’m too old for it…but as crafters and diy’ers we get so impatient! hahaha
Hi Angie I think the sign turned out wonderful—-i look at mishaps as those things that are supposed to happen====we just don’t know it until it does…ha, I have been there too and want to throw something or use bad language….still a great sign!!