Graphic Word Holiday Art: Baby It's Cold Outside!

This Christmas was filled with many holiday crafty bid-ness.  The first being some DIY budget friendly graphic word art.  When I was looking at what I wanted to spend for this years holiday décor the amount was ideally zero BUT since that was impossible I tried to keep it as low as I could. I initially was going to do this project on a canvas, but then decided that was too expensive for art that I will have up once a year.  However, I wanted it to be sturdy enough to be able to put up next year if the mood suited.  Therefore I took a shelf from the upstairs built ins knowing I was going to rip them down someday.  I didn't initially tell the hubby, but he did eventually question me when he noticed there was a shelf piece missing and I had some new art.  I painted the board white with my (it seems like) endless supply of paint from my DIY kitchen update.  Then I purchased these little letter stickers from Michael's and a can of red spray paint and was ready to rock and roll!

 

 

Next I choose my saying.  I wanted to be wintery but not SOO Christmas-ey that I would feel silly having it up during the rest of the winter.  One of my favorite holiday songs is "Baby It's Cold Outside" and I thought it would be fitting because I do live in Minnesota where things are cold....very very cold. And icy.  And snowy.  It just seemed right to have a tribute to snow in my living room.  After all the most popular Minnesotan topic is the weather. After I choose my saying I drew out the spacing with lines of the letters horizontally and vertically to make things evenly spaced.  And of course I measured it out with my key chain measuring tape.  You have no idea how AWESOME that is to be able to whip out at Home Depot, Target, antique stores, etc. 

 

 

Then I stuck those stickers on!  As a side note I painted the board and let it dry several days before putting the stickers on.  I was worried that the stickers would stick to the paint if it wasn't dry enough and rip all the white paint off.  That would be a major Christmas buzz kill. Be sure to make sure your stickers are completely stuck to the board and there are no air holes before you start.  Any air hole or ripple has potential to let paint inside and ruin your nice crisp letters.  

 

 

Then I used my new can of red spray paint to paint over the board and all the letters.  Before I peeled the letters off (which I did without a picture because I was so giddy at the thought that my craft would be done) everything was coated with red spray paint.  I let the paint completely dry before I took the letters off as to not risk smudging the red paint.  After I took the letters off there were some smudges, which are to be expected. 

 



 

 

BUT it wasn't anything a small art brush and more white paint couldn't fix.  I was impressed with how good it turned out considering this was a shot in the dark!  The cool thing is that this technique can be used for any type of saying or shape to make some fairly cheap and bold art!  Now that I have some shiny new red spray paint I wonder what else I will be tortured made over by a nice coat of red?  Check back for an update on the mantel and more holiday crafts! 

 

 

 

For the craft budget the words were one dollar for a pair of words roughly coming out to $13 for the words and about $4 for the spray paint putting me in at around $17 for some DIY winter art!  I'm excited I can pull it out next year and considering this type of project for something permanent and year round.  I mean who can argue for under $20 art? Not this girl!