The AFTER Party & A DIY Entryway Sign

Welcome to the first ever "After Party" at 3 Meadow Lake Cottage!

I thought I'd kick off the party by sharing one of my own

"Trash to Treasure" before & after projects...

The inspiration behind my project was this super cute sign from
Outer Banks Trading Group.

I fell in love with it the minute I saw it, 

but I am a cheap-o and figured I could make it myself and save lots of moolah.

I started with this little hideous treasure from Goodwill {it was only .99!}

First, I spray painted it with a satin white. It took a few coats to cover the red.

Once it was all dry, I carefully measured and taped off a 1/4 inch border.

Then using some chocolate brown acrylic paint and a sponge brush 

{that I already had at home}, 

I painted on a few layers {letting it dry in between layers}

until I was happy with how it looked.

Then I got on a roll and forgot to take pictures of the rest of the process...whoops!

But I'll try and explain the best I can :)

For the blue conch shell image in the background, I just did a google image search for "conch shell clip art" and I found this image...

I re-sized it in WORD to fit my sign and then printed it out.

Using carbon copy paper placed behind the printed image, 

I traced the conch shell onto my sign using a ball point pen.

Then I painted over my tracing using light blue acrylic paint and a fine tipped paint brush.

Once that was completely dry, I used the same technique for the "No Shoes Required" text...

I typed out the words in WORD {Mistral Font}, sized it to fit my sign, printed it out, traced it, and painted over the tracing using chocolate brown acrylic paint.

And ta da!! 

Here is the AFTER...

 

It's not perfect, but it's a cute low-dough version of the original!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now for the PAR-TAY!! 

Link up a BEFORE and AFTER post {past or present} 

and show-off your DIY transformation skillz! 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you've accomplished :)

Be nice. Play by the rules. Please.

~ Please link to the specific post and not to the main page of your blog.

~  Please put a link in your post that leads people to the party.

There's a cute button below that you can use or you can do a text link if you'd rather.

<center><a href="http://www.3meadowlakecottage.com"><img border="0" src="http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab258/ezacharda/afterpartybuttonjpeg.jpg"/></a></center>

~ It would be great if you became a follower of 3 Meadow Lake Cottage, too, 

but it's not required :)