Run Like a Girl! {DIY Art}

It's Day 4 of  my 31 Days of DIY Art for Your Home series! I'm having fun, are you? If you've missed any, you can see Day 1 here and Day 2 here and Day 3 here. 

Today's art is a sign that a friend of mine asked me to make for her. She had seen the idea somewhere and wanted to have a sign that says "Run Like a Girl" with knobs to hang her medals from her runs. My friend ordered the vinyl for the quote from someone on Etsy and found the knobs at Walmart.com.

My friend knew she wanted the sign to match the size of the memo board above it, so I had specific measurements to work with. I also had my husband's help, and that turned out to be a big advantage!

I bought a 1 X 12 board from Lowe's and Gary cut it to the right length. I sanded the board by hand being especially attentive to the edges. (And then we moved from Ohio to Nebraska and the whole thing got put off while we unpacked for a few weeks. Good thing my friend is patient!) I used a small bottle of "magenta" paint from the art department at Walmart and gave the board a couple coats of paint. Next time I would buy spraypaint in a gloss finish because the paint dried rather flat. It just wasn't bright and exciting, so I used a spray-on poly to give it some shine. Learn from my mistakes and go with the glossy spraypaint, because the poly just wouldn't dry uniformly shiny! Gary ended up taking it to work where they were finishing window and door trim that day and he gave it a couple good coats of lacquer. It's wonderfully, perfectly shiny now!

Those extra dots are shadows from the knobs. Oops!

The next step was to apply the vinyl which was easy--just measure, peel the sticky side off, place the quote, rub it carefully with a credit card, then peel off the backing at an angle. I then measured for the knobs, spacing them equally. Again, my friend requested 11 knobs and that they were staggered like this. You could make a wider sign and just have one row, or only do 5 or 6 knobs if you don't have as many medals to hang. It's totally up to you!

I was super nervous to drill holes for the knobs, so I asked Gary to do it. I know I could have, and if it hadn't been for a friend, I wouldn't have been so nervous! I just wanted it to be perfect, which is exactly how it turned out, thanks to Gary! 

I added a hanger to the back with a couple of tiny nails, then wrapped it in bubble wrap and sent it to my friend. Everyone is thrilled with how it turned out!

So this isn't a step-by-step or illustrated guide, it's just a friendly reminder that you are creative, that you can dream up and make whatever it is you want to make. If you see a sign that inspires you but you can't afford it or you want it a different size or color, make it! It's possible! Boards from Lowe's or Home Depot are really affordable, and most times they'll cut it to your size for a very small price (if any). Spray paint is available at the same place you buy the board, or at Walmart or any number of craft stores (Michael's, JoAnn, Hobby Lobby). Those stores also sell pretty knobs like my friend found for her sign. You could also try Ebay if you're doing quite a few of them. As far as the quote goes, you can be like my friend and order it from a seller on Etsy. I have a Cricut machine and lots of people have Silhouettes, so you could use a font you have or ask a crafty friend if they'll let you cut with their machine if you supply the vinyl. You could use a stencil, or if you have amazing handwriting, just paint it on! The sky and your imagination are the limit!

Make something this week!