Labor of LOVE {bench redo}

I know I say this A LOT....but I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! I have been doing SO many amazing projects (at least I think so) and I am so excited to share them with you guys! Over the next few days, I'll show you the different projects. This one has a bit of picture overload, but don't miss the free printable at the end of the post :)

I am going to start with this one, because it was intended for Valentine's Day, but I can't pass up sharing it just because cupid has left the building! When I was thinking of something special that I wanted to make for Valentine's day, I didn't want it to be only specific to the "Love Day". Who wants to put in hours of work, to have to shove the decor into a box till next year?? Not this gal!

I decided that I was going to make a wood subway sign for the wall, that says "I LOVE YOU", in lots of different languages. I first designed it, which you can feel free to download the free PDF file.

Love in different languages subway art 

I sized it to the wood I was using, so you can just resize it to fit your project. I printed it out (in 3 pages) and taped the paged together. Then I spent way too long (I won't even get into it) transferring it to the wood. Here it is in pencil...

I'm not sure where I went wrong after this, but let's just say that this was my first truly failed project. I think I ran out of patience with this one once I started painting the words. So a few days went by, and I decided to paint this bench.

I didn't have any intentions on painting the sign on it, but my sister-in-law suggested it. At first I thought....she's crazy! I'm not wasting all that time again!! But I'm a glutton for punishment.

This time I used the technique that I used on this stool.

I reprinted the sign, only this time, mirror imaging the text. I used sidewalk chalk on the printed side and with the printed side face down (with the chalk on the wood), I traced each word. I used a pencil that didn't have any lead to trace, so that I could still see the original when I was actually working on it. Instead of using paint, I went the smart way....the Sharpie way! I used an ultra fine tip Sharpie, a lot of patience, and when I was finished, I sprayed it with a clear, satin top coat. And ta-da....

OH, I almost forgot to mention! When my sister-in-law saw it, she fell in love (pun intended), a bought it!!

Sticking with the Valentine's day theme, I also thought I should share this cute printable in the same post. Clicking on the picture will take you to the PDF file and you can download this for free!

I used them for chocolate lollipops that I made....YUM YUM! If you download the PDF, you can change the text and use them for anything!

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