For Katie

To all of you coming over from Pinterest:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I can't believe the how popular this little post has become.  If you decide to try this project, please send me a link so I can check it out!  I would love to see your ideas!   Also, there's a misconception going around Pinterest that you can use glue for this project.  Several people have told me that glue does not work.  Just thought I'd let you know ahead of time!  Thanks again!  

Other puffy paint posts:

Canvas Project

Small Projects
Also, in this post I answer your puffy paint questions.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program....

When my best friend got a new apartment in Philly, I decided to make her something special.  I wanted to experiment some more with puffy paint, but I didn't want white on white.

Sorry this is a little dark, it was 10 pm when I took these photos.  Anyway...

I started this project by painting the canvas purple.  I love getting the sample size from Lowe's because it gives me the opportunity to pick the exact color I want.

You may be wondering why the carpet cleaner is in this photo.  No, Charlie did not have an accident.  While the paint was still drying I dropped the canvas, paint-side down, onto the carpet.   Luckily, with a lot of elbow grease and a little carpet cleaner, you can't even see it....I think.

The next step was choosing my font.  I wanted something scripty, but it had to work with puffy paint (i.e. simple and thin).

I taped the paper down to the desk and then laid the wax paper over top.  Even though many of the letters are connected, I traced everything individually, except the double f.   This project took me a lot longer than my last two; those big loops in the letters gave me a run for my money.

After coming up with at least one nice version of every letter, I let the puffy paint to dry over night.  When the puffy paint and canvas were dry, I laid the letters onto the canvas to check my placement.  After I got the layout right, I picked up one letter at a time, put mod podge on the back, and started gluing everything down.

You may be wondering why I chose this phrase.  It's a line from the song Party Rock, by LMFAO.  It's a fun, upbeat song that'll keep you dancing.  The last time I hung out with Katie she sang this line once every 30 seconds, so now it will forever remind me of her.

I chose this font because I wanted something a little more traditional to go with Katie's decor.

The last step was to wrap it all up and wait to give it to her.  I used my Silhouette to cut out the tag and letters, then I wrapped twine around and around until I got the look I wanted.

The good news is that...she likes it!  I'm so glad she likes it, but I'm mostly just glad to get it out of my apartment!  That song has been stuck in my head since I started this project 3 weeks ago!