'Nailed It' - Easy Stenciled Art

I've been trying to decide for quite some time now, how to do something like this:

Credit - Pinterest (I couldn't find the original website - think it's TipJunky)

without having to spend $300 or so to get a Silhouette or something similar that prints and cuts vinyl. I also thought about printing directly onto scrap book paper, but it just wasn't screaming out 'do it' to me.

So, when out of the blue, I came across this:

Credit - DIY on the Cheap

I thought to myself, 'Self, you could totally do this'. Her tutorial is really (and I mean really) easy to follow and I had the Martha Stewart stencils and paint on hand from a project I was already doing (more on that later), so all I needed was a frame. And wouldn't you know it, I swung by Walmart (just like she suggested) later that day and found myself a frame I liked for a whopping $5. SCORE!

Home I goes, ready to rock and roll this project like no bodies business. 

I gathered my supplies (I used the painters tape to help keep the letters on a straight line - cause I'm funny like that), and set to work.

And this is how it turned out:

While I loved the matt, the all white wasn't working for me and the backing was black, so that wasn't going to work as the background - instead, I switched it up a notch and used some burlap I had left over for the background (actually, I think I have about 5 yards of burlap left over from a project that used about 1/2 a yard.... because I couldn't get it in a smaller size at the store and I didn't have the patience to order it online and wait. You know me, Ms. Instant Gratification). And my fonts are a little different from the ones on the tutorial, but I guess that's the point, right? You don't want it to be exactly like someone else's.

And this is how the finished 'family plaque' looks:

And once I got started using the stencils, it kind of snow balled (and will probably continue to do so). I've used it on cups, wine glasses and vases so far....

The stencils are going to come in handy when I start making ornaments for Christmas.... yup, definitely getting my money's worth out of those.

So, easy stencil art - think I 'nailed it'?

K

(and as a side note, I actually put the wrong year on our family plaque - it's what happens when too much wine is consumed and you have the TV going on in the background. But a little alcohol - which is kind of funny since that's what got me in trouble in the first place - and I rubbed out the wrong number and I put the right year on there)