Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Does this post title sound familiar? I hope so! As those of you females born in the 1980s likely remember, this is the saying that was taught to Samantha Parkington, American Girl. Samantha was creating a cross stitch sampler with this saying on it during the books about her. While I've not worked with cross stitch (yet!!!), I agree: actions DO speak louder than words. I was recently arranging some art and decided I needed a piece that included words. I contemplated lots of different sayings - Coldplay quotes, goofy quips, Elvis has left the building, you name it - but I ultimately settled on this one.

I picked up these stickers at Michaels in their "Dollar Spot" section. I knew these were the ones the moment I saw them. I figured two packages would do it (since I hadn't identified the saying just yet). These are the leftovers:

Once I figured out what I wanted to say, I measured the letters and figured out what size canvas I'd need. I picked up this one:

I then painted the front a flat gray, which I diluted with water in hopes it would look more like a "wash." That attempt wasn't especially successful, mostly because I made the mistake of layering on a second coat. I then painted the sides with Ceramcoat's 14k Gold Paint (the same paint I used to make this). I did two coats of that as well, which was essential to really make it glow. I then stuck on the stickers. I had measured the width of each letter - they're not exactly identical - so I would know how much space to leave at the edges so the words would be centered. This is the result:

I'm a smidgen disappointed that it looks like some of the words are "angled" - they aren't! I think the issue is that the picture of the letter itself isn't perfectly straight. All of the stickers are touching one another, and I can tell that their edges are straight, so I think it must be the picture. Anyways, it's also hardly noticeable if you're looking at it from a different angle:

And here's the gold edge, in better light:

 

I'm very pleased with how the colors work together and with the rest of the room. More posting about that coming up shortly!