Friday, April 29, 2011

Mothers' Day text art ( guest post at thrifty decorating )


Hi friends!   I am over-the-moon excited about this project.  It was so much fun! Warning: You will become addicted to this project and begin searching for additional mothers to make artwork for. I went completely overboard making up designs.  I did a guest post on this project at the fabulously thrifty blog, Thrifty Decorating ( thanks, Nikki!) and have also posted the full project below.

Mothers' Day Text Art

Mothers' Day is sneaking up on us, friends, and I have a fun and simple idea to honor the mother(s) in your life and win you some major brownie points.

I consider myself a student of Nate, meaning I watch the Nate Berkus Show religiously.  If you are a fan too, you've probably heard him preach that your decor should be more than random pretty objects, it should have personal meaning.  I wholeheartedly agree.  So I took inspiration from one of my favorite trends, word art and number art, to create some decor pieces for moms that would have real meaning.   I made text art out of their children's and grand children's names and birth dates.  The concept is pretty basic, but the possibilities are limitless.  Combine some pretty fonts with great colors and the names and/or dates that are most important to your mom, put it in a pretty frame and you've just guaranteed your spot in the will.




Here's what you need to make your own Mothers' Day text art 
  • A printer or access to a copy/printing store
  • White card stock
  • Picture frame




There is not a formal tutorial for this project.  The only instructions are to open your word processing program or Photoshop, type your names and/or dates,  and play with different fonts, sizes, colors and placement and just be creative and have fun.


Tips for Making Mothers' Day Text Art
  • Start with great fonts. The font(s) you choose will set the style for your piece.  Your choices are endless from retro, to distressed, handwritten, modern, or calligraphy styles- find the ones that reflect your mom. Sites like dafont.com have a lot of great fonts to download for free!  Here are some links that explain how to install a new downloaded font on Windows or Mac (it's much easier than you think).
  • Don't be intimidated.  Say it with me, "I can do this project!"  You don't need a background in graphic design or amazing computer skills to make text art.  If you can type, change the size and font style of your words, you can do this.  If you need some creative inspiration to get you going, check out sites like tinyprints.com or photoaffections.com that create invitations and announcements, they have great ideas for word art.
  • Choose your frame first.  The frame you use will determine the size of your artwork ( 5 x7, 8x10, etc).   This is especially important if your frame is an irregular size. The frame can also help you choose the style and colors you use in your artwork.
  • Print wisely.  Print your artwork on card stock to give it a more professional look. If your artwork has a lot of color (see image below), that will require a lot of ink, I recommend taking it to a copy or printing store where they can print a nice smooth copy, free of flaws (and save your toner cartridge on your home printer).  It cost me about 70 cents per 8.5 x 11 sheet to print my artwork on card stock at my local copy store.


Here are some examples of Mothers' Day text art I have created.  I have used a good old word processing program for some and Photoshop for others, but all designs are very basic. I am happy to answer any questions you have, so feel free to contact me. Below each example I have listed the name of the fonts I used in case you want to download them (fonts without links are standard fonts already installed on most computers).

 {Fonts are Lobster and Jellyka Bee's Antique}



{Font is Walkway}

{Fonts are Hoedown, Jellyka Western Princess, Orator Std, Zapfino and Carnevalee Freakshow}


{Font is Payday}




 {Fonts are Honey Script, American Typewriter, Viper Nora, and Budmo}




{Font is Viper Nora}



{This is a great design for a mom with LOTS of grandchildren.


{Font is Viper Nora}
{Fonts are Walkway and Payday}



This weekend I will also be sharing some fun and simple ways to frame your Mothers' Day text art.  I am also hosting a giveaway for a burlap pillow cover from beiFIORI Embellish which you are welcome to enter.    Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, friends!  


20 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the guest post! There are already some really nice comments on my blog and my personal FB page!

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  2. I absolutely LOVE these! Can I just place my order? You did a better job than I ever could and you're the best...common, just do it!
    Best idea ever! Totally Brill! I will definately be doing this for my kiddos rooms! And it looks like you've got mom covered!

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  3. LOVE these! Going to be making some for my house as well as for my mother.

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  4. What a great idea! So many different possibilities!
    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Girl, you SAVED my mother's day! I did this project today for my mother-in-law using her 4 grandkids ... I graduated the colors in shades of green so they look like a paint sample card. So cute. The hardest part was finding a darn frame with 4 openings, that took 5 stops. (Of course now I will see them everywhere I go!) I wanted to thank you so much for the inspiration. When I post on my version I will link back to yours and give you the full credit you deserve!!! Jules

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  6. These are really cute! I love it and will be featuring it on my blog later this week!

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  7. Tate! Thank you for the Cali, Carter, Caleb shout out!

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  8. This is a great Tutorial..thanks for such a fun project. Now it's on my to do list that continues to grow. ;)Happy Mothers Day to you.

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  9. I love all the ideas. I have seen this on several linky parties and it has caught my eye every time! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  10. LOVE LOVE LOVE these! So simple, yet so elegant! I especially love the birth dates one that you did--so creative! Yay!

    I may be doing something like this and I will definitely credit you if I do :-)

    Stephanie
    http://click-capture-craft.blogspot.com/

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  11. Love the idea and this was the first time ever I was going through blogs and saw my son's name...my oldest son is Gage....not a name you see very often! Great post...

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  12. I love them all!

    Jen
    www.dishesandsocks.com

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  13. Ha! After staring at these for forever, I finally made one of my own!

    http://linzeh.blogspot.com/2011/06/giveaway-spectacular-day-7.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a fun idea! Thank you for sharing.

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