A Mommy's Life... with a touch of YELLOW

 Hi, My Yellow Sandbox Readers My name is Whitney and 

I am the momma behind the blog
A Mommy's life...with a touch of YELLOW
I feel so honored and am so excited to be guest posting today

I LOVE Abby
Love her blog
I Love her hair ideas and know they are to die for right?!
and I love our friendship
I hope we can all get to know each other a little better

I am a mommy to this crazy little 18 month old adorable little man

and a wife to the love of my life

 I live in Salt Lake City, Utah
I change my hair probably more than anyone you know
and get asked if I do hair all the time
(I guess just cuz it is always different...maybe I should)
I have my bachelors in Physical Education and Health Education
 and will one day be out there teaching your teenagers
For now I love to keep myself busy with PROJECTS of all sorts
while the hubby is at law school and the babe in napping
everything I do is on a tight budget and when it is cheap but amazing, it is even more exciting

Over at my blog you will find DIY projects, knock offs, Holiday, redoing, chic n' fresh tips,
a little about health, fitness, pinterest loves, recipes, a little about my family,
learning new things and this is all rolled up in my mommy adventures

Now on with the fun tutorial

I have been loving the Keep Calm and Carry on plaques 

that I have been seeing everywhere

especially on some fun etsy shops

But...I thought instead of buying one I would take a stab at it 

and make one for cheaper

I made one...as a trial for FREE

I had everything on hand 

then when I decided to make some more
to sell and give as gifts it was about $20 for 12 of them
Sweet deal right!

These are the supplies you will need:

-A roll of vinyl (or already cute vinyl if you don't have a silhouette)

-A silhouette or cricut or access to one

-Paint (colors of your choice)

-Sponge brushes

-Sand paper

-the MDF board

And anything else your cute, creative self wants to put on it

Make it yours

Make it fit you and your home and the room you want it to go in

Don't be scared to try something new

Here is what I did....

First I got myself a piece of wood

I had this one on hand from another project 

for the rest I went to home depot and got
a slab of 3/4 inch thick MDF board
and it cut to 12 inches high and 7 1/2 inches wide
so I got 12 out of one slab
Thanks hubby for cutting the boards for me
I love having a handy hubby it helps a lot

Then I painted it white

This is the color I want the letters 

"Keep Calm and Carry On" to be

so I paint that color first

Then you let that completely dry

I know I know I hate waiting to let the paint dry too

I am so impatient when it comes to painting projects

because I just want them to be done!

I just want to see how much I am going to love it

But we all have struggles

and mine is patience 

Once the white was completely dry it was time to do the crown

I decided to add a little YELLOW here

So I just painted a small area big enough for the crown to fit

Then you let that completely dry 

While the paint was drying I hoped onto my computer 

and cut myself come vinyl and a crown

I  used the font Arial Bold Size 144 

Since I wanted all of this to be painted 

with no vinyl 

I am only using the vinyl as a stencil

So once it is dry I placed all the vinyl on using transfer tape 

to keep it all strait

The next step is to paint over all the other paint and vinyl 

the main color that you want your sign to be

I chose Green

 for my first one
Then again you put your patience cap on 

and wait for the paint to completely dry

I probably put 2 coats of paint on

and then

I let this dry over night

Then ya know what is next!

It is time to peel off the vinyl leaving the white exposed for the lettering

and the crown yellow

Isn't it kinda cool how that works

And the very last step 

is to sand the edges, corners and lightly sand the top

I wanted a kind of shabby chic worn look 

and sanded the top so the green bled into the white letters a little bit

So all you FAB My Yellow Sandbox Readers

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON!

 I gave this baby to my mom as a gift
It matches her room perfect
 I also made another for my room in White, yellow and turquoise
and made a bunch as gifts and to sell at a Boutique this weekend

 I seriously can't wait to have one up in my room

I want to see it everyday

be reminded to enjoy life

count my blessings

Calm down and just be happy

Remember you can totally make these
and the holidays are coming up
so these would make awesome and unique gifts 

If you have any questions never hesitate to email or comment

I hope I have given you the tools and confidence

to be able to make these fun signs

Mix up the color, the sayings and just have fun with it

It really is so much fun and you will love them when you are done

Make sure to check out my blog for more of what I do

You can also follow me on facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

Lets be friends :)

Thank you so much Abby for this opportunity!