Pinned it, Done it!

I have finally begun doing things that I find on Pinterest. Unfortunately, they were Christmas presents and I couldn't very well post them before I had given them! So, here is my first one! Woohoo!

I saw this in the background of a picture and loved it at first sight. There wasn't any tutorial so I will share what I did...
I decided to use two 11x14in canvases. I chose colors that would match my parents house versus the cute colors I saw on Pinterest. I painted a few layers of brown paint and decided to stop at two coats because I like the fact that I could see different tones as well as brush strokes. It almost looked wood-like.

I was hesitant about painting letters onto it because I really didn't want it to look messy. I decided to use a textured paper and, at first, I printed on practice paper. I realized it would be easier to not see the lines of the letters when I was cutting if I printed the letters on the wrong side of the textured paper! So, my husband helped me figure out how to print the mirror image on the back side of my paper.

 I used really sharp scissors to cut out the letters. I decided on spacing and laid all the letters out. Then I carefully painted mod podge on the back of each letter and placed it back in it's place. I realized I had to quickly paint/glue over the top of the letter because they started to curl.

After everything was in it's place, I painted mod podge over teh entire thing. I painted three coats. On the right is the mod podge still wet and on the left it is dry. I used glossy mod podge this time but I think next time I will buy the matte finish. I was super happy with how they turned out!  Pinned it, Done it!