Homemade Artwork for Tween Girls

I've been updating my daughter's bedroom as part of her Christmas present.  She's wanted it blue for a long time.  You can see the color I painted it here.

I've also been working on some artwork.  She likes the "keep calm" stuff and has this on her ipod screen.

I turned it into this by printing the image from the web and using a piece of blue scrapbook paper as a backdrop.

It goes great with the colors in her bedding (below the artwork).

She also asked me to make a sign similar to something like this. 

 

She wanted the definition of the word, smile :)  

So, I went to work and started by printing the words off the computer for my template.

After pray painting the canvas this great chartreuse green color, I lined up my cut out wording

 the way I wanted it to look.

 

Good old fashioned carbon paper was the secret for transferring the words to the canvas.

 I taped everything in place so it wouldn't move as I was tracing the letters.

 

 A fine tip sharpie worked best for outlining the letters and then coloring in.  

A couple of flowers were added for a girly touch.  These were also printed from the computer and traced onto the canvas over carbon paper.

I added a little color for the flowers.  The pale blue is the color of her newly painted bedroom.

I finished the project with a little sanding over the whole thing to give it a softer look.

I hope it makes her "smile"!

  I still have a seat cushion to make for her desk chair and that should do it.

I can't wait to see everything pulled together in her room Christmas day!

(I'll post the whole room after Christmas)

I'm linking to the following parties:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm
Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings

Hope your week is off to a good start!

I know I hugged my kids twice as hard as they left for the bus stop this morning.  

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and community of Newtown, CT

this morning ~