Fall Chevron DIY

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Roeshel

Earlier this week, I shared my fall home tour. Did you happen to see the DIY chevron “Fall in Love” plaque on the mantel in my family room?

Tutorial:

Materials:

Scrap wood
FrogTape® Chevron Shape Tape
Paint (I used glossy Krylon cherry red spray paint, turquoise DecoArt Americana Desert Turquoise acrylic craft paint and a gold spray paint)
Fall stencil (I created/cut a fall vinyl stencil using my Silhouette. Leaf damask design from Silhouette America online store.)
Martha Stewart Crafts Wood Stain

Here’s what I did:

1. I sanded the edges of my scrap wood (left over from a shelf DIY).

2. I spray painted my wood plaque red and let dry for about an hour.

3. Starting at the top of my plaque, I applied the FrogTape® Chevron Shape Tape. Cut to size, remove half of the wax paper backing, place Shape Tape, remove other half of the wax paper backing and smooth into place.

4. and just kept adding rows by placing the zig zag design exactly as my first piece and just eye-balling the distance. To get a chevron pattern, line up the zig zag.

5. Using my thumbnail, I made sure the edges of the Shape Tape were secure.

6. Then painted my chevron using turquoise craft paint. I did three coats to completely cover the red paint underneath.

Tip: Elevate the wood using the tape container to paint sides.

7. I peeled away the Shape Tape after the third coat of craft paint while the paint was still wet and let it dry.

8. Once dry, I sanded the the entire plaque for a bit of distressing.

9. Then brushed on the wood stain, let it sit for a few minutes then wiped it off for an aged look.

10. Once everything was dry, I applied my vinyl stencil and taped the edges of my wood plaque with FrogTape® Multi-surface.

11. Then spray painted the design using gold spray paint.

12. Remove tape and vinyl stencil.

It perfectly coordinates with my red/aqua fall mantel display…

Sharing at the Fall Mantel Party, Fall Nesting Party and Home Stories A to Z.

*This is sponsored by FrogTape®. FrogTape provided by Shurtech. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience.

DIY Serving Tray Makeover

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Roeshel

DIY Serving Tray Makeover:

I found this old serving tray hanging on a nail in our basement stairwell. We’ve been in this house quite a while and I’ve never noticed it. lol! In my defense, I’m talking about the dark creepy stairwell to the 80+ year old scary basement (I prefer to use the newer stairwell).

before: scratched up

It was the perfect project to try out the new chevron pattern Shape Tape from FrogTape which also comes in a wave and scallop pattern. FrogTape sharp paint lines and fun patterns…gotta love that!

Both sides of the try got a good spray of paint + primer in gold. I let it cure/dry for a few days.

To get a perfect chevron zig zag, you’ll need to cut identical pieces (not just cut off continuous pieces from the roll of Shape Tape).

Then peel away one side of the backing…

smooth into place…

and remove the other side of the backing and smoothing the adhesive into place.

Be sure that all tape edges are secure…

I taped up the handles so they’d remain protected/gold too…

then sprayed a top coat of “ocean breeze” by Krylon and removed the tape once the spray paint dried for a couple of hours. Nice crisp paint lines!

Ta-da! Love it. Although Bri thinks it’s a pretty tray with “bacon” decals. Hey, I love bacon so all is well! 😉

Now it’s a serving tray that coordinates with our guest room…

Serving trays are so fun to makeover. I still use the one I did a few months ago all.the.time. Trays make great photo props.

DIY herringbone serving tray

Great for not only serving, but more often – displaying vignettes on a coffee table or side table.

*This sponsored by FrogTape. FrogTape provided by Shurtech. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience.

Ps. Fun FrogTape Pin to Win Sweepstakes now through August 5th!

Chevron Reindeer Games sign tutorial

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Roeshel

DIY Chevron Reindeer Games Sign

It’s officially time for Christmas decorating in our home! I know! By blogging standards, I’m late to the game. With a family room makeover in progress, it’s at a point where plans for completion can be put on hold until after the holidays and I can still decorate that room to be pretty once I put away the ladder and some tools. I really loved the chevron garden sign I made for summer {here}. I decided I wanted to create a fun colorful Christmas sign incorporating some of the fun colors in the fabric I chose for the curtains.

Remember the tabletop I replaced on the kitchen bar for the apartment? {If not, you can see my post on my DIY wood plank kitchen bar top.} Time to recycle it! I knew it’d be a great material for a DIY sign one of these days. Tabletop to holiday decoration. Why not? To prep for making a sign, I scuffed up the finish with sandpaper and gave it a coat of left over teal paint and let it dry. I’ll call it my “canvas”.

This is what the top looked like before:

Tips for creating a chevron pattern using FrogTape:

It’s hard to explain how to create a chevron pattern words/pictures {next time I’ll do a video} but some tips:

My first row is measured. 5″ strips of FrogTape.

Depending on how it would line up, I creased the edges of the tape (non-sticky side) to create a line for cutting.

Cut on fold.

I placed the angled side on my center pencil line and cut the bottom flush with the bottom of the canvas and smoothed it into place.

I drew vertical lines with my pencil from the peaks and “v’s” of my first chevron row.

Once my first line was in place, I used a piece of FrogTape for spacing, I worked from the center out by placing another longer piece of tape angled from the center pencil line down to the right pencil line.

Then I pulled up a corner and folded it on the pencil line so I would know where to cut. Most of the time, the pencil transferred to the sticky side of the tape, creating a cutting guide.

I repeated those steps until I reached the top and finished.

I used pink and white craft paint to add more color.

My plan was to paint the blue area showing green and peel away the FrogTape, but I decided to keep the FrogTape in place. {Paint colors: Benjamin Moore Pacific, DecoArt Pretty in Pink “Hope Pink” and Americana Warm White, Green is FrogTape}

Using my Silhouette Cameo, I chose a reindeer from the online store and my Cameo cut it out {brown vinyl}. I created my letters for “Reindeer Games December 25th” using the software and chose the premium dark red vinyl and LDI Fancy Font. I peeled away the negative vinyl (the parts that are not the design) and applied my transfer paper. I made sure the transfer paper was secure by rubbing with a credit card.

Peel away the backing {the vinyl is transferred to the tacky transfer paper} and place on canvas. Rub the design with a credit card to get it to stick and peel away the transfer paper. In my case, all of the design wasn’t transferring, so I had to be careful and some of my reindeer was applied just as I would a sticker.

I followed the same steps for my lettering, however, knowing that the transfer paper was tricky for my project, I chose to use Delicate Surface FrogTape (the yellow tape) to help transfer my letters. This worked a little easier than applying by hand like stickers and kept my lettering evenly spaced and level.

I haven’t had time yet, but since I have FrogTape and vinyl on my sign, I’m going to seal everything with a coat or two of ModPodge. Ta-da!

Non-traditional. Colorful. Fun. I love it. It fits in perfectly with my eclectic colorful family room.

What do you think? I just sort of quickly staged for photos so I could share this today. I’ll be re-arranging, re-decorating. In fact, this mantel is even moving to another wall. More on the family room renovation and Christmas decorating coming soon.

I will attach a saw tooth hanger to the back and hang and rearrange but…I wanted to get this done to share and to tell you something important:

*I was not compensated for my review but I did receive vinyl and I participate in the Silhouette America affiliate program and will earn a percentage of sales when you use the code “SHOWOFF” for your purchase. This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience. Results may vary.

Party time: