Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop: Little Boy Chalkboard Inspired Painted Quote Sign

You never know where inspiration will hit. I was at Target a few weeks ago and spotted this plain little wall sign which reads "little man". I immediately thought of my brother John because that was his nickname at Saint Anthony's elementary school in San Francisco many moons ago. John was the smallest boy in his class but he was wicked good at karate, as were all the little Floreses. No scout troops for us - our parents figured that the only way to keep us from killing each other was if we all had the same fighting chance - thus our weekly karate lessons.

Bruce Lee movies were popular at the time and every boy wanted to emulate him. Once the older boys found out that John knew karate, recess became one long line of kids all waiting their turn to challenge "Little Man" John. I so remember looking over at John to see him surrounded by boys all cheering him on while he spun in a blur of fists and little corduroy pants around a tall boy three grades older than him. "Come on Little Man! Come on!", they yelled. It was all in fun but I was worried that the nuns would catch him for "fighting", so I was constantly walking into the middle of the Thunderdome and yanking John out by the back of his little red wool sweater. Oh the humiliation of having your older sister break up a match. But that was my job - I was the Deus Ex Machina swooping down to grab my little karateca before the Dominican Nuns / Furies caught wind of the excitement. And as my brother John's birthday approaches, I thought this painted sign would be a darling way to share his story now that he is grown and has his own little troup of karatecas.

Here's how:

Little Boy Chalkboard Inspired Painted Quote Sign

Materials:

• Wood plaque (with attached hangars)
• Photograph - 8" x 8"
• Black Foam Core

Tools:

• Plaid® FolkArt Chalkboard Paint
• Aleene's® Crystal Clear Tacky Spray
• Aleene's® Max Tacky Adhesive
• Elmer's Painters® Paint Markers - White, Red, Black
• Paintbrush / Plastic Plate
• Westcott Brand Scissors / Kraft Knife / Cutting Mat

Instructions:

1. Paint the wood plaque black. Let dry two hours then apply a second coat.

2. Detail the letters with white paint pen. Dot the "i" with red paint pen.

3. (Did you know that you can upload a photo to the Costco Photo website and have them print it out for you to whatever size you want and then pick it up in a few hours? That's what I did for this photo - my printer isn't good at photos and having this printed only cost about $1.50!)

Cut the photo out with scissors and discard the background. Spray the back of the photo with tacky spray and adhere the photo to the piece of foam core. Smooth down firmly. Use the kraft knife to trim away the extra foam core from the photo. Outline the cut edges of the photo with black paint pen.

4. Glue the photo to the back of the wood plaque. Let dry two hours before hanging.

I can't wait to give this to my brother and have him share it with his youngsters!

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