Stenciled Canvas: Take Two

Friends, can I just say that I. Love. Stenciling.

Seriously.  Ever since the wonderful folks at Cutting Edge Stencils sent me the small Cassablanca Craft Stencil, I've been on a roll.  Here's the story of my latest project...a fail turned success!

You might remember from my original review post that this pretty turquoise on turquoise canvas was my first stenciling endeavor.  I absolutely love it, but since I hung it on one side of the cutout window in the dining room, I needed something to balance it out on the other side.

I wanted to use the same stencil for continuity but add some words to the second piece.  Originally I planned on spelling something out with individual wooden letters, but when I got to Michaels, they had wooden words instead.  And what did they have?  Live.  Love.  dance.  Perfect!  Well...almost.  It totally bugs me that the "d" in dance is lowercase and the "L's" are capitalized.  But, what can you do?

ANYway, here is my original creation: I used a light aqua as the base color, then put a beigy neutral on top.

Blech.

I wasn't thrilled.  It looked way better in my head.  The blues weren't right together and the whole thing lacked something.  So, I decided to ask the experts.  I posted it on Facebook and asked you all for your input, which basically confirmed what I thought.  Meh.  It needed help.  I ripped the whole thing apart {did you know that Mod Podge can actually rip canvas when you try removing it?}.  I tried to salvage that canvas, but it was hopeless.  Thank goodness they came in a 2-pack!  I got lots of great Facebook suggestions about other color schemes to try, some of which wouldn't work just because of where in the house I was hanging it.  I'm redoing the dining room with turquoise and yellow {remember my new yarn monogram?}, so I figured that would be a good choice.

I used some brand new colors and, voila!


It's like a whole different project!  Here it is in the dining room.  Ah, much better!  Meanwhile, apparently even Little Crafter and Big Elmo are intrigued by washi tape...

In case you missed it, Target has washi tape!  $4 for a 4-pack.  I'm all over it.  Now I just have to come up with a good project...

By the way, friends, the April edition of the One Artsy Mama e-newsletter goes out tomorrow, can you believe it?!  It's got a monthly blog tip, a quote from LC, a special coupon code, and a special offer that are not going to appear anywhere else, so make sure you've subscribed!  To add yourself to the list, go over on the sidebar under the follower sections where it says monthly newsletter sign-up and add your info!  ------>

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