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Wednesday
Jun152011

Watercolor Bedroom Signs Tutorial

by Erin Wallace
As we’ve been unpacking and filling our new house I’ve been thinking through what to put in every room. I decided about a week or so ago that I wanted to put little signs with the kids initials on the door. After searching around and looking at initials, I thought what could be even better is for my daughter Cami and I to make it.
finished signs
With new paintbrush in hand, we set to work.

cami's new paintbrush
Here are the supplies we used:
• Wooden embroidery hoop
• Watercolor paper — 90 lb weight (make sure that it is larger than the hoop)
• Watercolor paints
• Colored pencils
• Glue stick & Scissors
First we started by with painting two larger sheets of paper. Cami and I both painted together and it was so
fun! A good break from all the unpacking.

painting
After we set the paintings outside we painted the embroidery hoops with watercolors.

painting embroidery hoop
While the watercolor sheet was still damp, I placed the hoop around and pressed down. This can be a bit tricky. You want to be sure to do it while it is still damp to make it easier to mold to the hoop.

placing embroidery hoop on top
After pushing down on the top of the hoop, I flipped it over and pushed the inside of the hoop down as well.

finishing
This is how it looked attached:

attached
Next I drew on a new sheet of thicker watercolor paper the first letters of their name and a little fairy and pirate boy. Cami colored all but the pirate boy. I snuck that in while she was busy with the others.
coloring

placing
We cut out the colored drawings and used a glue stick to attach them. I centered the letters for Cami and then we put the little decoration around it. They don’t have to be perfect remember. Cami accidentally used her glue stick when applying on top of Noah’s sign, but I still think it looks amazing and the perfect entrance to their own little spaces.
 on the door