front porch post: fall edition

When Rachel made our front porch posts I was so excited at the thought of making a new sign for each season/holiday.  So here we go, our second sign...

I'm proud to say I actually designed this one on my own.  I'm infamous for stalking blogs for hours and copying whatever cute crafts I see.  But I actually couldn't find anything I loved for mine and Rachel's "fall sign" so I came up with this one all by my big craft girl self! ha

I created the design in Illustrator first, because I'm a visual person and while the idea was in my head I needed to see it on paper before I could execute it. 

(I think it turned out pretty similar to my original design)

Then I used my Cricut and SCAL2 software to make a stencil.  Have I said how much I love this software? BECAUSE I DO!  I don't think I would use my Cricut even half as much as I do if I didn't have this software.  Anyway...I used contact paper to cut a stencil, some old wood that someone threw away (Blaine thought it was ridiculous I was grabbing it out of the garbage), some paint, ribbon and eyelets that Rachel had and we made our fall sign.  Since we had all the supplies lying around this craft was free...my favorite kind!

Happy fall, my most favorite time of year!

front porch makeover

I emailed my sister-in-law a few weeks ago and said we should do this craft for craft night.  Before I knew it she had practically done the whole thing for me...no complaints here, I just felt bad she pretty much did everything for me!  Thanks Rach!!!!!

Here's how it turned out: 

We just live in a little apartment but even little apartments need welcoming front doors!  This craft even inspired me to go out and buy a plant, which I'm praying I don't kill!

I used my SCAL2 software (that I got for my birthday...thanks Mom & Blaine!!!!) for the "Welcome" sign...that is after many swear words.  Turns out I needed to update my Cricut before trying to cut with the software, that would have been nice to know before spending 5 hours on what should have been a 1 hour project for another craft.  But Blaine fixed it before I started this project and it now works like a dream.  Although I'm worried everything in my house might be covered in vinyl by the end of the week!

Do I recommend this craft?  Eh, if you have a really awesome sister-in-law or a handy husband.  I'm not sure I would have completed it all by myself.  It's not hard just a lot of steps.  But I'm so glad Rachel made sure we finished this because I think it adds a lot to my front porch.  And now we have big plans to make a sign for every holiday. haha

FYI--we made our posts a little taller and wider because than the craft blog suggested because well just because we thought it looked better.