Hi Y’all, Happy Fall!

Hi Friends!

I haven’t posted in while because the past few weeks have been super busy. I was in Las Vegas on a work trip and then home in Toronto for Thanksgiving. I’ve also adopted a new furry friend that has taken up a lot of my free time, he’s a feisty one.

This weekend I decided to get back on track and make a door mat for outside of my front door. I think it serves as a warm welcome to those who visit, and it’s quirky and cute!

I picked up a plain straw door mat at Home Hardware and some white cupboard liner you can get at any hardware store. I used the liner to cut out the letters for my stencil. I decided to go with the saying “Hi Y’all” because it reminds me of my boyfriend who has a tendency to say “you all” but I know it’s in avoidance of saying Y’all, which I secretly love.

First I drew out the letters with a pencil and ruler on the white plastic cupboard liner and then cut along the lines with an Exacto knife.

Once the stencil was cut out I needed to find a way to keep it in place when I painted to make sure that the lines on the letters stayed clean and legible. In hind sight it would’ve been smart to pick something to make the stencil out of that had a sticky backing to stay in place while I painted – I would recommend to do this if you are planning to make your own stencil. I used pins to keep mine in place and it also worked well.

Next, I used pieces of cardboard to cover up the parts of the mat that the stencil didn’t so that the spray paint wouldn’t be transferred onto areas of the mat other than the stencil. I sprayed two coats with Rust-Oleum Chalked Linen White Ultra Matte Paint and then let sit for 15 minutes.

Once the paint had dried I removed the stencil and wasn’t super happy with the lettering. I felt that it was too light so I went over the letters with a foam paint brush and dabbed on some more of the same paint, only in liquid format and let dry overnight.

Below is the finished product, featuring the pumpkins I have yet to carve… maybe next weekend!