BOLD.

I don't know 'bout ya'll, but these last few months have been craaaaaazy busy! Summer is just a flyin by! I've been going and doing all kinds of fun new things with my amazingly sweet, kindhearted, hilarious and very near and dear to my heart boyfriend. We've been having the greatest of adventures! Among those adventures, I've managed to take on a rather fulfilling commission piece....

I tend to over do certain things. My ideas get the better of me in almost every situation. Some of the time, they don't turn out quite like I had imagined. Other times.... the exact opposite is true and they turn out UH-MAZING!

Case and point. My friend Kelsie: eyelash professional, nail arteest, and hair fixer upper - asked me to do "A" painting for her salon. I say "A" painting, because she clearly meant she wanted me to do just ONE. So of course I decided to do 4. She gave me free reign to do what I wanted, so what did you expect me to do? One just wasn't enough!

Here are some snap shots of my prep steps... 

SO.... I decided they needed to be done on wood cut outs of the word "BOLD." Her salon is called "Bold and Beautiful," and that is exactly what I had intended to do with these soon to be masterpieces! ...make them bold AND beauuuuuutiful!

First off, painting a canvas would have been too easy. So of course, I had to buy an 8ft sheet of 3/4" MDF to cut the letters out on. I don't own a truck, so I had to borrow my parents getaway beast and my dad's table saw. Not to mention get help to cut it as I am not strong enough to maneuver that thing on the table saw solo. Got it up there by myself though... I did, I did. Thanks Uncle Bruce for re-teaching me the safety tips of table saw etiquette. Cutting my hands off is definitely on the top of my "no-no" list.

In order to cut the centers out, I had to drill holes first. Right as I was about to get started on all of them... my drill lost its juice on the 2nd "B" hole... haha The battery on that drill really sucks. I had to wait a whole 24 hours for the stupid thing to charge! 

BONUS NOTE: Uncle Bruce also GAVE me a scroll saw! My first ever! After wanting to buy one for so many years... free. Totally free. I was in awe. I've used it for a bunch of little things... and for fixing a pair of sandals. Scroll saws do wonder with leather... fact.

After I got them all painstakingly cut out as you can see, next came the task of painting them! My boyfriend has been such a wonderful advocate for my love of color. So, when I asked him if I should do them black and white (her salon is red, black and white themed) or if I should do them with bright crazy colors, he said, "COLOR! Make dem b****** pop!" So that is exactly what I did. He tooootally gets it <3 

I found some images that fit in nicely with the letters, planned them out and got to painting. I did a combination of acrylic paint and colored pencil. The pencil gives them a nice little edge. MDF is a dream to paint on, not to mention color on. I plan on doing a lot more with that later...

I really hope you enjoy the finished product Miss Kelsie! They were such a blast to work on and it's been so much fun consulting with you on them throughout my creative process. 

So... who's next?!

Cheerio!