DIY Hobby Lobby Inspired Artwork

It was a cold, windy day a few weeks ago, and my grandma and I thought it would be best spent wandering the aisles of Hobby Lobby in search of materials to make earrings. Meandering through the store, this piece of artwork called to me with words of encouragement. “You got this.” Thinking this would be a good sentiment to have hanging above my desk, I checked the price and thought, “No, I don’t think I got this. Not for $26.” It’s not so much that I’m cheap, just rather confident that I can make a lot of what I find for less than I can buy it for. I hope this Hobby Lobby inspired artwork inspires you to make something too!

I started with a sheet of 12”x12” specialty scrapbook paper that was $2. I decided on that in lieu of canvas so that in case I really screwed it up, I wouldn’t be out too much dough. I grabbed a bottle of Venetian Gold metallic acrylic paint for $2.17 and a package of “Crafter’s Choice” paint brushes for $5. I couldn’t find a stencil I liked there, so I decided to use one I had for scrapbooking at home.

I already had the metallic markers from a project last year, so I used those to make my stencils on the paper. I think they were $10 at  Hobby Lobby, but don’t quote me on that. I wasn’t going for perfection, so I just eyeballed how far down to move the stencil each time.

If you’re using metallic markers or any others that don’t dry immediately, you’ll need to wipe off the stencil after EVERY pass otherwise you’ll get ink smudges on the paper.

I initially tried to write in the words with my gold metallic pen, but it just didn’t pop off the page like I wanted it to, so I used it as a guideline to paint with the Venetian Gold metallic paint.

It took two coats of paint for the letters, but the paint dried super quick. The picture frame I found at Wal-Mart for $6.96. It was black, so I painted it with the same gold that I used for the letters – it took four coats.
This was my first attempt at freehanding letters, so while the words are slightly off center, I’m still going to hang this above my desk to remind myself that, yeah, I do got this, and for just $16.