Crafting with the Stars - As for me and my house project!

I posted a picture of this project early in December and promised a tutorial.  After Christmas passed, I thought it would be pointless to go back to it.  But Crafting with the Stars Round 2 has begun, so I'm submitting this project there. :)

I was inspired to do this project by something I saw in Hobby Lobby.  I really had to think this one through, especially to "make it mine".  How was I going to apply the lettering?  Directly on the fabric would have been difficult - since there are so many words the lettering has to be small, and I thought that writing or painting or whatever on the fabric might not be legible (although the original HL version I believe had paint stamped letters... and I just couldn't imagine either making that many tiny stamps, or the cost of buying them!)  Then it occured to me that I could write around the edge of the frame with a paint pen.  Vinyl was also an option, but fonting is a hobby of mine and I don't own a Silhouette, so I just don't use vinyl much.   I just about went that route (with writing on the frame itself) when the idea came to me that I could just write on the glass.  Problem solved. 

Next issue, would the key fit under the glass?  Well I just happened to find a deep set frame that was perfect.  Each of these frames (found at Hobby Lobby) is sold with 2 pieces of glass!  Yah!  So by taking one out I had a little room for the raised key.  AND I had an extra piece of glass should I make a mistake with my lettering. 

The key fits very nicely.  I have the perfect canvas for my lettering.  And all is right with the world.  Well, my world anyway. :)

Materials:

deep set frame (love the 50% off sales at Hobby Lobby!)

fine tip paint pen

keys (I found a ring of 4 of them at Hobby Lobby, at 50% off of course!)

fabric

hot glue

Instructions:

Mount your fabric to a solid backing.  These frames came with a styrofoam insert, so I used that.  The drawback - hot glue melts through styroam very quickly.  So I would recommend using another product like Gorilla Glue if you go looking for these particular frames.  I just tend to try hot glue with everything first because it's so cheap.  If you use another kind of frame, cardboard would work great for your backing.  I routinely save boxes to hack up for this kind of thing. You can a) mod podge your fabric tot he cardboard or b) stretch around the edges and hot glue to the back of your cardboard.  I did "b" with my styrofoam and as long as I applied the hot glue to the fabric and waited a few seconds before pressing to the styrofoam, it didn't melt it away. **Make sure as you are mounting your fabric, that if you use a print such as checkers or stripes, that you mount it so those rows lay straight and not slanted.

Mount your key where you want it in onto your fabric covered backing with a thin line hot glue (so it's not visible).

Place the glass over your key/backing to determine placement for writing.  Mark some margins with a dry erase marker.  Write or trace your lettering onto the glass.  I love to freehand but this project needs precision, so I traced.  I used the "zapfino" font on my Mac.  Print out your phrase of choice ("A house of order" also works for this project and would work well for a smaller frame.  My frames are 5x7 in.)  Lay the printed wording underneath your glass (make sure it's centered and straight first!) and trace with your paint pen.  Once dry, lightly rub off your dry eraser marked margin markings

Insert backing and glass into frame and voila!  You're done.

Really not a complicated project at all, it just took some figuring out!

Linking up!