Crafting The Perfect Word

Joanna Marple of  Miss Marple’s Musings chooses one word every year that will represent what she wants to be or how she wants to live for that year. She’s on her fourth word and I’m on my first. Instead of making resolutions that I may or may not stick to (I still can’t speak Spanish) finding a word with meaning for my life seemed to be a better opportunity for growth.

I thought about making my word Adventure thinking that this was going to be a year of travel, and I wanted to explore new places. Then I decided to choose a word which represents a beginning, starting from within. I chose Compassion because while I’ve always felt a great deal of compassion for others I often do not have enough compassion for myself. In Brené Brown’s words: “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” 

Arielle showed me an idea for a craft and I decided to combine Miss Marple’s challenge of finding my word with Arielle’s craft. Each year that I choose a word I will create artwork with my word and hang it in my writing room as a daily reminder.

Here’s what Arielle made.

 

It’s from Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

Here’s my creation.

We shopped at Goodwill and found inexpensive paintings on canvas. I also happened to have a painting from last March which I thought would add color to my creation.

Here’s all you have to do. It’s easy!

Step 1. Find your canvas and then purchase flat or 3D letters, glue, paint and paint brushes. We found everything at Michaels.

Step 2. Glue the letters onto the canvas.

I should have used a ruler or a piece of string to make sure the letters were straight. Live and Learn.

Step 3. Paint over the canvas and letters with your favorite color. If you use 3D letters make sure you have a tiny paintbrush to paint in between each letter.

As you can see I’m not a painter. I just slopped it on everywhere. It was quite fun. No perfectionist pressure.

Step 4. Remove the letters very carefully.

Let it dry. You’re done.

Easy Artwork with meaning.

Other Ideas to use with this craft:

1. Baby Names
2. Inspirational Phrases
3. Sight Words
4. Spell Out Family and then hang photos around it
5. Teacher’s Name on a Classroom Door
6. Book Titles
7. Favorite Sports Team

Feel free to leave comments with more ideas.

Have a wonderful week!