A Combination of Inspiration
Posted by Rebecca, October 31st, 2011
I mentioned last week how I wanted to make something for this season’s Pinterest Challenge with Sherry at Young House Love, Katie at Bower Power, Ana at Ana White and Erin from House of Earnest. I just wasn’t sure what to make! One of the projects I’ve been wanting to make was this washer monogram, but Michelle from Decor and the Dog tackled it during the last challenge…
(from Decor and the Dog)
So I looked through all of the things I’ve pinned the past few months to come up with something I could tackle in a few hours. I stumbled upon this pencil-eraser-used-as-stamp art from Li’l Magoolie…
(from Li’l Magoolie via Pinterest)
And I had a light bulb moment… why don’t I make a monogram using pencil erasers as stamps? That way it’s entirely different, but bringing together two Pinterest projects! So that’s what I decided to do 🙂
I decided to stick with the color scheme of our house… various grays/greiges/blues.
I picked up a couple of extra bottles of 89 cent craft paint just to make my life easier. I basically bought all of the shades of gray they make and I already had the blue.
The rest of my materials were 100% free! I used some cardstock I already had, pencils that were laying around and a frame I already purchased. To get the monogram, I printed out our last initial, an S, in a very fancy font called… Times New Roman. I printed it in bold to give me thicker lines to follow. I eyeballed the size in print preview and figured it would look decent on a 5×7 piece of paper. I then traced my printed S onto my cardstock by holding it up against my sliding glass door.
I traced it ever so lightly, then also erased what I had just traced. Sounds crazy, but it left me with the most faint line ever so that it wouldn’t be noticeable under the paint but I could still follow it.
Then it was time for paint! I didn’t use stamps like the pinned image did, so I squirted a little of each paint onto a paper plate, then dipped some sponge brushes I already had in each color…
Then I dapped my pencil erasers on the sponge brush, not the paint itself. If I dapped too much I could use a cleaner part of the sponge to remove some. I had a pencil for each color (digging out a 4th one required some office scouring!)
I did some test dabs on a piece of scrap paper before starting. Then I just followed the lines and alternated colors along my S and tada! All done!
It took me about an hour or so, which was honestly longer than expected, but well worth it. I had to decide where to put my new work of art so I decided on the entryway table, which was filled with pumpkins and Halloween candy today.
The candy will be leaving tonight, so I just put my art in a matted frame and leaned my frame over by one of my beloved deer bookends. Ps- I’ve been searching for a white lampshade to replace that gray one for months.
I’m not sure if my monogram will be staying here, since we’re planning on adding a whole gallery wall(s) up and down our staircase. Ideally, I’d like to eventually hang it, especially since the frame I had on hand is meant for hanging 🙂
I strangely love that the mat that came with the frame is a little off-white. Since the chair rail, deer and cardstock are bright white, it mixes it up a bit. Maybe even a fun colored mat will look good until I hang it?
I’m very happy that I chose to do another art piece for this Pinterest challenge. I love making things for our house but I often don’t have the time to dedicate to making things anymore. Spending an hour making this completely made my day and I wish I had more creative time these days. I am also proud of myself for scaling down my always overambitious projects. I originally planned to do this monogram, plus two 8×10 more abstract pieces. Once I started eraser stamping I realized how time consuming it was and that an even larger piece of paper would take even longer! Maybe I’ll make them another day (since they were pretty cool ideas, I must say), but for now I am perfectly happy with my monogram 🙂
Tags: art, monogram, pencil eraser, pinterest
Ooooo, I like it a lot!! Want to make a second and send it my way?…now that you have practice and all.
It looks awesome! I never would’ve thought of using pencil erasers as stamps.
That is so cute! I want to make one tonight! or tomorrow, since I’ll need to finish my own pinterest project tonight 🙂
Make sure to link up tomorrow!
Very Cute! Love your colors!
Wow I really like this! I love the colors you used for your monogram! It turned out very pretty.
Love it! We love us some S’s in this house too. 🙂 Now you’ve got me thinking of all sorts of fun stuff you can do with this…!
So cute! Was it hard to stay inside the lines?
Not at all actually! The eraser dots are very forgiving and you can space them close, far apart, in a line or staggered to make them fit. The only part I found tricky was keeping the top of my S consistent with the bottom. I tried to go down to a single row of dots around the same point that I did at the bottom. But of course, not all letters are the same at the top and bottom 🙂
love this! you can’t go wrong with a monogram and i love how you used the eraser as a stamp.
Love it, simple but really effective!
Very cool! This looks great and I love how you used the brushes with paint on them as your ink pad. Very clever.
Have you considered spray painting your lamp shade white?
Wow. Super cute.
I saw your link on YHL and had to stop by!
Oh my! My heartbeat started racing when I read this. You see, I am on the brink of being an English teacher, so erasers are right up my alley, I am OBSESSED with polka dots, and my husband’s first name, my first name, and our last name all start with S. I think the stars aligned when I saw your post, haha! I am in love with this! We have our S in multiple places throughout our apartment, and I’m determined to add even more because I love it! I may borrow this project and add it to our gallery wall. Thanks for the inspiration (it’s funny how we all get inspired on Pinterest and then inspire others)!
I covered a lampshade with fabric for my challenge entry. You can check it out if you would like here: http://www.redheadinruffledflats.com/2011/11/pinterest-challenge-changing-shades.html
I am obsessed! With the colors you chose for the stamps……….omg. Lurve it! I have to say that I think I like yours better than the washer one on pinterest! Cute stuff!
For my project I used paper towel rolls to make an art piece. http://www.compartmentlife.com/2011/11/the-pinterest-challenge-fall-2011-toilet-paper-or-art/
This is so freaking cute! I just love it! Now I want to make one to add to my gallery in my bedroom 🙂
how lovely! i’m gonna totally try this!
Super idea! I’m thinking there may be an easy method of getting your letter outline. There is an option in the Word program to chose “outline” letters which could then be printed in a very light gray directly on your cardstock. This process not only uses less steps, it saves using all the black ink from your printer.
Great idea! Though you wouldn’t be able to erase any lines that showed at the end so you’d have to be careful with that
I love your pinterest project and I also love the colours you have chosen for your divine home! Your entryway table looks so beautiful.
I have posted about a yummy salad recipe that I had pinned so if you have 5 Minutes to spare please pop by! I would be honoured if you could also link up your post to my weekly Pinterest Linky Party as this post is just fabulous! I have also created a Pinning Bloggers Master List at my blog that you might be interested in joining.
Best wishes and happy pinning!
Natasha @ 5 Minutes Just for Me
I love this! Such a fantastic take on the monogrammed art!
Found you through the Pinterest Challenge link up; I love this! You mentioned changing your lampshade…is it fabric? If it is, what about stenciling a geometric pattern using white (or a lighter gray) fabric paint? Tone on tone is in now, right? =D Great job!
Yes it’s fabric and that’s a great idea! I even considered painting the whole thing white since it fits so nice, but I don’t want to mess it up. I can probably cover it with fabric too (though the dark fabric may show through the white)
LOVE! I can’t wait to try this – it’s such a cute new take on the monogram idea. Well done!
Your art turned out really great. You managed to keep it so neat!.
The eraser art pin was one of my inspiration images too!!
absolutely LOVE your results! Such a fun twist on those two bits of inspiration! 🙂 And… you now officially have a whole-house-color inspiration piece!!!
Great project, looks amazing! May have to try this one out myself. 🙂
I saw your link on YHL, and came to see how you did it. I love it! That washer monogram has been on one of my Pinterest boards for awhile, but I hadn’t done it yet because I couldn’t figure out where I’d hang it. Yours though…absolutely perfect! I’ll be pinning this for sure. 🙂
I love this idea – great job! I may just have to copy it for the gallery wall in our living room 🙂
I pinned that exact same photo and have tried to use the idea on a couple of different things but nothing has turned out well enough to be displayed. I love your monogram!
Very cool, love your grey color scheme and who knew pencil erasers could make such cool art?! 🙂
LOVE this!! I just pinned it so I wouldn’t forget to make it! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!!
I love this!!! I’m gonne have to pin this LOL!
Just found your blog through the pinterest challenge link up… love the monogram you did. So cute!
[…] 1 eraser art monogram – the lil house that could; no. 2 yellow table turned bar cart – it’s overflowing; no. 3 greek key roman shades – […]
[…] Eraser Monogram by Rebecca from The Lil House That Could “And I had a light bulb moment… why don’t I make a monogram using pencil erasers as […]
That looks great! I’m a little surprised that it took an hour though. You must be a very careful pencil stamper.
Yes I was being neurotic 🙂 I was constantly alternating colors as well and trying to think ahead to the next row!
I love this! That is fantastic! Can you make me one?!!!!!! I can’t believe how great it turned out! The colours, the shape, the dots… everything!
What size font did you use?
Thanks for sharing!
I’m not 100% sure but I think I used size 400 then made it bold! I really just eyeballed what would look good on a 5×7 piece of paper 🙂
I love pencil eraser art! I made my son a car one. I really love the grown up version you made
I love this! Will def be trying it out soon!
Hi,
Love the colors of greys, greiges and blue chips – what are the actual paint colors and by who?
Thank you
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