Supplies:
- Love sign from Dollar Tree. You could make your own if you are able to find or cut your own letters or words.
- Mirror permanent vinyl. You can also use cardstock or a different type of vinyl if you do not like the mirror look. You could also just paint or spray paint your piece as well.
- Acrylic paint to cover your edges. I also painted my back, but this is optional. You could also spray paint your piece instead of paint it if you prefer.
- Xacto knife or other way to cut your material depending on what material you use to cover our letters. If you use an xacto knife, then I recommend having a healing mat underneath to protect your work surface. The one I use is from Dollar Tree. It is small, but does its job.
- Flowers or other items to dress up your piece a little more. I used two sola wood flower roses and some random fake leaves I had laying around. This is why I love to keep single leaves and never throw them away even if I used most of the leaves off of a stem.
I started off by disassembling my love sign. Everything is held on by glue, but some pieces have more glue than others. I started off by removing the wreath first. Mine came off pretty easily and will be great for a future project. Next, I pulled the word love out from the base. It slides into a slit on the base, and is glued in. This took a little more effort to pull off. Just be careful when pulling the word off because it is made cheaply, and you do not want to break it. I started to remove the thin metal layer over the word love but decided to just leave it on. It would be covered up anyway. If I were able to remove the metal piece, it would be to bent to use it for a future project. Also, if I removed the metal, I would then have to remove all the left-over glue left behind. So, I thought it was best to just keep the metal as it is.
With all the pieces taken apart, it is time to start the makeover. I started out by spray painted my black base white. I wanted something more bright. You could also paint your base. Since the base was black, I decided to use spray paint this time to cover it. Regular paint will require a few coats to completely cover the black. Spray paint is a faster application with less streak marks in the paint, but either method will work well. Pick the method you like best.
While my base was drying, I moved on to the letters. I wanted my letters to have this nice rose gold mirror look to them. I had some permanent vinyl in that exact look I was going for. You could also use a nice cardstock or even just paint if you want. I started off by painting the edges and back of my love word with rose gold acrylic paint. You do not have to paint the back if you do not want too, but I thought it gave it a more finished look by painting the back. I do recommend painting the edges/sides, however. You will see the edges and painting them will give it a more complete/finished look. You could also cover the back of your word the same way we will cover the front if you want, but I thought just paint was good enough.
To cover the front of my letters I first cut down my mirror vinyl down to size with some scissors. You could also use your xacto knife to do this. When using an xacto knife I recommend having a self healing mat to protect your work surface. I then placed my mirror vinyl over my word. Make sure to rub it onto your word well. If you are using cardstock, then you will need to glue it down to your word. I then flipped my word over, back side facing up, and carefully used my xacto knife to go around all the edges of my word, remove all the extra unwanted mirror vinyl. You may need to go back in to get closer to the edges or smooth up some edges. Just take your time with this part.
The last step is to slide your word back into the base. It does not need any glue; it is a pretty tight fit. Just be careful not to mess up the vinyl you just put on your word when sliding it into place. Instead of sliding the word into the base, I just pressed it down into the slot. Now just add some decorations. I added a few sola wood flowers and greenery with hot glue. I kept mine simple to let the letters show. You could use stamps, a stencil, or vinyl to make a pattern or design in the base. You could make paper or felt flowers instead of the sola wood flowers. Decorate your piece with items you already have and to your own style.
I liked this love sign from Dollar Tree and did not originally intend on changing it. Originally, I was just going to add a few white flowers to the wreath and be done. I was cleaning up some craft supplies, and saw my rose gold mirror vinyl, and that is what gave me the idea to make over this sign. Rose gold is an accent color in my wedding décor. I was not planning on using this piece as wedding décor, but now it is to pretty not to be used. It is amazing how a little bit of paint and vinyl can completely change the look of a piece. I liked this piece before, but now I love it!
