Guest Blogger, Amy from Mod Podge Rocks.

I am so stoked to have Amy come to my itty bitty blog and be a Guest Blogger! Thank you Amy! You and your blog are a true inspiration :)
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Hallo! It's Amy from Mod Podge Rocks. Raychel has graciously invited me to be here and share a project with you, so I chose a winter project. I love winter, but probably not for the reasons you might guess. Unless you know my birthday is coming up, and then you can guess. Yep! I love my birthday. I had four brothers growing up and my family made a big deal of birthdays - it was the only time time we didn't have to SHARE.

The good news is that I've learned to share since then, and I'd like to share a project with you, My Creative Way readers! It's a snow banner I originally did for SEI Lifestyles, but I didn't do a tutorial. I bring you that tutorial now. This snow banner is easy to do and is great for winter celebrations, such as a birthday.

Supplies & Tools:

FolkArt® Acrylic Paint
Christmas Red
Silver Sterling
Mod Podge® - Gloss
Banner pieces to fit the word of your choice - I used wood ones that I had left over from Michaels summer selection; you can also use fabric or paper
Paper of your choice - I used papers from SEI's Winter Song Collection
Embellishments to glue on top of your rosettes - I used Winter Song brads
Piece of ribbon long enough to hang your banner
Flat Paint Brush
Stencil Brush
Craft Glue
Scissors
Pencil or pen

Let's get started! Paint your banner pieces. Mine took about three coats; I did the front and the back. If you use paper, you can still paint it. Allow to dry. If you use fabric, you obviously won't paint it, but you will need to cut your banner pieces the size you want.

While my paint was drying, I went ahead and cut out the letters "SNOW." I simply freehanded them onto the back of the paper (your S and N will need to be reversed) and then cut out with scissors. I like the uneven look of the letters! If you want yours to be exact, print them from the computer and use as a template to cut out from the paper. Set the letters aside.

My banner pieces were dry, so I used the stencil brush and just a *little* bit of silver to dry brush onto the red. Dry brushing means you remove most of the paint from the brush and then the residual goes onto your painted surface in streaks. It gives a great distressed look! Do this to all four pieces (or however many you have). Allow to dry. Again, if you used fabric, you won't do this step.

This is my favorite part! Grab the Mod Podge and adhere all the letters to the banner pieces. Do this by putting Mod Podge onto the back of the letters (flat brush, medium layer) and then smoothing onto the banner pieces. Smooth, smooth, smooth! A brayer works best, but you can also use your hands. Leave to dry for 15 - 20 minutes. Then come back and cover the front of the letter with Mod Podge. Allow to dry for a few minutes, and then coat the entire banner piece with Mod Podge, front and back. Allow to dry and do another coat. Allow to dry again.

While you are waiting for the banner pieces to dry, you should form your rosettes. This part is a little time consuming, but the results are AWESOME. I won't explain the whole process - I will let you learn from Mod Podge Rocks reader Theresa. She teaches you how to do it right here.

After the rosettes are dry, glue them on with craft glue and allow them to dry. Give it about 24 hours and then hang your banner from a piece of coordinating ribbon. Yay!

Thank you so much for visiting with me today; I'm sorry my nails look terrible in the photos. I'm getting them done this weekend! Thank you, Raychel, for featuring me. Mod Podge Rocks, and so does My Creative Way.