Make an bright, fun and EASY sign to put in your playroom or anywhere with just a few supplies and a little time!
This post is sponsored by FloraCraft® as part of the Disc Blitz challenge. My love of challenges and all things crafty is genuine!
Over this past summer we moved into a new home. We absolutely love the house, but I don’t think it could be much more different than our old house than it is. Although they are pretty comparable in size the layouts are not even close. One big perk for the kids was a huge room that got dubbed the play room!
The space was BIG and it was BLANK. We sure did fill it up with toys fast though! With our mountains of toys we tried to tame the beast with lots of cube storage and creative ideas for other organization like this fun dress up area {tutorial coming soon!} Once we were done, it looked much better but we still had very blank walls, and lots of them.
I knew I needed something that would pop and be a really fun way to shape the space in the dress up area. Around the same time, I got invited to the FloraCraft® Disc Blitz, where FloraCraft® challenged us to make a fabulous project with a selection of their foam discs. This is literally one of my favorite things to do. I love to create something beautiful with any random thing, and a challenge just makes it all the better. I was originally planning to make a really cool piece to go over my daughters bed with whimsical butterflies and iridescent accents. Sounds pretty, huh? It would have been, except as soon as I saw the discs, I knew they were going to be THE accent piece for the playroom.
When you look at the sign, you would never guess it is made of foam! It is perfect though because it is lightweight, durable, and not breakable, because if it can be broken, my kids will break it. The best part? It only took a couple of hours when all was said and done, and I just love the finished project!
Here’s what you need:
- FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Discs, assorted sizes {I used 1- 12″, 2-10″, 1 – 8″}
- FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Smooth Finish & spatula {I used 2 containers}
- Fine grit sand paper
- Acrylic paint & paint brush {I used black, white, aqua, coral, yellow, and gold}
- Stencils {I made mine with my Silhouette CAMEO}
- Painter’s tape
I started by selecting the discs for my letters. I wanted to use multiple sizes to make it have a little funkier look. I ended up with 1- 12″, 2-10″, and 1 – 8″ foam circle. Then we will prep them by covering them in the Smooth Finish.
Now this Smooth Finish stuff is pretty cool! If you have never worked with it, it kind of reminds me of spackle. Basically though, you can cover any foam project with it, and boom! It no longer looks like foam! It is just your little secret.
To cover the discs just use a spatula or putty knife to spread a thin layer over each disc. I covered the top and sides. Now let me warn you… when you are doing this, you are going to be thinking “This looks HORRIBLE! There is no way to get this stuff smooth!” And you are right. It is going to be very textured. But have no fear because after it completely dries you can sand it down to as smooth of a finish as you want.
After you finish covering the discs, let them set until they are completely dry. A word to the wise: don’t stack them because then the middles won’t dry and you will have to repeat another day. Once they are fully dry though you can take a fine grit sand paper and sand them as smooth as you wish. If you still have imperfections, you can put another thin coat on and repeat the process a second time. I used one coat and left quite a bit of texture in because I wanted it to reflect the chaos of a playroom.
Once they are dry and sanded, you can start painting them. I used a basic acrylic paint and for the three solid discs, just painted a nice single coat over the smooth finish and it covered nicely. For the striped disc, I gave it a coat of white paint, then let it dry. Next I taped off a 2 inch striped pattern with painters tape and then painted the space with black paint. I let it dry slightly and then peeled off the painters tape.
When all of the paint is dry you can use your stencils to paint on the letters for whatever word you want on your sign. I used my Silhouette to create letters in font ChunkFive perfectly sized to the discs, but you could also buy premade stencils at any craft store.
The project is done when all the paint dries and you can hang it right up! Since they are just SO lightweight, it made it super easy to hang. We actually just used one small command strip on the back of each disc and it hung perfectly!
With just this one fun piece the space has totally gotten a breath of fresh air. I love that the sign is bright, fun and lightweight, but I also love that having the letters on individual discs let me have a lot of liberty with how I wanted to space them. It lets me fit the space we are in now perfectly, but also allows me to reconfigure them for a different space when we move again. Perfect solution!
Sharon says
This is fabulous, and would be pretty just about anywhere. Love the tutorial. Thank you!