DIY painted letterboard frame

I wrote on my Instagram: “I woke up with the urge to paint my letterboard frame last week and to that inspiration, I was liiiiiike, ‘um, okay.’ // That is the long and short of the story.”

OBVIOUSLY, I was mistaken because I had plenty more on it to say, hence this blog post.

I obeyed what the creative urge to paint was telling me, and after I picked my color, I taped down craft paper to protect my table and covered the inside part of the letterboard.

I applied a coat and let it dry. I applied another coat and let it dry, and all in all, I think it was four coats that did the trick. When I peeled back the ‘protective’ painters tape, I found that the pink leaked onto the edges anyway (see pic below). I simply touched up with black paint and all was right in the world again.

I mean, sooooo simple. I even posed the question on my Instagram “Does this count as a DIY?” I think the answer is who cares if it does or not. Inspiration struck. I acted on it. I got some time away from ‘the screen.’ I made something more beautiful. I added color to my world. It didn’t cost me anything. …you know?

Liz Gilbert writes in Big Magic: “what you produce is not necessarily always sacred…What is sacred is the time that you spend working on the project, and what that time does to expand your imagination, and what that expanded imagination does to transform your life. The more lightly you can pass that time, the brighter your existence becomes.”

I love this notion that Gilbert talks about. It’s like a permission slip for working on something ‘just because’ and if you have the opportunity and the time, completing a project ‘just because’ you thought of it or you wanted to or to have fun or add beauty or try something new or be a little rebellious to your routine or WHATEVER, will expand your imagination, lightly pass the time, brighten your existence, and thusly transform your life.

Did this pink-painted letterboard frame transform my life? …or painting these hands? …or these pumpkins? Let’s just say each project did its job in the time I spent working on it. What’s next paint brush?! xoxo