DIY Project: Bee Happy Sign

Bee Happy

A new year and another reason to Be(e) Happy! Ha! Ha!

Today I’d love to share a sign I made with you. I took Annie Sloan chalk paint in Paris Grey and white washed it with a bit of Old White on a dry brush.

I went over to the Graphics Fairy’s website, a great source for vintage and free clip art and images. I found this very French looking bee. I’ve heard of the wonders of Citra-Solv, a natural cleaner, available at Whole Foods. Citra-solv is really quite amazing not only can you clean all sort of things with it and it smells amazing, but you can transfer images. You can even transfer your own pictures, once printed in black and white on a toner printer or photocopier. Images can be transfered onto wood, fabric, leather, metal etc. I was dying to try this method out.

Citra-solv and the materials I used.

I cut the bee out and taped it securely to the wood, image side down. Then I used a tiny bit of Citra-solv on a craft brush. Use only a tiny bit because a little goes a long way. I found this out the hard way. Thankfully, I could just wipe the mess-ups off with the Citra-Solv cleaner. Then I took a spoon and pressed down very hard in a circular motion to transfer the image onto the wood. I also did this with script that said ‘Happy’ that I typed up in a word processor. With the text you just need to make sure you print it in reverse so it comes out the right way when you transfer it (if you understand what I’m saying).

And here is a close up of the final sign: