A Craft Save!

I recently tried a new craft/DIY project that I found on Pinterest to make a birthday gift for my best friend.  I thought it seemed like such a cool idea - a great way to make some inspiration artwork using some simple items that thankfully, I already had on hand.  Well... it didn't quite turn out how I expected.  That can sometimes be a good thing though - which in this case it was.
Here's an idea and some background on the original idea I found through Pinterest:

Source:  website

Source:website

I love how subtle this is - the white on white.  

Well.... here's how my project went:

the quote I found to use.... 

Navy Blue Puff Paint - the downfall of this project?

standard waxed paper

I also used:
a pre-gesso'd board from Michael's

I just handwrote the quote on a basic piece of paper with a sharpie... 

as in the tutorial online, I put my waxed paper over my quote and then wrote out the
letters using the puff paint and let them dry all day

then I peeled off each individual letter and mod podged it onto my board...
this was a LONG process!!!!

the finished product - all the letters mod podged onto the board

yuck!  green over the blue?  boo.... time to find a solution!

Add caption

I'm getting there.... I ended up using a paper towel and wiping off a majority of the green paint.  It created
more of a watercolor effect which I was fairly happy about.  :)  I unfortunately didn't take a picture of the finished product but I added some blue paint and wiped that away and then a bit more to make more layers.  It ended up looking really nice!  I added a ribbon on the back so she could hang it on the wall - sounds like she's going to put it up in her classroom.  (she's an AWESOME teacher!)

Where I went wrong:

I started out with Navy puffy paint.  So there I was painting with Navy on white.  My plan seemed simple enough - just paint over the whole thing once I had the letters on the canvas.  Boo - not so much. Maybe starting with white is a better idea?  Maybe the white on white is the best option?  Not sure.

I was able to save this project but overall - not sure I'd do it again.  Modge podging the letters on was a PAIN!  I'd rather use a different effect to make wall art - which thankfully there are lots of other ideas on Pinterest to do just that!  :)