Has someone close to you ever moved away? When I was growing up, I was always the one who moved so when my best friend announced she was moving to South Carolina for her job, I wasn't sure how to respond. This was new to me and I wasn't quite sure how to react. I mean, of course I'm happy for her but selfishly I wanted her to stay. I decided I was going to make the best of it though and put all of my energy into her going away party since I really couldn't do anything about it to change the outcome. I then decided I was going to make her a collage so she had something to take with her to the new house. But not just any collage. This was going to be the mother of all art projects...
...A collage in the shape of the Love Park statue and I'm so glad I did because she loved it. Everyone loved it. It took a while but it was definitely worth it. I started with the Styrofoam poster board (what is that called by the way?) and in a strange twist of fate, I went to the store and it was on sale. I wasn't even going to go that day but I did and got lucky. Sometimes it happens like that. When I went back it was no longer on sale so I was really excited I trusted my instincts!
I started with the template. I used Adobe to trace a picture of the letters and printed them out one by one on a plotter. I cut each letter out and I taped them to each piece of poster board separately.
I didn't worry about the letters not fitting on the poster board, They were small enough that I could use left over pieces to add on.
After what felt like 10 hours of cutting, I finally had my letters!
After all of that cutting, the edges were no where near smooth. Does anyone have any success cutting through these kinds of boards? I get so frustrated with it! So I covered the letters with black paper in order to give the edges a smooth finish. I taped the edges with blue tape 1 centimeter in so I would know how to line the pictures up properly.
Next I added the pictures.
Super cute, huh? This is the last decent picture I have since I was rushing to finish the collage and had to head out to the party. Here is what I have in the way of the finished product:
It's hard to see and the O is missing since I hadn't put it all together yet, but it came out so wonderfully. I'm really happy with the results and my labor did not go unappreciated. I'll miss my friends but I know it's not like when I was little and you'd move away and had barely any form of contact with someone. Now there's Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, texting, etc. so I won't ever be completely out of contact!
Love Collage
Tools:
4 poster boards, 24x36"
Sharp blade for cutting
Glue sticks
Black paper
Blue painter's tape
Ruler/ straight edge
Modge Podge
Hot glue gun
Exacto-knife
