My 2015 Word of the Year

Two years ago I decided to follow the trend of selecting a meaningful word to inspire me throughout the year. In 2013, I chose Strength as I was experiencing a devastating loss. Last year, realizing my inability to accomplish my goals was due in part to my tendency to have too many interests, I chose the word Focus.  This year I vacillated between Grace and Soul. Grace is such a wonderful attribute that I would so much love to acquire and for me, the soul is the basis for living. As I prayed about which word to choose, a theme kept surfacing in my prayer journal; purpose. I noticed I consistently asked God to reveal his plan for me; how am I to serve. During this time I visited a Sunday school class in my church and learned they would be studying Adam Hamilton’s book, Why?, Making Sense of God’s Will and had decided to join the class for this study. It became obvious to me; my greatest desire at this point is to find my purpose ,so I decided Purpose should be 2015 word of the year.

Over the weekend I painted a sign to hang above the entrance of my studio as a reminder. Details on the technique I used follows. 

 Using a scrap board from HR’s shop, I first sanded and then painted the board the color I chose for the letters

Using contact paper I bought at an estate sale, I think for 50 cents, I cut the letters with my Silhouette Portrait. I used the setting for Silhouette Stencil and #3 for the blade. 

Hint, if you can find contact paper with lines, buy it! I helps a great deal in getting the letters straight. When deciding on the size of the letters, I did not take into account the second “p” falling below the line and had to make an adjustment. It works okay for me but if I were making this for someone else, I would have re-cut using a slightly smaller font. Notice the blue painter’s tape, another can’t-do-without for alignment.

After getting the letters line up good enough to suit me, I painted over them with the same color I used for the board. This is to seal and help prevent bleeding but I still had a bit of touch-up to do.

I let it dry overnight and then I painted the top color (note it is the same color as my work table in step 2; yep, I am using left-over paint.) 

 After it was completely dried, I peeled off the letters and touched up the bleeds. I am not crazy about the end results, especially the color but it is okay for now; if it bugs me enough, I will repaint.

Did you choose a word of the year for 2015? Please share and also share ways you will use your arts and crafts to keep it visible.