I’m on Reading Week right now as a University student – which is basically March Break in February. I never really understood whether I’m supposed to be studying during this time or whether I should be resting… because some of my professors say, “Well since you have more time, here’s more work” but then there’s the other professors who say, “Take a break.”

(I’ll leave it to you to guess which ones I appreciate more.)

Now last week, I celebrated Valentine’s Day with the Faculty of Education Student Association when we hosted a DIY night at Lunik (my absolute favourite student space at Glendon). It was super fun and reminded me of how much I used to enjoy making things and getting creative with my own two hands – not solely through media.

My mom after all was an art teacher back in Africa and that had an influence on me.

I’d been starving my creativity these past years with other things taking priority over it but once I had this opportunity to mix work with play, I couldn’t help but continue this game.

This week I thought I’d share how you can maybe take a break and refresh your work space by adding some colour and play. Or, if you’re a future teacher like me, you can make them for all the inspiring vibes in that future classroom of yours.

We made this piece of art (everyone was able to personalize their own! & In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I chose this quote) P.S. Thank you Pinterest.

Here we go!

I’ll go through the process of creating this masterpiece with you step by step (I realize I didn’t take pictures while I was making it but hopefully these instructions will suffice!):

Step 1: Get your materials

Here’s a list of everything you’ll need:

-Bristol board (the cheapest canvas ever)

-White paint, or black depending on how you want it to look

-A colourful picture about the size of the bristol board (we used a picture of a tree of flowers)

-A painting sponge

-Scissors

-Peel-able letter stencils or stickers (we used a sticky-note kind of letter stencil that we found at Michael’s, the craft store)

-Glue

Step 2: Find a quote and the picture you’re going to use for the background (& print that)

Google is your best friend.

Examples of quotes:

Example of pictures:

Step 3: Cut your bristol board in half

Step 4: Glue the picture you found onto the bristol board

Step 5: Spell out your quote onto the picture with the letter stencils 

This is how it’d look once you cover the letter stickers with paint and start peeling the stickers off

Step 6: Paint over the letters and the entire bristol board with white or black paint, depending on your preference

Step 7: Leave it to dry 

Step 8: Start peeling off the letter stickers

Step 9: Smile. You are finished! Hang it up & admire your work!

Thanks for trying out this DIY, please message me a picture on Instagram if you tried it out, I’d love to see your piece!

Have a restful rest of your Reading Week if you’re in Uni, and a lovely rest of this new week if you’re not!

Xo

Amanda

Featured picture by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

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