Joy (and sadness)

This was the last craft I made in our church creativity group. I love how it turned out (I'll tell you how in a second) but I'm sad that our creativity group will not go on as is (per new policy). I hope that Cameo will continue to get us together as a group of friends, occasionally for a craft night. If not, I just might have to do it, to appease the need to craft. We will see...

Cameo got this idea from someone else, and did most of the pre-work for us. The base is a circular wooden plaque glued to the bottom of a wooden candlestick. (The "o" is a different size.) The candlestick is then glued to a wooden block (about 4" by 6" if I remember right) cut from a 1"by 4". Then we screwed in a wooden finial at the top (again the "o" is a different size). I painted mine a brown-black (kind of a coffee color). I mixed a black acrylic with a brown gloss acrylic, which gives it the slightly shiny appearance. While that dried, we cut our fabric squares to 3" by 5" (I think) and frayed the edges. I used a cream-colored muslin. Then, using a homemade stencil, I painted the "JOY" letters on with black paint. After, everything was dry, we sprayed the front of the block with spray adhesive and attached the fabric squares. Then, we secured the corners of the fabric with decorative black nails. Most everyone used Christmas colors on theirs. I did my in neutral colors so I can keep it up all year if I want. I love it!