I finally finished A's sign to hang over the crib- yeah! It was not a total disaster! Although I think of myself as pretty crafty, I'm not much of an artist and I'd usually consider something like this beyond my abilities. I'm so proud of how it turned out.
I bought a wooden sign from Hobby Lobby and painted over the existing artwork with dark brown craft paint. Next I sketched out the letters with a pencil and then drew over the pencil marks with a white paint pen (extra fine point). I free handed the mendhi "extras" and the interior of the letters. My mistakes ( and there were a lot) I had to paint over with brown and then I tried again with the paint pen. A little painstaking, but I like the results!
I mostly used books to practice drawing mendhi (or mehndi, or henna, etc) style designs. I haven't tried anything with actual henna on the skin, but hopefully that's my next step. I hope my girls let me practice on them!
This book was great in that it started out really simple, then worked up to recreating designs. The left page is the example and the right side is my attempt to copy it.
The sign is hanging over her crib with the gold foil India silhouette I bought and a piece of the elephant fabric that I love.
I am ready for my little girl to come home! We've had a set back with our travel plans, but are still hoping we will be traveling soon and A will be sleeping in this crib before long!
