DIY Poetic Wall Art: Your Head is a Living Forest Full of Songbirds

So I've been needing to create some artwork for my living room.  (It's walls are sadly lacking loveliness.)  Today I hit up one of my favorite local shops: One Man's Junk.  And I spotted this big, vintage, painting-on-velvet.  The woodsy landscape, rustic frame, and turquoise-hued waterfall had me at Hello.  (I knew the turquoise would match my living room chairs perfectly!)  Right there in the store, I devised a plan.  Why not stencil favorite lyrics or poetry over the gorgeous painting?  Why not?! So I snatched it up and then made a stop at HobLobs for acrylic white paint, stenciling sponges, and 3'' letter stencils.

Above is a "Before" snapshot of the painting-on-velvet in all its vintage glory. It took me forever to pick out the right words for it.  I went back and forth between some Mumford and Sons lyrics, heartfelt quotes, and lines of poetry... eventually landing on a beloved quote by e.e.cummoings: "Your head is a living forest full of songbirds."  The phrase just calls out to me.  Because being the hopelessly romantic idealist that I am, I often feel that my head is a living forest full of songbirds.  So, I had my words chosen. 

Oh, the reason I picked out this painting over the other lovely ones at the shop... the little deer in the lower left-hand corner. (You know me and deer!)  ;)  I might gussy him up with some gold glitter, but he's staying as-is for now.  Supplies I used: 3'' basic block stencils from Hobby Lobby, white acrylic paint, a stenciling sponge, and wine.  Mmmm, yes, wine.

It was super easy and took hardly any time at all.  (Maybe it was the wine, but I can't quite recall how long exactly.  Less than thirty minutes, for sure!)  I used the paint lightly since I wanted a transparent look for the letters.  And I didn't measure anything out perfectly.  Imperfect lends character to art.  (And as you can see the Cummings is a bit squished... Heheh.)  

Here's an up-close shot of the stenciling details.  Making the letters transparent was easy sine the velvet of the painting absorbed a lot of paint.  I love how it turned out and will definitely be hunting down more paintings-on-velvet to do this again. :)  My mind is just brimming with perfect quotes.