I had a welcome mat that someone gave us as a gift. We had it for like 2 years then the "welcome" design was worn away from weather and foot traffic. The mat still seemed OK to me though, so I got creative and decided to spray paint my own design back on it.
The original mat - you can kind of still see the word "Welcome".
In Microsoft Word I printed out a big letter on a regular piece of white paper. You can use any style or shape letter you want. For this I used a single letter (B in my case) and made it 72 pt in Times New Roman. Then go to Word Art and choose the word design that is a fine black outline and white letters. This will make the letter look like an outline and will be more like a template or pattern and easier to cut out. Once you print the design out on paper, use an exacto or similar tool to cut out the letter, thus making your own stencil to use.
Pin or tape the stencil in place on the mat. Don't forget the interior parts of the letter, like I had to do with the inside parts of the B. They are seperate peices.
Spray paint carefully, directly above, to avoid paint bleeding under the paper stencil, being only paper it is a bit flimsy. I did 2 coats for the best color saturation. Let it dry and then remove.
Cool! This idea has lots of possibilities. You could get real stencils and make seasonal designs on the mat like snowmen or flip flops, the numbers of your house, a symbol that has meaning to you like a Fleur De Lis, etc. The paint does wear off over time so each time you can do a different design or color, until your mat really can't hold up anymore.
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