More Wood Tags

I forgot to ask you all how you have been and how were your Holidays?

 I hope memorable and fun and a  little bit silly.  My middle child managed to get the flu the Friday before Christmas and was wiped for 4 days, recovered a bit to visit with Nana and Pop pop and then got a raging ear infection. Not much of a break if you ask her.

 Luckily, I have not gotten the stuff I think because I am now taking vitamin C in quart jars daily and the Lord knew I couldn't be down for the count. But having some sickies also made it harder to post some ideas before the holidays.

Good thing most of my ideas can be recycled for almost anything!  One recent idea that I came up with came out of my need for quick, easy gifts for teachers. We have 3 school teachers, 2 Sunday school, teachers, 2 crossing guards,1 piano teacher, 1 babysitter. My 5 nieces and nephews also got these because I fell in love with them and knew they would too.

When you have this many people to buy for for the holidays it better be cheap and it better be easy. If you have read my blog for any length of time you will realize that I love wood. Not just any wood but good old free pallet wood. 

Here are a list of things I have made with pallet wood: pallet wood art, giant wood gift tags, wood topped table, another wood top table, industrial look outdoor pallet coffee table. Please feel free to check them out and let me know what you think! 

This project was born out of the giant wood tag idea. I had scraps of the pallet wood left over from some of the above projects and I hated to throw them out. I wouldn't go as far as to say I am a hoarder as I would like to think I am a visionary that didn't quite yet have a vision for what these could be. Until I needed lots of Christmas presents!

So all this talking and no pictures right? Get on with it you say? Okay my favorite gals:

Pennies on the dollar craft coming up!

I actually originally thought of this for my 5 nieces and nephews because they are always going on nature hikes and finding treasures and I thought once the evergreen loses all of it's needles, they could then attach a new treasure with the ribbon. This could change as often as they wanted to to highlight all of their fun finds. Or if they wanted they could just turn it over and use their initial. These can also be hung on their doorknobs or above their beds.

Here's the how-to:

1. Drill one hole in the top of an approx.  4" x 5" piece of pallet wood. These were about 1/2" thick.

2. Drill 2 holes about 1" apart about 1" below that hole. Sand front, back, and sides fo the wood block lightly 

3. Thread pretty ribbon through the two holes from the back and attach some cute treasure. I used fresh evergreen and orange juice lid ornaments

4.  Use a wood burning tool to burn their initial onto the back. I used first name initial for the kiddos and last names for the teachers

5. Thread a 12" length of twine through the top hole and display!

I searched out fonts on the computer that were not too difficult to free hand on the wood but I also wanted the font to reflect the persons personality.  The piano teacher above with the S is very artsy and funky so her S had some swirls and funk to it.  Our babysitter below is very no nonsense so her B is more straight forward but not boring.

The thing about these like I said above, they can be used all year round and any little treasure becomes elevated to fine art using the ribbon. 

My nieces and nephew loved them and choose to hang them over their beds. I like to think they did that so they could have their Aunt Kimmy near to them and it would be like I am watching over them while they sleep. But I might be overshooting that whole Awesome Aunt thing a bit.

Hugs and Kisses Grace, Naomi, Ben, Lydia, and Charlotte!

I love you to the moon and back.

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Burlap and Buttons Initial Porch Art

I love initials. Not sure why. But I have loved using initials for a while now and have them all over my house. I made an initial shelf with the letter "U" out of a communion table leg. Last Fall I had had a huge frame that I loved but wasn't sure what to put in it. I decided to make an initial "U" out of burlap, buttons, and upholstery tacks to hang on my front porch.


That way everyone would know when they were at the right house! I had given a mini tutorial last fall but I have since made another for a friend of mine because she liked the one on my porch so much and I thought I would now give a more detailed tute so you can make your own!

Here it is up-close. I used half buttons and half tacks because I did not have enough tacks or buttons to do the whole thing in one or the other. You choose, it looks great either way.

You will need:
burlap the size of your picture frame
picture frame with a card board back
cardboard if not in the picture frame
pencil
hot glue gun and glue
Flat buttons in a monochromatic color scheme- I like cream/white on burlap but use what you want
computer to print out your initial in Font of your choosing and size

Burlap can be very see-through so glue it to a piece of cardboard so that white does not show through. 

Pull burlap tightly and glue edges in place.

Print out a letter from your computer in a font that you like. I made mine out of Castellar in size 800! Try to choose fonts that have some thickness to the letters as you will be filling in the outline. As you can see, I modified the font a bit on the ends so I could more easily fill it in with buttons.

Trace the outline lightly onto your burlap with a pencil 

I usually place my biggest buttons first and then fill in. Do not glue yet. You will be moving your buttons around a lot so wait until you have an arrangement you like. Not every space needs to be filled in. 

Here everything is filled in and as yo can see I changed out a few of my larger buttons to make it work. Makes sure the bottoms of the buttons are straight on the lines so visually it looks even. Step back and make sure it all looks good. then glue each button with the hot glue gun.

I decided to add a few buttons on top of the other buttons to add dimension. I really like how this took it to the next level. I did have some buttons that had shanks on them and I used one of them in the middle. It really made it look cute.

The frame I had bought was $3 and in a really bad fake wood plastic. So spray paint it in black I did and then added some gold glaze to highlight the Fleur-a-lis design.

The pencil marks fade over time but the initial will stay forever.

Beware though, strangers may stop by your front porch early on a Sunday morning, knock on your door and ask if they can take photos of your letter because they love it. (true story-go read it!)

Just shake you head "Yes" and smile secretly. 

You just inspired someone. 

Feels good doesn't it?

Always being renewed,