Thursday, January 27, 2011

I {heart} U

I have never really decorated much for any other holiday except Christmas, but that has changed this last year. I have really gotten into this crafting stuff. As I was blog surfing the other night - I know you all spend your evenings doing this - I came across this craft:

And yes I had to copy it because it was so simple, clean and not to mention easy! We actually made these at my craft group I host. And another nice thing about this craft is that I had everything I needed to make these right in my home!

I have a neighbor who has a grain business so they get huge orders of grain in on pallets. This last order all her pallets were brand new. She was just going to throw them out with the trash, but I intervened. And these pallets were food grade, so I felt safe to use them in a craft in my home. I just cut them out with my circular saw. Someday I will have some big girl tools, but until then we just make due.

What I did to make these was I took a brush and just dipped the ends into the paint - not a ton of paint on the brush - and then dotted it on the wood and them ran the brush along it to paint it. It is called dry brushing and I read about it somewhere, but I cannot remember where!:( But anyway, it gave it that rustic/weathered look that I wanted, and I did not have to do a ton of sanding!
I just out some letters on my Cricut, and I use the SCAL to make them tall on skinny so they would look good on my boards. I used a re-positionable spray adhesive to make them a stencil. It worked fairly well. You do have to make sure that you have the edges all pressed down.

You then paint them. We did realize that after about the 4 set of these that the stencil was not really holding its own as well. But we found if you painted from the outside to the inside then you had less chance of the paint leaking out the edges. But it looked okay when you did have little areas like that because it is a rustic look. I messed up on the bottom of my I. And yes these boards are not all the same size, but that adds to the character of it.

I then just tied them all together with a ribbon and viola! you are done. I have thought about gluing them, but I have not got to it yet. I placed them on the floor in front of my great quilt tin, and well they only lasted a day there before Thing #5 had them all taken apart and was playing with the ribbon. So now they are on my little counter. 


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20 comments:

  1. I really like the clean, simple look of it :)

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  2. I rarely decorate for other holidays besides Christmas either, but this is such a cute idea. I love how yours turned out with the dry brushing and stencils. They are adorable!

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  3. That is REALLY sweet! I might have to add another Valentine's project to my list...
    Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
    AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

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  4. Great project. I love the rustic look and the fact that you recycled the pallets. Very resourceful! Thanks for sharing. I'm your newest follower and I'd love it if you'd visit me at www.cottageandcreek.com and do the same. Thanks for the inspiration!
    ~Lynn at Cottage and Creek

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  5. What a sweet project! Love the detail of the little ribbon!

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  6. cute project. Love the upcycled boards. Consider coming to link up at I Made It! Monday at Ninth Street Notions.

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  7. That is so fun and it does look simple! I'm like you, I've never decorated for anything besides Christmas either!

    Thanks for linking up to FFA!

    Hannah @ http://youngancrafty.blogspot.com/

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  8. Those turned out AWESOME! Great JoB!! :)

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  9. So simple so cute! I love making craft blocks like these!

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  10. So cute! I don't really decorate either, but this is an easy and lovely idea!!! Thanks for sharing on Fancy This Fridays!!!

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  11. Too totally adorable!
    I love this idea :)

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  12. Cute idea! I love the rustic look to these. Nicely done!

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  13. Im not a big Valentines decorator but this is sooo adorable!

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  14. Cute!! I love how you made the stencils. I've been wanting to make some with my Silhouette because I want the painted look on signs vs. using vinyl (which I just did since I didn't have the time to figure it out first!) The repositionable spray is a great idea!

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  15. you did such a good job!! I wish I had pallet wood, it looks so good! Thanks so much for linking up to Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings!

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  16. This is a super cute Valentines decoration!!! Great job:) Check out my craft blog at http://www.craftycagirl.blogspot.com

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  17. Oh my goodness, I heart this! :) I just featured it on my blog www.auntielolocrafts.blogspot.com

    Thanks!

    Lois

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