New Wood Creations for Decor

I have always enjoyed painting and I love the rustic simple look of wood pieces in the home. However, it isnt a huge seller for the business so I tend to focus more on the jewelry end of things.

But, as some may know, I have sort of made it a tradition when friends and family get married that their gift from me is some sort of variation on a lasso wreath/welcome sign. I've made four so far but only attained three photos. Newest being at the end.

(pre-laptop photo...poor quality)

and my newest, with a few little tweaks Im really diggin!

Aside from the new wedding gift welcome sign, this season I was commissioned for a welcome sign that wasnt a wreath. Here is what I came up with, and the recipient completely loved it!

Featuring a real 18" elk antler shed, and a hand-cut elk from a piece of rustic metal. Love it!

How to Make You're Own Stencils

I have been hand-painting signs and wood. Always by this long method of tracing the letters onto paper, then onto the wood, then carefully painting within those lines. It always comes out well, but sometimes I just dont want to go through all those steps. That's when I got this idea to make my own stencil. Here is what I started with:

Plastic, sturdy enough to hold a shape, but easy enough to cut. I used the plastic holder that a four pack of wrapping paper came in from WalMart.
Exacto knife
Sharpie
Drawn out letters of chosen design
Cutting board

The first step was the choose the design, and have it written out on a piece of paper. I free-hand drew mine out. If I had wanted crisp, precise letters I probably would have traced them, but seeing as I was going for a more rustic and hand written look anyways, it's imperfections worked out well. I would suggest, however, for some styles, such as cursive lettering, to be a bit more careful and precise in your drawing and cutting.

Second, I cut out the letters from the paper with the Exacto knife. Remember to leave centers of letters (those like A, O, D, anything with a big open center) connected to the outside in a small spot. I remembered for the O, but needed to tape in place for the D. Good thing that happened on the paper portion instead of the final stencil!

Then I traced the letters onto the plastic sheet I had using the Sharpie, after cutting the sheet down to size.

Next, cut the letters out again, this time from the plastic. Take you're time, you want nice looking letters you can reuse later. I found that instead of moving the Exacto knife frequently for the shaping, I moved the plastic sheet underneath it to follow the lines. It turned out easier than the other way. 

Then just stencil onto the wood! Voila!

My Kitchen Window Decoration

I made this cute sign in May sometime during my time of unemployment. I really love the way it turned out and I think it looks fabulous as an accent for our small kitchen window.

Sorry for the lack of photos, when I made the sign I didnt take step by step progress photos, and now my camera seems to be eluding me. But it was a super easy project.

I started out with an old weathered, beat up board. My Boyfriend, who works at a lumber yard, snagged the awesome piece for me (among some others) and after holding it up to the window I saw this particular piece was just the perfect sign.

With funds limited and not one who likes to spend money on projects, I scrounged around the house for some sort of excess paint I could use to slather on for the background. It needed something else besides just letters painted onto the board. Fortunately, there was a half gallon paint can left from the previous homeowners of our house (we have lived here over a year, by the way, so the integrity of the paint was yet to be seen), and after stirring the displaced paint, I discovered that it was just the perfect off-white color I was looking for. Without a large paintbrush (only small intricate ones), I used a stick to scoop some paint from the can and onto the board, then selected the largest brush I had (which was about half an inch) to smear it across the board.

Once I was satisfied with the paint coat, I let dry and took the dog for a trip to the lake. Upon returning I found the board was dry and ready for the lettering. I hand drew the lettering and stenciled it onto the board, then hand painted each letter with acrylic craft paint. I stenciled out the design for the chicken as well, and painted him in the center.

After all dry, I screwed some hangers to the back and hung the beauty on the wall. It was only at this time did I realize the "Kitchen" on the board was not straight.

I nearly wanted to paint over it and redo it. But I decided to let it stay in it's askew fashion, only adding more charm to the piece, right?

Stall Signs

I really enjoy woodworking. Not that I have much talent in cutting wood, but I love painting on it and I love the textures and feel that wood provides. I use a lot of wood accents in my home (you will see more of that as the blog develops). For a short period of time in spring, I was unemployed and therefore had a lot of spare time to putz around the house and revive my creative juices. It was then that I made my horse trainer and friend a barn sign for her barn and business.

Using an old piece of lumber my Boyfriend brought home for me (fortunately, he works at a lumber yard so I get most of my wood pieces for free) with the straps already attached, I crafted this hand painted sign for my trainer. I simply slathered some old house paint onto the old weathered board, stenciled the type and image onto it, and voila! Finished. She loved it and it is hanging on her barn now.

She wanted me to take this wood sign painting one step further and create for her Stall Signs to be displayed when the group attends horse shows. She gave me a list of the horse's names (including a sign for my own horse) and I set to work. I measured the boards she gave me and got the Boyfriend to oblige by cutting them to size. Then the painting went into effect. I underestimated the amount of time this project would take, but the signs were finished by the horse show Labor Day weekend. I did not get a photo of the signs proudly hanging on the stalls, unfortunately, but many compliments were received.

Justa Cool Milo is my horse's. 

The stall signs were painstaking in their labor required. I stenciled the type onto the plain board, then painted the black boarder around them all. After dry, I then hand painted all of the lettering with tan crafting paint. Many needed two or three coats of black or tan for me to be satisfied. Once all the signs were painted, I got the Boyfriend to again assist by drilling two holes into each so I could weave the twine hangings through them. No set size was measured for the twine so they all have a little individual flavor of their own when hanging.

You'll see I also got a little creative with the first two signs I made, using wood letter cut-outs for Joe's and painted stars for Cascade Captive (or Rhett Butler's as is his "barn name"). I had plans to give some individual character to each, but as I progressed through them all the time and labor needed for each one just drained me of the extra efforts. Nonetheless, my trainer was very pleased with them, as were some of the horse's owners who saw their horse's show stall sign.

My trainer has now "commissioned" for me to make her a few more stalls signs and another barn sign. I will blog about those I'm sure as I tackle them.