I'm excited to show you my latest project!
So, after Christmas, I was having a difficult time figuring out what to fill up the glaring white space above my mantle. After some brainstorming and Pinterest surfing, I came up with this:
I don't want you to think that I came up with this idea on my own {it's important to give credit where credit is due, right?}. Pottery Barn was my inspiration.
I started with a wood pallet. We tried to disassemble it without breaking the boards, but that didn't go so well. The nails that they use to hold pallets together are ridiculously hard to pull out because they have little hook thing-a-ma-bobs on them. So, I {well, Jeff} decided to cut them off and piece the smaller pieces together like a puzzle. Jeff used the circular saw to cut them to the size I wanted {he was a trooper :0) }. After piecing it all together, we glued it {gorilla glue} to some leftover plywood we had laying around the garage.
Then, I pulled out my handy-dandy homemade wood stain. I made it a long time ago following Kara Paslay's tutorial. It looks rather nasty, but I LOVE it!!
When you first apply the stain, you can't really tell that anything is happening, but just wait a few minutes and you will see it begin to work. The stain reacts differently to different types of wood, so I was curious how my sign would turn out. After about half an hour, I started to get nervous because it was getting SO dark. However, I just let it sit for a day and it toned back down. Crazy, huh?
Now, the
tricky part of transferring images onto wood {or any other surface} is
that you have to mirror the image before printing it. I couldn't figure out how to do that without first
converting the number to an image. Does that make sense? As far as I know, you can't mirror text. {Please someone tell me if I'm wrong!}
I was using Microsoft Word on Jeff's Mac. During my quest to figure out
how to mirror my numbers, I discovered something pretty cool. Just like
a PC has a "print screen" option, with a Mac you can do something even
more cool.Command+Shift+4: brings up a selection box so
you can specify an area to take a screenshot of, then save it as a file
to the desktop. Cool, huh? {I found this out here}. Maybe that isn't news to you, but it made my day!
Anyway, so after I had converted my numbers into an image, I imported the image of the numbers back into my Word document, selected it, mirrored/flipped it, and then printed {I have a regular inkjet printer}!
Here is what I used to make my sign.
So, I planned out where I wanted my numbers to go, and then picked a place to start. I laid my first number face down, lightly brushed some water onto the backside of the number, and then began to carefully rub my flat utensil back and forth to "transfer" the ink to the wood. You can use a variety of different items to rub the paper.
The numbers were pretty faded, so I just took some chalkboard paint {yes, chalkboard paint}, watered it down a lot, and lightly painted over the most faded numbers.
And that was it! I bought some heavy duty hooks from Hobby Lobby for $2 and Jeff hung it up for me.
I absolutely love how it turned out, and the best part was that it cost me a grand total of $5!!!
I have entered into the "Creative Bloggers Got Talent Contest"! Please vote for me! All ya gotta do is click on the link above, find me {I'm #15 & #16}, and then click "like"!!! How easy is that? :0) Thanks, friends!
I'm also linking up here:
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Very Cute!! I love this! Thank you for linking up!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting! :0)
DeleteNice! I'm inspired. I found you via Tip Junkie and I've pinned this for future reference. Now I think I'll go look around ...
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Andrea! I hope you enjoy your stay :0)
Deleteyour sign looks great Emily! :O)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tammy!!!
DeleteThis is absolutely incredible! I love Pottery Barn, so naturally I love knock-offs! I just shared this on my Facebook page! Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!
ReplyDeletewow, it looks fab, great tutorial xxx
ReplyDeleteAmazing job! I love a good knock-off project and yours turned out great. Also love pallets and was just wondering if there was a homemade stain I could try-thanks for sharing that info too! And your transfer method is new to me too! Thanks so much for inspiring me-I'm now following along so I can see what else you come up with :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I didn't reply to your question about the homemade stain! In case you are still looking for a recipe, here it is: http://karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-make-your-own-wood-stain.html.
DeleteThis turned out so great!! I love it!! I would love if you would link up to my party: http://www.nutmegplace.com/2012/02/show-off-saturday-1.html
ReplyDeleteHope to see you there!
hi i had to stop by again to invite you to link this to my new party going on at http://twiggstudios.blogspot.com/2012/02/sunday-show-off-linky-party.html
ReplyDeleteit would be great to see you there xxxx
That is too cool! I haven't tried the image transferring thing just because of how intimidated I've been about how to "mirror" my text...thanks for the great directions! Now I'll have to give it a go! Your mantle looks gorgeous; I love how you have it covered with the huge grouping of candles; very chic!
ReplyDeletei love the look of it and i love the mantle with all the candles! so pretty!
ReplyDeleteWOW!! That's brilliant! I would love one of those it my home!
ReplyDeleteWould you PLEASE link this up on my blog?
http://thediydreamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-3.html
Amazing! I absolutely love it when the hand-made knockoff looks as good - if not better than the original. I think you're brilliant! Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks great! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! I like how easy you make this look. I'm going to have to do something like this sometime!
ReplyDeleteLove it! Found you from your feature at Twigg Studios! I was wondering if I was the only one who couldn't pull a pallet apart..glad to hear I am not!!
ReplyDeleteExcited to be your newest follower!
Maggie
www.thehellonheelshousewife.blogspot.com
i featured you at this weeks party head over and grab a talked up at twigg studios button xxx
ReplyDeleteWow! This is gorgeous. Everyday, I pass a stack of pallets in the parking garage at work and I have been dying to ask for one. This may be my first project! Great tutorial.
ReplyDelete