It's a Project!!

Hey everyone. .

A million things have happened here over the course of the week. .

But I'll spare you the details. .

and instead, switch gears a bit.

My brain has been in crafting mode for a little over a month. .

and a trip with some girlfriends to antique last weekend made it worse!

I'm dreaming up a few more little artsy projects to work on in the dead of winter here. .

But for now. .

I thought that you might enjoy a little look into the project of December!

Late last summer/early autumn. .

whilst hanging out on Pinterest one afternoon. .

I found a photo of some old boards glued together with a scripture verse on it.

As I was involved at the time with my sister and two sister in laws in a bible study. .

I decided that it would be cool to fix one for each of them with their mentioned favorite verses we had been studying. .

To give them in time for the end of our study. .

which was the week before our Christmas get together.

Devin hammers in tiny upholstery tacks to look like "fly spots". .or something like that concept!

I emailed my friend Sara. .

who knows all about stuff like this. .

to decide how the best way was to get the verses onto the boards. 

She sent me back a link to get me started. .

and after googling and checking out similar techniques. .

I went to work.

I'm too old to sit like that for as long as I did. .but you can see how the papers are laid out on the boards just as they will look when the letters are painted on.

The first verse took me FOREVER to do on my computer. .

mostly trying to figure out the fonts, the sizes. .

and more than anything. .

figuring out how to "flip" the words into a mirror image. .

so when I got to transferring them to the boards they were legible.

After googling how to do this on the Word program I have. .

and a few practice runs at it. .

The subsequent verses were quick and easy to do!

I used a wide flat brush to dampen the paper. .only doing about 3 letters at a time before rubbing the ink off onto the board.

Tristan took some 8 foot lengths of 2 X 4's to wood class. .

where he ripped each board into two 1 X 4's and then cut them into 22 inch lengths. .

they could be any size. .but that is what we decided on and it worked well.

You can see the wide back end of the brush I used. .you could also use the back of a sharpie marker. Just rub it over the damp paper. .being careful to keep from moving the paper. .and sometimes the paper was wet enough that ripping it was a little bit easy! You can see in the photo my scratch imprints on the paper.

Devin was happy to take them out and paint them with some neutral paints that I got from Lowes for 50 cents apiece. .

they were discarded sample colors. .

just enough for what I wanted.

Then he and I beat the painted up boards with chains to rough them up. .

and then Devin pounded in little upholstery nails.

They were great little soft nails I found at Hobby Lobby. The heads are irregularly shaped and they just made a fun accent. You can see them in the corners of the finished boards below.

This one went to my sister in law Stephanie

You can see from above pictures how I put the print onto the boards.

I cut out each word. .and sometimes each letter. .

and placed them print side down on the board and arranged them as I wanted.

Taking a paint brush, I used enough water to paint over the back of the paper. .

to dampen it, but not to soak it.

Then taking the back end of the same paint brush, I scratched over the entire surface of the paper, to help rub off the ink. .

My personal favorite verse was a favorite of my sister Kristi. .and this board was hers.

It seriously worked better than I would have ever expected it too! A few areas were pretty faint, so using a tiny brush and some black paint, I tried to touch it up. .

so it was easier to read. .but not enough to look like paint. .

some areas worked really well. .

and some areas were complete failures!

Tina couldn't pick one favorite. .and since she didn't know what I had in mind; I didn't press her for one. .Instead, choosing one of my favorites that I thought she would like. .This was her verse.

Anyway. .

after a coat of polyurethane so the ink didn't run off if hung in a humid location. .

they were done. .

Jeremy used small screws to the back of the sign and wired them together. .

and placed a wire horizontally across a back board to hang them. .

and VOILA. .

3 happy sisters!!

Tristan cut me some more board last week. .

so I am trying to decide on which verse I want to work up for ME!!

I was surprised at how quickly they came together!

Hoping today finds everyone healthy. .

with lots of blessings!!

Thanks for stopping by!