Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thrifty, Easy, Name Sign

Ahhhh, what a great weekend!  I love Thanksgiving!  The food is great, but being in the company of family all weekend is the best!  As part of the weekend's fun, my cousin and his wife and brand new baby came up to visit my aunt and uncle who live next door to my parents.  We went over and visited and I got lots of new baby holding time.  It was great!  Here's the gift I made for them, that I think turned out really cute.


Here's my thrifty tip for you - I found the wood at my local thrift store.  Cost me a whole 75 cents!  As I was walking through the store one day, I was laughing at all the plaques and signs that had been really cute decor in someone's house at some time.  I thought of how many signs had come and gone in my house and I had sent here to die, also.  I picked one up, reminiscing at how I had once had something similar when I started really looking at the size and shape, the nicely routered edges, and how easy it would be to just sand a little or slap some new paint on it and it would be a fresh canvas.  Now I had a whole new set of eyes as I looked around, not at what it was, but at what it could be.  I know, I know, some of you are experts at this and easily see the possibilities of someone else's trash, but this was a whole new experience for me.  I grabbed a piece of wood, a little sanding, some wood filler (of the nice wood burning/etching) and it will be perfect for a wedding present I need to make. I found a totally plain piece of wood, just need to sand the super high gloss finish off of it and another wedding present for this weekend.

Then I stumbled across this piece above.  I don't know what it originally was, there was nothing on it, just wood slats.  It needed a little glue to hold one of the slats that was starting to fall off, but a very easy fix.  At the moment, I thought a Halloween or fall decoration, "trick or treat" or some other 3 word phrase.  So I grabbed it, took it home, and it sat waiting for inspiration to strike again.  Halloween came too quickly, and thankfully it never got painted.  Fast forward a month, and I wanted to make a present for this cute new baby boy, who's nursery is NOT babyish I was told.  I remembered this wood slat piece.  My sister Leslie was visiting, so she helped me come up with this cute design all while playing a little "Dance Central 2".  :)  Using my cricut (and my new gypsy!) and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, I cut the "L" at 11" height, and the name at 1 1/2" height.  Here's my second thrifty tip for you - when making stencils for painting, etching, or anything like that, use contact paper.  A lot of the tutorials I've read use vinyl, but why use your good, expensive stuff when you can get a giant roll of contact paper for a few dollars.  It cuts like vinyl - I use all the same settings, but it's stickier so seals better with paint or etching cream, meaning cleaner lines.  Oh, another thrifty tip - instead of using transfer paper, I use blue painters tape for transferring vinyl (or contact paper.)  It picks it up easily, can be reused several times, and is much cheaper.  The only downside is you can't see through it.  Anyway, I laid out all the templates and painted them with ivory craft paint.  I just used a sponge brush and "pounced" (real technical term) all over it.  Later, I pulled off all the stencils and started sanding.  I wanted an "old, distressed" look to it.  I sanded through the paint, and then started on the actual wood and I really liked the look it gave.  When I was all done, I gave it a good wipe down with a damp rag to clean it all up. 

The final verdict, I think she really liked it and said my cousin would love it!  Yeah!!  And baby Luke is just adorable, I just wish he lived closer so I could snuggle him more often.

This post was featured here:
 roca and company 
I would love it if you would Follow me! Help me make my goal of 100 followers by the end of the week!

30 comments:

Emily S. said...

Wow, I love it! What a great idea!

Kelli said...

I love that sign! Your design is cool and not 'babyish' at all...love it! I'm a follower, will you visit my blog and follow me, too?? I'd really appreciate it
!

Lindsay said...

Love this idea! What a super cute sign! You did a fantastic job creating a very unique gift! I want one. :)

Leslie said...

Dustin came over that night and said he loved it! And thank you for not including any of the pictures of our dancing!!!

n*stitches said...

I'll be glad to halp you to 100 followers! I just recently passed that little milestone as well! Love the sign!

ashley said...

i think dustin loved it! such a cute gift and i think it will look super cute in baby luke's bedroom.

Jennifer said...

I love going to Goodwill and digging through all the stuff to see what things I can transform. Unfortunately I hate Goodwill for the same reason. My mind sometimes gets to moving too quickly and I get frustrated and leave with nothing! Ugh.. bummer! I love the baby name sign. Simple and vintage. Beautiful.

Rose and Heather said...

Neet idea I realy like it, and thanks for the tips. Come and link up to my Crafty Lassie Tuseday Linky Party going on right now @ http://sewstylishboutique.blogspot.com/
Thanks Rose and Heather

Unknown said...

So adorable!!! I'm sure the new momma was thrilled!!!

Atticmag said...

That's an absolutely adorable name sign. We have a new baby coming in our family and I'd love to do one. Wish I knew everything you do about working with the stencils (or even understood it)! Lovely, lovely gift. And we appreciate you stopping by

Jane

Adrienne said...

Wow, how creative! I love it.

Paula said...

I am now following you, I hope that helps!! I was directed here by Tracy's Trinkets, the party you linked up to. I love, love this sign!!

Jessica said...

I love it! That is such a chute baby gift, and a great repurposing of an outdated sign.

I am following you, and would love for you to follow me too. No pressure.
http://twentysixandhome.blogspot.com/

Mimi said...

I love this sign! What a wonderful gift! It's so funny how things can "speak" to us in the thrift stores. I have at least 9 pieces of furniture waiting for inspiration. So, what did I do when I fell in love with a small $8 chest today. Yep, bought it :)
So glad you shared and I am your 88th follower!

Marilyn said...

Absolutely beautiful..Really great idea. : )) I would LOVE if you could please stop in and linky this terrific feature via my Pin’Inspirational Party happening today pweease… http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com/2011/11/pininspirational-thursdayslinky-party.html .. THANK YOU SO MUCH.. Wishing you an incredible start to your weekend.. **Newest happy follower here**Sincerely ~ M

Katie said...

What a wonderful idea! I love this!

jess@balancing the dream said...

love this look!!! this is great for a boy's room!!! pinning now!

Unknown said...

I love this sign! And your thrifty tips too. I never thought of using contact paper!

Alida - Radcrafter said...

This is a great idea! So personalized and not too babyish.

I'd love to invite you to share this project at my Thingamajig Thursday party going on now.

Alida
radcrafter.com

Melanie @ bear rabbit bear said...

Really nice! Thanks so much for linking up to Things I’ve Done Thursday!!

Melanie
Sew Rugged @ bear rabbit bear
bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com

Tenille said...

Very cute. I would love it if you could link it up to our linky party going on right now.

http://www.junkintheirtrunk.blogspot.com/2011/11/link-it-up-wednesday-5.html

Kim @ Too Much Time said...

This sign is just great! I am going to follow you too!!!I am hosting my first ever blog hop this weekend and I would LOVE if you stopped by to link some stuff up!

Kim @ Too Much Time

http://kim-toomuchtimeonmyhands.blogspot.com/search/label/get%20schooled%20saturday

Boden said...

What a beautiful gift! Thanks for linking up to the Head to Head Showdown! ~Jen @ www.icantstopcrafting.blogspot.com

Ashley J @ MommyByDayCrafterByNight said...

This is darling! I love it! I am your newest follower! Thanks for linking up to Ta-Da Tuesday!
xoxo, Ashley

Unknown said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 100 followers!!! Celebrating with you!!

XO, Aimee from ItsOverflowing.com

Carmen said...

Just wanted to thank you for linking up to It's A Rockin' Party at RoCa and Company last week. This was one of my favorites and will be featured tomorrow. Please make sure to stop by and grab our feature button. Would love to have you back this coming Friday…

Carmen @ RoCa and Company
www.rocaandcompany.blogspot.com

Marie said...

I love this! Great idea! I'm featuring you on my blog! Feel free to come grab a featured button! Thanks so much for linking up with us!

http://mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com/2011/12/show-share-16-features.html

Marie
mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com

Trish@MomOnTimeout said...

This is such a beautiful idea! Wonderful job! Thank you so much for sharing at Taking A Timeout Thursdays.

Rach H @ FamilyEverAfter said...

Thanks for linking last week at Once Upon a Weekend! This is so awesome. You're being featured tonight! Come by and grab a featured button!

I'm your newest follower!

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You said...

love this idea!

Thanks for linking up to serenity Saturday. Hope you can join us again this week
www.serenityyou.blogspot.com

Natasha xx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...