My Initial Welcome Sign

I collect scraps of wood.  Nothing makes my heart beat faster than driving by a new build in the neighborhood and seeing a dumpster filled with wood scraps.  I'm a lucky girl because my hubby has not problem diving in and grabbing me the wood scraps I need want.  This scrappy gem has been sitting in the corner of the garage waiting to be made into a welcome sign for our front door.

I painted the background during a craft night I hosted with my friends (see previous post) and set it aside until I had time to add my personal touch.  Thanks to National Take Your Child To Work Day, also known as Free Labor Day in my house, I had extra time to work on my welcome sign. (There will be a post about that wonderful day coming soon)  After Greta got bored painting backgrounds for me, I asked her to pick out a collection of papers that I could use for my sign.  She did a great job, I love the colors!  It was all quick and easy...  I cut out petals for the flowers and printed positive words for the sign, distressed everything and glued it all into place.  I then did  a little shading, applied a  good coat of outdoor sealer and I glued on my initial, Like magic, I have the happiest welcome sign to place at my front door.

Initial Boards and Craft Night with friends

I realized something the other night as I was hosting a craft night with some of my friends, there are a lot of last names that start with "B".  Earlier in the day some of us were at a little antique/consignment store and we saw a simple board with an initial glued to it.  I was so cute that we decided to have a craft night and make our own version.

We collected supplies, most of them we already had at our houses.  One friend had an old board that she cut into pieces (I love a girl that uses power tools).  If you don't have scraps of wood they are easy to get from the hardware store.  I like to have my husband dumpster dive where there are new houses being built.  It's like Christmas for me but free and I am recycling. I pulled out my collection of house paint samples and odds and ends burlap pieces. The colors were mismatched but we made them work.  I recommend that you only use house paint if there is a possibility of these going outside.  Regular craft paint does not hold up well in humidity or you can buy a sealer that is specially made for outside projects.  The only thing that really cost anything was the initials and they were a few dollars from the craft store.

They turned out to be adorable!  The plan is that sometime in the future, we will drill holes and run jute or burlap ribbon through the top so they can be hung.  Maybe that will happen, probably not. 

 

It was a great night with an easy and inexpensive project and lots of laughter.  I can't wait to see what we come up with next.

If you wondered, I have started the background on one but my scrap board is a piece that I have been saving.  It is a couple feet long and I plan to paint a mixed media painting on it and prop it against the brick wall at my front door.  I'll post a picture of it when I am finished.