Pallet Heart Art

I convinced my husband to pick up a pallet for me, but it had been sitting in our driveway waiting for some inspiration for quite a while now. Finally I decided to make some Valentines art with it, but now I like it so much, it’s going to stay up year round.

There is some discussion on the safety of using pallets (see here).  I had my husband cut the pallet so I would have enough wood to make four boards each 12” x 12”.  I then soaked them in hot water with bleach (to kill any bugs) and used an old toothbrush to clean them off.  I left them to dry and then we used wood glue and clamps to glue three boards together to achieve the desired size.  I needed to stain the cut ends so I made some steel wool and vinegar stain, but it was very strong so I needed to dilute it a lot.  

I made a heart shape template from paper and used that as my guide for the first piece.  I nailed nails (appropriately enough) in a heart shape. 

That looked boring so I then used kitchen string and wrapped it back and forth across the heart until I was happy with the pattern and tied it off.

For the second heart I used some raffia I had and soaked it in water for a few minutes, I then shaped it into two hearts and weighted them down and left them overnight to dry.  I simply used hot glue to attach it top and bottom.

 

The third heart I shaped some thin copper wire around the nails on the first board and twisted wire to secure them leaving a couple of long ends at both points.  I drilled two small holes in the boards and put the ends of the wire through and covered them with hot glue to secure and to stop them from scratching the wall.  I was very disappointed with this one as it didn’t stand out very well.  I decided to put white glue on the board and covered it with some sand we had.  This improved it, but it does look better in person than in the pictures.

For the last board I laid out shells on the template and then slid them off onto the boards, adjusting as necessary.  Using hot glue, I attached them to the board.

To hang them I drilled pilot holes (I actually made a template with paper to show where to put the holes and to speed up the process) and put in ¾” screws and tied string to them to create something to hang on the wall hooks.

I am so pleased with these and they look great in our master ensuite.  Total Cost:  $0.00

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Funky Junk Interiors #173         Crafty Scrappy Happy #21            French Country Cottage
The Pin Junkie                           Tater Tots and Jello                       Sunny Simple Life
The Dedicated House #35         The Francis Family                        A Pinch Of Joy

Debbiedoo's                                Fox Hollow Cottage                      The Thrifty Groove #94

Common Ground #125               A Little Knick Knack #31             I Gotta Create #37
Lamb Around                             The Chicken Chick #19                 Someday Crafts
Homemaker On A Dime #97      Alderberry Hill                              A Humble Creation
An Original Belle                        Or So She Says                             The Rustic Pig #20
Elizabeth & Co. #55           A Bowl Full of Lemons                 If It's Not Baroque #5
Serendipity and Spice                Savvy Southern Style #104            Someday Crafts
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Diana Rambles                           Sassy Little Lady #3                       The Creative HomeAcre
DIY Showoffs                            Costal Charm #150                        Not Just A Housewife
Fluster Muster

 

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Power of Paint

I was so exicted to open an email this week from Maryann at Power of Paint and find out that my Union Jack trunk was selected as one of her features!  She has so many super projects from such fantastic bloggers that I'm honoured to be chosen.  If you haven't been to her blog yet, do stop by for a visit, you will be amazed at what you see.  Off to do my little happy dance now...

 

 

Read more about My Take On The Union Jack Craze 

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Have a Drink On Us

You might have seen the stool my youngest son made and finished titled Bird On A Stool (okay so it wasn’t the most original name I came up with).  Now my eldest son who is soon to be 16 finally completed his stool that he also made about three years ago (we’re not actually very good at finishing projects in a timely fashion as you can see).

Matt was not about to spend a lot of time sanding or prepping the stool so homemade chalk paint seemed like the obvious answer.  He came up with the design and painted two coats of red paint, sanding lightly in between. 

Next, he took the logo we had photocopied and covered the back with chalk.  He secured it to the stool and traced the outline of the logo so that it left a chalk outline on the stool when he removed the paper.  Then he filled in the outline with white paint and touched up the red.  To make the stool more durable we used two coats of polyacrylic in satin finish.

I hope you agree it looks good enough to drink!! 

 

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 What about you, do you try to get your kids involved in your projects?

 

 

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I Gotta Create Wildly Original Link Party #34                      The Pin Junkie

The Rustic Pig                                                                        Crafty Scrappy Happy

The Inspiration Link Gallery Party Week 17                         The Dedicated House

Elizabeth & Co. Party #51                                              Alderberry Hill

The Shabby Creek Cottage #186                                            A Humble Creation

Debbiedoos - Power Of Pinterest Party                                  An Original Belle

Funky Junk                                                                             A Pinch Of Joy

Savvy Southern Style WOW #101                                         Life On Lakeshore Drive

The Chicken Chick                                                                 Fluster Buster

Not Just A Housewife

Top Furniture Projects for 2012

Having only started this blog in November I don't have many projects to choose from, but I wanted to look at the best of 2012.

 

Bird On A Stool which was made and finished by my 12 year old son, Justin is a favourite.

 

And My Take On The Union Jack Craze as I was so pleased with how it turned out and it had the most views of any of my projects.

Wishing you and your family good health and great happiness in 2013.

 

 

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Diana Rambles -Best of 2012
Feathered Nest Friday
Embracing Change

Dollar Store Gift Boxes

Inspired by Debbiedoo's Dollar Tree Christmas Link Party I headed out to Dollarama (Toronto's equivalent to The Dollar Tree).  I found these great wooden boxes for $2 each and thought they would be perfect to wrap gifts in because they could be used over and over again.

 

The first one I wanted to be able to use again any time of the year so I stained the main box with Special Walnut, including the inside.  I then topcoated it with two coats of polyacrylic.  Don't worry if you get a bit of stain on the "ribbon" you can just use sandpaper to sand it off.

Next I painted the ribbon with an antique white, but in future I would skip this step as it wasn't necessary and who wants to make extra work for themselves?  I then used my finger to spread white glue on the "ribbon" and sprinkled epsom salt onto it.  I left it to dry overnight and now I have a elegant, sparkly gift box.  (total cost $2 for the box, everything else was left over from past projects).

 

For the next red and silver box I used some leftover homemade red chalk paint which I had used on my Union Jack Trunk to paint the box.  I topcoated the box inside and out with polyacrylic in satin finish.  Inexpensive silver paint from Dollarama dressed up the ribbon and when dry I used white glue and silver glitter again from Dollarama to create some drama.  ($2 for the box, $1 for the glitter, $1 for the silver paint = $4 total with supplies left over for future projects).

 

 

 

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