Pallets and Birds - Wall Art

I've been super busy getting my next batch of wall art pieces ready 

to deliver to Twigs and Twine over at Zinnia's in Phoenix.  

It's kind of a scatterbrained process since I don't do one from start to finish, 

it's a little here, a little there, then wax it all, add some hanging hardware and call it good.  

So for the next couple of days I'll share what I did.  

Since I'm kind-of... OK "obsessed" with pallets, 

I thought I start with this one.

The basic design is similar to this one I made last time.  

These boards sold like hot cakes so of course I had to make more.  

But this time I needed some color so I chose I beautiful sky blue.  

And since I'm in Arizona, we get plenty of beautiful blue skies!

Sorry for the ditch in the foreground. 

I was too busy trying to catch the puffy white clouds!

Ok.  let's get started.

I cut some random pieces of pallet slats and screwed them together 

with a cross piece in the back just like this one.

Then I mixed some water with my blue paint to thin it out.

I wanted a wash effect.

It got a couple of light coats to create a layered look.

Next I cut out some birds from the Home Decor cartridge for the Cricut out of contact paper.

Love that stuff.

You will definitely see more projects using it coming up.

Place the contact paper stencils where you want them and press firmly.

Sorry this pic is a little blurry.  

I think my hand was shaking.  Not sure why.

Brush on the contrasting paint and let dry for about 15-30 minutes before removing the stencil.

I did get a little impatient and moved them sooner than that, but for best results let the paint dry.

Give them a good sanding and finish with a wax paste top coat to seal the wood.

I got tired of buying expensive hardware for the wall art pieces so I thought I'd try something else.

It's super easy and SUPER cheap to do.

You will need some bailing wire and screws. 

You can get it at a home improvement store in good size rolls for about $2 to $3.

I'm not sure how long I've had this roll, months at least and it's just now starting to diminish.

Create a coil with needle nose plyers like shown.

Place your screw into the center of the coil and screw in place.

I sink the screws as far as I can into the wood.

Stretch out the wire and do the same to the other side keeping the wire as taught as you can.

Done!  

These backside pics are from some different boards but the process is the same every time.

Hang and you're done!

Pallets and birds.

It's a beautiful thing!