A Little Custom Numerology

Normally I love doing custom work.

It's fun to try to recreate what people have imagined.

I like it the most when I can use a little artistic license.

This was not one of those times.

The customer saw this board online and wanted one exactly like it.

Except a bigger 8 and a bigger board.

{J} at Twigs and Twine suggested we make the numbers about 10 inches tall.

And they had to be made from multiple kinds of media like wood, plastic, metal.

I looked all over for large metal numbers.

I even went to Signtastic here in AZ and they said for

a thin piece of metal over plastic that size would be

$40-$60 each.  

Yikes!!

Definitely not in the budget.

I could cut them out of different thicknesses of wood 

and paint some to look like metal,

but she didn't like this first version.

The numbers were to squishy.

And the wood is too dark.

It's pallet wood for heavens sake!

No two pieces are alike.

Just the way I like it but unfortunately not the customer.

So I told her I could sand the wood down as much as possible and try to lighten it up a little.
It was a lot of sanding!
And it's still got some black spots from the nails.

Next was to find the numbers.
After a lot of looking online and in stores I scored a jackpot at Lowe's.
I got all these numbers for under $20.
Sweet!

Then I just had to buy a 0, 4, and 8, which I got from Hobby Lobby for about $13.
I cut the 7 myself out of plywood along with cutting the center out of the 0.

I had to text this picture to make sure 

the customer was happy with it before 

I took the numbers out of their packaging.

Huzzah!  She loved it!

Now a bit of paint.

She also wanted the 8 to be framed and stand out.

So I cut a piece of plywood, used some furring strips to make the frame

and glued it all together.  

It also got glued to the board along with the 0, 4, and 7.

I knew there was no way I could figure out how to screw them in place from the back

and I didn't want nail or screw holes seen from the front.

I think it turned out super cute and after a bit of stress worrying about

how to put it together, I'm glad it's done.

Perfect for a boys room or a baby room!

Busy Busy... with some Arrows!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted.
Life has been really crazy... stressful... more crazy... busy... and more busy lately.
I'm still creating with pallet wood nearly all the time,
but since my iPhoto crashed because I didn't upgrade my operating system (Ugh!)
I haven't been able to access the pics of the latest projects.

I still have a little soft spot in my heart for arrows.
I love making them!  I still make these all the time because they always, always sell!
Each batch is a little different, sized, color, etc. but still fun and funky.

{J} over at Twigs and Twine has asked me to do some string art for a while.
I though I could try it with arrows instead of the generic hearts you see all over pinterest.

Boring!

Especially for a crafting ADD girl!
And while these turned out cute, I didn't love the process as much as I thought I would
and haven't made anymore since.
They did sell however and I might try again sooner or later.

It's super easy.
I just have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of the process.
I will try to explain.

First get your pieces of pallet wood and cut to size.
Screw them together from the back with a couple of cross pieces.
I used some paper and cut out an arrow that would fit the space on the board.
Fold it in half before cutting so the sides are the same.

Lay the paper template on the board and mark where the nails will go.
They are pretty evenly spaced but not to tightly placed.
Make sense?

Tap some finish nails in that have a decent size head to them.
You want the string to stay in place and not slip off over the top of the nail.

I used some crochet thread that I had on hand to string the arrows.
Tie a square knot at one end and start stringing.
I wrapped the string around the nail 360 degrees to secure and move on to the next nail.

Keep going keeping the string taught.
If you don't like it, just unwind and start over.
Easy peasy!
Tie off the end and you're done!

Now for the pics!

These last pics are from the same batch.

I think I went a little arrow crazy with these

but I think they are fun and whimsical.

Each one is hand painted on.

It was fun playing with different arrow designs!

Perfect for a boys room or man cave!

Sorry my staging doesn't depict that.

I'm really bad at staging.

Maybe if my life would calm down a bit I'd have time...

Wishful thinking!

Arrows.

Just Awesome!

Some Random Acts of Pallet Wood

A while ago I admitted that I have crafting ADD.

I seriously do.

I get bored with the same thing over and over.

So for this post, rather than just show one of my recent projects, 

I'm going to share a ton of random projects.

All are pallet wood.

Most are just stuff I thought up.

A couple of custom signs.

Really just a bunch of randomness.

Kind of like my brain right now.

I'm also getting ready for a show.

My first one ever!

I'm super excited and super nervous at the same time.

Twigs and Twine is renting a space at Junk in the Trunk in Scottsdale, AZ next week

and {J} wanted me to do all the wall art for her show,

which will go up on a wall built out of pallet wood.

Let me just say that it was a TON of work

to tear down 35 pallets. 

That's right.

35!

I sure hope there is enough wood to make the walls.

I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Luckily I found a local Solar Panel store that was giving away pallets for free.

As much as I wanted.

The problem is that the wood isn't what I normally work with for my signs.

It's more plywood than solid wood.

So they will be perfect for the show walls, but not as much for my signs.

Although I have found some cute ways to use the cross pieces.

Stay tuned for those.

They are super cute!

I hope they do well at the show because I have a ton of cross piece wood left over.

Yeah. 35 pallets worth.

So let's get to some Random Acts of Pallet Wood!

This one as just playing around for a baby room.

I added some silver stars around the sign for added cuteness!

This number sign was a custom order.

No. I do not live at 4417.

But I may do another one for me.

I saw this one on Pinterest and Loved it!

I was playing around with fonts and thought this one was perfect.

It's Crop Font Extra and it's free over at DaFont.

I have used it in my Enjoy the Ride boards in the Past.

Love it!

Here's a few more from that batch.

That Surf Shop sign would have been perfect for my Beachy Bathroom.

Arrows seem to be my signature sometimes.

So Yes. 

I'm doing a boat load of arrows for the show.

These were some natural ones I did.

The show ones will have a bit of color.

Blue, Gray, and Coral.

So here's some of the latest at Twigs and Twine.

These were my first attempt at string art.

Of course my first ones had to be arrows.

Kind of loving them right now.

So there you go.

A whole bunch of random.

And for this random crafty girl, that's just about right.

Enjoy!

Let's Ride!

Yep. More Bicycles.

They seem to sell really fast over at Twigs and Twine.

Here's some pics from the store with some of my projects.

I'm happy to oblidge. 

It's such a fun image.

Very Vintage.

Very cool.

I have a hard time drawing in all the spoke lines

so this time I left them out. 

I did however add them in this project and this one.

Here's the original image I used from Graphics Fairy.

Much more detailed than I can paint on Pallet wood,

but enough to give me the basics for the image.

I'm obviously not great a staging.

Mostly this is just for me so I can remember

what I've done,

but if they help give someone some inspiration

for their own projects, then I'm happy.

These are pretty big so they ended up on the floor for pictures.

I think I seriously need to put together a vingette

somewhere in my house just to show these better.

Maybe next week....

So here's 2 versions of the same idea.

I played with another font for the saying.  It's Lobster.

Enjoy!

This one is very similar to the last batch of bicycles I did.

I just changed up the colors and left out the spokes.

Hopefully some day soon the weather will be nice again

instead of so blasted hot and I can go cycling again.

I miss it.

But I can still enjoy the Ride of Life!

A Little Pallet Wood Geometry

It's been a while since I made one of these Pinterest images. 

I really should do that more often.

Usually it's good for me to actually take some pics of the latest batch of

pallet wood art I take over to Twigs and Twine.

So this time I'm super proud of myself.

I even made you a diagram of my cut lines.

{J} over at Twigs and Twine asked me to make up some

Geometric designs with my pallet wood.

Since I'm always trying to think up ways to use my scraps,

these perfectly fit the bill.

I'm super obsessed with chevrons and it shows in

these latest pieces.

I also took the minimalist approach... ie. I'm super math challenged.

If you asked me to do some math in my head, my brain turns to mush.

So for these I just laid some slats out and added and cut pieces as I went along.

One epic fail though,  I didn't glue down the pieces before moving them.

The one with the small squares had some pieces fall off when I tried

to bring it in the house to paint.

UGGHHH!!!

After much re-arrainging, pleading with the pieces to fit again, and maybe a few tears,

I resorted to cutting new pieces to make them fit.

I ended up with 1 extra piece and two new ones.

Go figure.

My process takes me from the backyard, to the patio, kitchen island, and garage.

Usually all 4 locations before a piece is done.  Sometimes only 2.

All that moving around can be a problem, especially with the 3x3 ft size.

It doesn't exactly fit in my door frame.

But with a little tipping and re-arrainging it worked. 

So here's a bit of the how to:

First I needed a backing for the pieces of pallet wood.

I'm cheap so I looked for some ultra thin plywood and found a sheet that was $13 at Lowes.

I took in my diagram and had them cut it apart for me.

Also, if I'm going to make one, I'm going to make 2.

Not sure why that is but I do that all the time.

So they stacked two sheets of plywood and cut them all at the same time.

Quick and efficient and saved me a ton of time!

Once it was done, then to decide on the design of the pieces.

The 1x3's got turned in to some short squaty arrows like these.

So loving the arrows right now!

Chevrons definitely.

Simple.  Of course!

Remember... Math Challenged!

Then it was a big game of tetris.

Love it.

Lay it out, mark and cut if needed.

Easy.

I would recommend cutting all pieces to match the backing.

I didn't on this one and had to skill saw the edges when it was done.

Save time.

Cut once.

After that, I took each piece out individually and sanded it.

Then painted a few.

Swiped on some Cider Vinegar/Steel wool mix to a few and let it dry in the sun.

Seconds in this blasted Arizona Sun!

After that I took them to the garage and laid them out.

Each piece got a healthy application of Gorilla Glue and put back in place.

Then I found any heavy thing I could find to press the pieces

down while they dried.

My son's dumbells.

A full 2 liter of water.

Some horseshoes.

A dutch oven.

I'm grasping a straws here, but really what ever you have will work.

I let them dry overnight, and checked them in the morning.

All locked on tight!

Lastly a little hanging hardware and I'm done.

The 3x3 ft pieces got some D-rings,

the 2x2's got some screws and wire like my other projects.

Since they are huge, I just set them on the floor for pictures.

Enjoy!

 I love the texture of the different kinds of pallet slats, plus the simple designs.
They were super fun to put together.
A girl... some pallet wood... a miter saw... and some paint.  
A perfect combination!