DIY Ranch Sign

Hello! Welcome to my blog! A couple of summers ago I made a ranch sign for my mom. Instead of painting the information on it I wood burned it. I only have a little wood burner so the wood burning took quite a while to do (the sign is about 4'x5'). The sign just went up this spring so I was able to get a picture of it where it was intended to hang.

I was happy how the sign turned out. I burned out some of the plywood along the edges to give the worn look. I also burned the wood with a torch.

On a smaller piece of plywood I wood burned a scenery that my daughter drew for me (she is the artist, not me). I wanted to do it on a separate piece of wood just in case I messed up.

After I wood burned I put on three coats of clear Varathane. In hind sight I would have chosen a lightly stained Varathane to give the wood a more aged look. 

It will be interesting to see how this weathers. I wood burned a little sign for my aunt and the burnt part of the wood came off leaving just an impression of the font, and basically you can't read the sign. She painted black paint over the font so we can see what it says now. I did not put Varathane on her signs. I will have to do a post in a couple of years showing how the ranch sign weathers.

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Wooden Tree

Hello! Welcome to my blog! Just a super quick post today. Last year I suggested to my husband that he make things for me as possible ideas for birthday / Christmas presents. I showed him some of my PINS and he made three wood items! What a score!! This is post #3 of the three items he made. I had seen on Pinterest wooden Christmas trees with shelves and hangers that knick knacks can go on, and just loved that idea. Although I wanted that tree idea but in a house shape, my hubby made me the tree. I loved it! Post #2 of the three gifts explains the whole story. Click here to know more and see the other gift.

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House Shape Wood Mini Wall Unit

Hello! Welcome to my blog! Last year I suggested to my husband that he make things for me as possible ideas for birthday / Christmas presents. I showed him some of my PINS and he made three wood items! What a score. This is post #2 of the three items he made.I had seen on Pinterest wooden Christmas trees with shelves and hangers that knick knacks can go on, and just loved that idea - but I wanted it up all year. I explained to him that I wanted the wooden tree idea - but in a house shape. He misunderstood and made me the tree. I will be posting about that next. He asked if the tree is what I was talking about. I hesitantly explained it too him, because I loved the tree and didn't want to seem ungrateful. He said he wanted to make me the house and he worked on it with lots of input from me.

He did not buy any wood. He used up wood that was laying around. He was excited to use some rustic wood scraps for the shelves.

Once the house was all put together I had to figure out the hangers and the decor. I plan to switch up the knick knacks depending on the seasons.

I found the words at Michael's and gave them a white wash paint. I love how the "y" in family hangs off the shelf. I made the house with scraps. I didn't even have to cut them - they were in our garbage. The bottom of the house is a wood block that I used to test colours for my wood sign (which was gift #1 click here to see it) - so it matches the sign I painted.

I am so happy how this turned out - and I get lots of comments on it. It is hanging at our entrance.

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Bless This House - DIY Wood Sign

Hello! Welcome to my blog! Last year I had the brilliant idea of asking my husband to make things for me as possibilities for birthday / Christmas presents. I showed him some of my PINS and he made three wood items! What a score. The first one I am blogging about is the wood sign. He made the sign out of scrap wood that was laying around our place. It was given to me as a blank slate, and I decorated it. 

I love the farmhouse style decor. I purchased the chickens from Hobby Lobby. It is one of my "must go to" stops when we are in the United States. 

I don't own a Silhouette, and I didn't like any of the font cartridges I had on my Circuit - so I made my own stencil with card stock. When I was painting somehow the stencil slipped while painting "this" so it is a little crooked. It bothers me something awful, but I will live with it until I redesign the sign. 

I love my birthday present! 

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Wood Burn Garden Signs

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I made these signs for a Christmas gift. My Auntie loves to garden. I saw the saying "Trespassers will be composted" and knew my aunt had to have that in her garden.

I found some scrap wood. I didn't cut anything as my scraps determined the size of the signs. I glued two pieces of wood together with wood glue. Then secured the two pieces to a longer piece of wood with a couple screws. 

I designed the letters on a publishing program and printed them on a piece of paper. I transferred the lettering using the pencil transfer method (or you can use transfer/carbon paper. 

The fonts I used :"Color Me Purple"
 and "Roscrift Clean". 

After transferring the letters on the wood with the pencil transfer method, I wood burned the letters using my wood burner I purchased from Michael's. I found the chisel tip to be the best tip to use but I suggest you take a scrap piece of wood and practice on it to see what tip you feel works best for the sign you are making. 

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Heat Transfer Christmas Wood Sign with Heat Transfer Tips

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I love trying new things, and this creative tryal is one that I am glad that I tried. I had wood burned transferred a smaller projects before (see my plant stick post here), but I loved this saying that I had seen around and thought this would be a good test for a bigger heat transfer project.

My husband made the wood background for me. They were 1x4's cut in 12 inch slats and glued and stapled together with a power staple gun using smaller wood slats to staple into at the back. I prepared the wood by aging it with a vinegar and steel wool mixture. Then I did a light white wash. I sanded the edges for a nice worn, manger/stable look.

I made the saying on my favourite publishing program. 

 I reversed the image so it would transfer the correct way on the wood. Next I had to get a laser copy of the words as an inkjet transfer would not work. I have read about how to do an inkjet transfer, but I am too lazy to do the work to make it a success.

 The next step was to heat transfer. I used a wood burning kit I purchased from Michael's with the transfer point.

Here are some things I learned while making this project about 20 times:

-  add some pressure . I tried transferring sitting down and it might sound crazy, but it didn't transfer as well. When I stood up it worked better.
- patience. It will take about 15- 20 minutes for a nice transfer and this is a small sign.  I counted to three slowly in each spot I was transferring - checked how it adhered to the wood and did it again if it was not dark enough.
- do a test burn- I heated my tool for 10 minutes then I put it on my project and my paper nearly lit on fire and it burned a nice circle on my project. Have a scrap piece of wood and paper close by to test the burn. It releases some of the heat and then you can carry on.
- outline the words on the back of the paper with pencil - on bigger projects like this, put your paper on a window or a light box and outline the lettering so you can see where you need to heat transfer.
- repeat transfer if necessary - this is related to the patience tip:  if the lettering is not dark, apply heat to the lettering again. I taped my sheet to the wood in a manner that it was secure, but also so I could flip the paper up to see how well the letters were transferring. If it was not dark enough I would reapply heat. On one of my first signs I had it on display for a couple days and realized some of the letters were not dark enough. I took the original paper and lined up the letters and heat transferred again. There is a lot of ink on the laser photocopy.
- avoid knotted wood where words need to be - I love knots. It adds to the rugged look of a wood piece; however, if you have a knot where a word needs to be transferred on it will not work. The knot is dark brown and the lettering is black.

This was a wonderful and fulfilling project! Just think of the possibilities of what can be heat transferred on to wood....Why don't you give it a try?

Fresh Eggs Wood Sign

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

My mom recently gave me a rusty egg basket. I found the cutest natural plastic eggs at a dollar store. Thank goodness for Easter time. The egg basket was pretty lonely on the shelf that I put it on, so I painted a sign to go with it. 

I found a scrap piece of 2x12 that was a perfect for this project. I painted the wood white. To make a stencil - I cut out the letters on my Cricut with the Story Time cartridge. The corners were from the same cartridge. After letting the paint dry I power sanded over the whole sign.

Included in the above picture are paper carrots (click here for tutorial) and 

a door corner shelving unit (click here for post).

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