Arrrrggg......

Hello gypsy junk fans! I am very excited about today's project which is proudly hanging on the wall of my home office. I am currently obsessed with pallets. They are free and can be used for so many different projects! And even though my husband is at his wits end with me making him turn around to pick up everyone I see sitting out for free, I am glad we picked up this small one that is perfect for a wall hanging. I have seen a lot of things painted onto pallets to make them in to decorative signs, everything from flags to sayings. Since I am not a "Live, Laugh, Love" kinda gal (can you hear me gagging in the background?) I wanted to do something a bit more fun and unexpected, and you can too!

1. Pallet-any small pallet with do, and if you have a huge space or are putting it outside you can use a large one. Remove all of the slats from one side of the pallet except for the one at the top, which you will use later to hang the pallet. The side with the one slat at the top is now the back, the side with all the slats intact is the front.

2. Choose your stain: I chose an ebony stain to make my pallet really dark since it would go best with the furniture and accents that are already in my office. You may choose a light colored stain, or even a watered down paint; pink, green, blue even whitewashed; the sky is the limit!

3. Wording-choose whatever saying or words you would like on your sign, I chose the saying" Work like a Captain, Play like a pirate" feeling like it would be perfect for an office environment. How to make the words looks great: Choose a font you love on your computer in Word or whatever program you are running (I chose one font for most of the message and a different font for the word pirate) Make the words large enough that they will look good on your pallet slats (My letter took up most of the page with a landscape layout) long words can be printed out on two pieces of paper and lined up later. When you have your saying all printed out lay the paper face up onto the slat where you want the word and use a pen to trace firmly over the lines of the words (you can use a ruler to figure out your placement if you are picky)  Use a cheap ball point pen for this, you are not trying to leave an ink outline behind, but need to press hard enough so that when you trace over the letters it will "dent" the wood under the paper. When you are done you will have your saying subtly "etched" into the wood of the pallet-just fill in with your choice of paint colors! *make sure that your words are the right side up! the single slat left on the back should be a the top, not the bottom!


4. Since my pallet had 5 slats and only 4 lines of words, I choose to put a drawing on the center slat. Choose something that pertains to your saying (I chose a vintage octopus that I printed onto paper and traced in the same way as the letters)

5. When all of your paint is dry, go back over your letters, pictures and all the edges of your slats with sandpaper to give the pallet a worn, antique finish. Make sure to sand down all the corners and edges to let the wood color come through. Sand off enough of the letters to really give it some age, don't worry folks will still be able to read it.

6. If you are putting it outside make sure you cover with a coat of matte clear spray paint, other wise hang with ordinary screws (just make sure you are screwing into studs) screwing through the single slat you left on the top back of your pallet directly into the wall. Paint the screw heads to blend into the wood......and enjoy!