DIY Wooden Signs: Rustic Flag

So I have pinned so many great signs and things I want to make on pinterest.  I wanted to make something great for my house.  When I see things like this in stores, I won't buy them because I know I can make it.  And then I don't.  Until now.  

My sister is actually the inspiration for all that I am making.  She made some wooden signs for her house and I begged her to make me one as well.  When I visited her a few months ago, she made one of the signs with me that I wanted.  I headed home, wanting to do it myself.  

My friend and I drove all around Sonoma county looking for old fence boards that we could have.  I finally found one house with a ton of broken up fences next to their house.  I asked the family for some of the wood.  This was their firewood, so the husband didn't really want to give it to me.  I asked for just a few pieces of fence and promised to make her a sign out of part of it.  She graciously gave me four parts of the fence.  (Don't worry, they still had lots for their fireplace)

After the wood sat all summer, I finally got around to making something out of it.  

My husband showed my friends and I how to use a chop saw safely.  Yeah, we managed to cut what we wanted and had all fingers intact.

We took a hammer and chisel to the wood to help "age" the wood a bit more.  This was fun!!  

Making our signs a bit more weathered and beautiful. (to us.  My husband just doesn't get this)

 I had pinned this Rustic Flag Sign awhile ago and both my friend and I wanted to make it.  So we watered down some paint (making it look weathered and rustic, right?) and carefully painted red and white boards.  We painted them first, assembled them, screwed them together and had a cool looking sign.

All assembled and ready to add the star.

I put two screws in each of the wooden boards. 

 Then I put a wire between them to hang up my sign.

I couldn't find a good start template on line,

 so I took a star off of my fence and traced it onto my sign.

I used little nails and a very manly hammer (I hope to get a cute pink one someday) to make a star design on the flag.

I made each of the nail about a centimeter apart.  In retrospect, I would have left them a bit longer and made sure they weren't aimed in at all.  It is harder to get the string wrapped and staying put when they are short and not straight.

Tie the string around one of the nails.  Leave a long piece at the end.  It will make it easier to tie off at the end.  I left mine way too short and it was harder to do.

We used a very thin yarn to make our star.  I wrapped the outline of the star.  Each time I changed direction, I wrapped the yarn around the nail once and then kept going.  I am going to add a few drops of glue to the outside of the star.  This will keep it in place even if a little child's fingers find this sign.

All ready to tie it off.  I tied the end of the string to the beginning tail of the string I left.

DIY Wooden Signs

I have been wanting to make fun wooden signs for my house.  I see so many that I want to do, and then don't do it.  Well, I finally got around to making-and finishing a project.  It has only taken me 6 months to do this since getting the wood.

My friend and I drove all around Sonoma county looking for old fence boards that we could have.  I finally found one house with a ton of broken up fences next to their house.  I asked the family for some of the wood.  This was their firewood, so the husband didn't really want to give it to me.  I asked for just a few pieces of fence and promised to make her a sign out of part of it.  She graciously gave me four parts of the fence.  (Don't worry, they still had lots for their fireplace)  This is the sign I made for her.  Hope she enjoys it.

After the wood sat all summer, I finally got around to making something out of it.  

I took some of the boards from the fence and cut them to make a cute sign.  I used screws to put together the wood.Then (weeks later while the girls were taking a bath) I printed out the words for my sign.  It took a few attempts since I don't have a word program to make it easy for me.

Then I cut out the words and made sure they looked good on the sign.

Then take a piece of chalk, turn over each of the words and rub the chalk

 over the back of the paper.  

Place the paper with chalk on the back of it right where you want it.  

Tape it to the place you want your word.

Then take something sharp like a pen or a screw driver.  Trace the letters for the entire word you are working on.  The older and more weathered the wood, the better the chalk will transfer to the wood.  If your wood is new and therefore, not porous, it will not transfer easily. 

 It is still possible, just harder to do.  

When you take off the paper, you should have neat letters all ready to paint in.

Carefully paint in the lines to make your sign.  

The smaller the brush, the easier it is to make it nice and neat.

Since I'm a busy mom, I only have a bit of time here and there to work on my projects. 

 I was able to do the first two words in the afternoon in about half an hour.  The last one I painted the next day in about 20 minutes.

All chalked in and ready to paint the final word.

I love how it turned out!! 

This was another sign I made.  It only took 4 days and about an hour total. 

 (I have kids and not a lot of time for making cute stuff)  I love how it turned out.

One of my friends also made a sign.  

She white washed the wood and then used black paint for her letters.

  It turned out really well.

And A New School Year Has Begun

So Bekah is now a big First Grader.  She was so looking forward to starting school and seeing her  friends again.  She was nervous about a new teacher though.  Her teacher is wonderful and Bekah loves her already.  That is such a blessing.

Gotta get those pictures in front of the house before school.

I love Bekah's nervous face and Hannah's excited one.

I was too busy to help her write out First Grade, so she did it by herself.  I love how she spelled it!

Hannah loves going to the playground with Bekah before school starts.

The teacher called the kids, gave them instructions to sit at their desks and then went into the classroom with the kids.  We weren't sure if the parents should go into the classroom or not.  I loved how the parents ran over to the window to get pictures.

Mrs. Koch saw all the parents, laughed and then had us come in and take pictures with the kids before they started their day.  

Bekah got to sit next to her friend Luke.  However, by the second day, his seat got moved with another.  Perhaps a bit too much chit chat going on.

I had to get a few pictures from the second day of school too.  Bekah was more relaxed and it was fun.

Showing off her new (clearance from last year) backpack.

We threw in a salute to the flag before heading off to school.  

Glad that she learned that last year and hasn't forgotten it.

Looking forward to another fun year.  I so enjoy the time we get with Hannah at home.  

It is wonderful seeing Bekah learning so many new things