Distressed Wood Sign

I'm posting about making my Booth #555 sign because it can apply to any worded sign you may want to do. Just find or buy you a preferably blank piece of wood. And you can print out any saying you'd like (fresh eggs, welcome, ect.) simply by using:

Microsoft Word
an ink pen
sharpie marker
acrylic craft paint

I wanted to make a new booth sign so passer bys could easily remember my booth number. Most booths at the Peddlers Mall only have tiny printed out numbers taped on the outside wall of their booth. I have always wanted a way to stand out. So here's how I made it.

I started out with an old broken wooden wine rack, (I'm guessing) that I won from an auction.

First off, I printed out a few different size "5's using Microsoft Word. 

Then I unscrewed the two screws holding on the broken wine hangers and removed them.

I ended up using the one that was almost center of a regular printer size paper. It was perfect for my size board.

Then I eyeballed it and centered the middle one as best as I could, leaving room for the other two. And I used a ball point pen and traced the 5 onto the board. Pushing enough so that there would be an imprint left behind for me to paint along.

And after tracing, here's what I was left with. A good enough impression to keep me painting straight. Look close and you can see it.

Next step was to paint all the 5's in with an off white, acrylic craft paint.

Plaid-Craft MS32100-23 Martha Stewart Pearl Acrylic Craft Paint 2 Ounc (Google Affiliate Ad)

one by one........

Ah, it was finally starting to come together now. Then I decided to take a shortcut and use a black sharpie marker to outline all the 5's. I just figured it would be way faster than painting those thin little lines and it was. I was worried about feathering from the marker on the wood, but thankfully it didn't happen. Be careful with yours!

I did the same lines on each one, to try and keep it consistent. Then I came back and forth until complete. Be careful that your hand doesn't smear the marker before completely dry!

I then let it all dry for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to take a risk because my next step involved sand paper. lol. I took some medium grit and roughed it all up a bit. Kinda giving it a worn look, but not over doing it by rubbing off an entire 5 or anything.

Then I got out my all purpose sealer and put on a light coat. I did this 2 times so that my sign can withstand being dropped, scraped, thrown in the back of my truck and so forth. lol I'm kinda rough on items unless they are really fragile!

After that dried, I thought it could still use a bit of something. So I got out some pieces of grapevine garland and stapled some on the edges. I also hung a little metal brown star in the middle,  look close, and I wrote "crafts by Lisa." And then I was finally done and happy with it. Here it is all finished.

I hope this gives you the gumption to start making a wood sign. Ideas could include, Fresh Eggs, Welcome, Primitive, Laundry, Cottage....the list goes on and on. Keep in mind that it was super easy with the pre-printed out 5's! And it's now sitting on a shelf right in the center of my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall in Morehead, KY.

Happy Crafting ya'll!

~Lisa

Primitive Easter Eggs

I am in the crafting mood! lol. Seems like I just can't get enough crafts done this week. Today, I made some more Primitive Easter Eggs for my local craft booth.

If you'd like to make some adorable Easter eggs in the prim style, here's how I done it.

I started out with some plain, brownish crafting eggs. 

They look like this and I buy them in bulk packages of 40.

Then, I paint on a first coat in an acrylic color. Then on a few, I dry brushed on a few streaks of another color, to give it a more prim look. I stick with base colors such as greens, browns and reds.
  
Then, to add a country look. I load a toothbrush with some off white and fling little dots of color all over some. This was a great tip I still recall from my high school art teacher!

Next I draw on my sayings consisting of, "fresh eggs, free range, 5 cents, ect." Or I will stencil on some stars using my Delta stencil paint. And then let all that dry.

And finally, all that is left to do is match them up in sets of two, package them in a cello bag and tie them off with a bit of homespun fabric.

And wa~la. Here's some cute Primitive Easter Eggs ready to go into my craft booth at the Peddlers Mall.

Here's some more pics of them finished. I don't know why I can't keep all my eggs in a basket. lol.

Thank ya'll for stopping in.

 See ya next time,

~Lisa

TOBACCO Stick Flag

I love using tobacco sticks in my crafts. I've made tobacco stick chairs, trees and stars. Today I thought I'd give a shot at making an Americana flag.

First, I asked my husband to nail each one together, one by one. Then cut off one end kinda straight. Then here's what it looked like when I got a hold of it:

 

Next, I took some white acrylic paint and mixed it 5% to 95% all purpose sealer (found in the craft section.) It kinda forms a gel stain typa thing. 

Then I began to paint every other tobacco stick with the gel stain mixture, like so:

Then, after every other one had their first coat. I went back in and did a second coat. Why? Well because tobacco sticks are very dry wood. And they really soak up the first coat.

I really love how the paint mixed with the all purpose sealer looks. It's not too bright, not too dim. It kinda ads a white wash look to it.

Then I thought about how to add some stars. So sticking with the Americana theme, I choose to do one large barn red star surrounded by four navy blue ones. So I got out some star stencils and my Delta brand oil based paints that I use for stenciling.

And here's a pic of the tobacco stick American flag, after the stars are stenciled on:

After the stencil paint dried completely, I gave it a light sanding with some pieces of medium grade sandpaper. Nothing major, just some here and there roughness to make the stars look a bit worn.

And here it is. The final pic of my try at making an Americana flag out of tobacco sticks:

Note: I was inspired to paint every other one white, from a post I saw on Pinterest here. Where she'd made a flag out of boards. It was super cute!





You may also like these Primitive Crafts:

Primitive Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree

Tobacco Stick Chair

Americana Tobacco Stick Flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primitive Barnwood Tool Box

Vintange Styled Rolling Pins

Of course these aren't genuine vintage rolling pins. I know they don't even look close, but they were my shot at adding a little character to the brand new ones. I love rolling pins. I have them stashed here and there all over my house. But I don't care for them much, when they are brand new and plain. Now the older ones, I'll never touch with a paint brush. lol. Just the new ones.  I got mine at the local Dollar Mart for only $1.39 each. Awesome! Here's one in the brand new form:

First I painted each handles a kitcheny color. I went with regular red, blue and colonial green.

Then I took a lead pencil and drew on a few sayings. The "Dairy" idea stemmed from a photo of a board I saw over at a blog called  MissMustardSeed, where my total inspiration for this post came from, actually!Her blog is awesome, btw, and you definitely should check it out!

Then I painted in the letters with an off white, let it dry, then lined each outline in the matching color. I skipped finishing the blue handled one for now because I have other plans for it soon! :-)

Next, after all dried, I took some light grained sand paper and roughed them up a bit. Then I stirred up a mixture of approximately 95% all purpose sealer and 5% acrylic brown paint. This is what I use instead of the gel stain that is on the market. It probably doesn't work as great, but it fits my needs.

Then I brushed it on in light, even strokes. Just one coat done it for me on each. See the next pic of the difference of one with and one without.

You can always mix the homemade gel stain a little darker or lighter as needed. Just increase the amount of paint you add to the sealer.

I let them dry, then hang them up on my hand made rolling pin holder. (CLICK HERE to view the post where I made rolling pin holder.) And wa~la. Here they are.

What do you think? Do you like the plain ones or the painted ones best?

Zebra Chair | Time Out Kids Chair

Today's makeover is a cute "Time Out" chair, zebra style.

It started out as an ugly blue/pink heart doll chair, I believe. I had it in my booth for about a month and no one wanted it. Here's a pic of the before, just after I sprayed one strand of white on it... lol. I'm no good at the "before" pics. I usually forget them. But here it is:

I hated the blue/pink/hearts theme, so I thought why not go wild, zebra style? And off I went. I began with a base color of glossy white. I always use the Rustolem brand from Walmart. It runs about $3.75 per can here, but it's well worth it.

Then after all was dry, I began free handing on some zebra stripes with some acrylic Apple Barrel brand craft paint. FYI: for future paintings of thin lines, I am going to use some other type of paint. I had to steadily go back and repaint each line because the lines weren't black enough. Two coats on something this tedious is just too much for me. lol.

Anyways, after about 30 minutes of drawing little zebra lines, or trying to, lol, I finally added the words, "Time Out," to the top. I just used a lead tipped pencil to write it out first. That way, I knew if it would look somewhat centered and would fit before the paint. Then traced over the letters with the same black paint.

And my last and final step was to seal it. This way, in case it really gets used, it can withstand some wear and tear. I used an all purpose sealer from Delta Ceramcoat. Its great on wood and other surfaces too and dries clear. Which is great. Just don't use a heavily soaked big brush for this, because if the black paint gets too wet, since it's craft acrylic, it will run. But like I did, I used a medium straight brush and only put on a thin coat at once, in sections. And it didn't smear the black paint.

Here's the final look at my Zebra Time Out Chair:

Hope you find some sort of inspiration and redo an old unused piece of furninture like this. If you do, please send me a link to it. I'd love to see! :-)

~Happy Crafting!

Grungy Tags Recipe Without Tea or Coffee

I've been making my own old grungy tags for a while now. And I've seen many posts on ways to get the grungy look. Some of them involve coffee, some involve tea or such. Well, my recipe doesn't use either. It may be since I don't drink either. lol. And I've just learned to try to use what's close at hand. Oh, in the past, I did however borrow some coffee from my aunt and tried that, but I didn't like the smell.

Anyways, here's how I make my new white string tags look old and grungy.

I start out with these stark, white tags found in the office section at WalMart:

Then I mix up a bowl of "grungy stuff." It consists of approximately 75% water and 25% Apple Barrel acrylic paint, in the color of Nutmeg Brown. The water is a little thick, when I get it just right.

Then I dip each one in the mix and lay them out on an old cookie sheet. Then I even take my paintbrush and dab on extra "grungy stuff," to make sure they are grungy enough for my liking. Don't worry about the other side, they will also get good color from the baking in the next step.

Then I set the oven to 400* and stick them in.

And then I wait. Keeping a good eye on them, since I have the oven at 400*. Usually it only takes about 8-10 minutes until they start to crisp up and appear totally dry. Mine usually look like this below:

And then after I let them cool for a minute or two, I get out my stamps and ink. I like to use the "Old Crow," bird stamp and the "Weeping Willow Tree," stamp most of the time.

I ordered my stamps from eBay and got my ink at the local Dollar Mart. I only stamp one side so that I can put my booth # and price on the other. And to keep a clean work area, I lay out some strips of wax paper.

 
A little thing I do time to time, mostly around spring, is to add some candle "oil flavorings" (found at Walmart in the candle section) to the tags after they dry and before the stamps go on. I just brush it on with a regular paint brush. And boy, does it make my tags smell good. As soon as you walk in my Booth #555 the aroma hits you. I usually use food flavorings such as butterscotch rum to do this. I read somewhere that alot of people have allergies (including me) and yet the food smells tend to bother them way less than any flower smell. And when a shopper is smelling a great food smell, they may linger longer in your booth! lol. Here's to hopeing!

Happy Crafting ya'll.