Go Your Own Way

As promised the sign is done!  As a reminder from where we started check out my original pin from pinterest

 (original pin)

Im so sorry I dont know where this originally came from, I cant find the original source but I had to share the picture.

Since its been so long since the first post on the idea, Ill just make this a big post with all the details!  To start with I downloaded fonts that I though best reflected the place that I was going to mark.  Thanks for www.1001freefonts.com for all the great fonts that we used.
If you would like to use the names I did click here.  I printed the names out and had those ready for when the signs were ready to be marked.

Now what is a sign without a good post?!  Since the drought was so bad here last year my mom had a lot of fallen trees on her property, and we scored and awesome trunk from her.

Good post right?!  Not that we have the post, we need the arrows.  I didnt need them to be all fancy but Joe decided to make them look like arrows which is fine with me they were cute.  It wasnt that hard to make these all you need is a 2x4 or pallet wood or whatever you have laying around.  You can break the wood piece to have an angle that points or you can use a compound saw and cut angles that you want for an arrow, just do whatever you think is best for your sign here.

After you cut all your signs out now you are ready to burn/paint the words onto the signs.  We had a soldering gun that had a wood burning attachement.  Thankfully Joe is a great artist and drew the words onto the wood pretty much just like they were on the paper.  You can do whatever works best for you, I thought of buring over the paper or using an excto knife to cut into the wood and burn over that in case Joe couldnt draw them, but seeing as he could I never had to test those theories.  Honestly it was really time consuming to do all the burning and thats what it took so long to get this done, but it was well worth it since I think it will last the longest.  After you get all the arrows done now you can attach them to your post, and thats the fastest part.  If you use a nail gun it will be even easier.

If you put them on at funky angles that gives it an older cooler feel too.  But if you are more meticulous then of course you can make them perfect, its your sign make it fit you!  Now that all the arrows are on plant it in the ground.  If you have a hole digger you can use it or a shovel, but the hole digger makes it a litter easier to dig a hole.  Make sure the hole is about 2 feet deep so that the post is sturdy in the ground.  When the hole is dug stick the post in, re plant the soil and pack it tighthy.  Once thats done YOUR done!  Step back and admire your awesome job on an awesome sign!

What a fun way to make a fun statement in your yard.  We ended up putting ours in the back yard so as not to start any trouble with the HOA, they stress me out.  So what do you think?  All that work, was it worth it?  I sure do think so!

Project Housewife Out!

Im Linking Up!  Come check me out at Positively Splendid, Add a Pinch, Flour me with Love, Tip Junkie,Not Just a Housewife, Romance on a Dime, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Newlyweds on a Dime,Southern Lovely, DIY by Design, Lil Pink Pocket, Made Famous By, My Girlish Whims, Ginger Snap Crafts, Beyond the Picket fence, House of Hepworths, Michelle's Tasty Creations, Petals to Picots, Joy in the Jumble, Bacon Time, Create Craft Love, Addicted 2 Decorating,

Which Way to Narnia?

Happy Monday Everyone!  Good News!  We started working on one of the projects from the list...remember this list...

• Build a platform for the media room
• Create a fun/quirky outdoor sign
• Hang measuring cups from cabinet door
• Paint master bedroom
• Re-do upholstery on headboard
• Decals for the media room

Well we are working on building an outdoor sign!  This sign idea actually came from Pinterest and  I have to say when I found this sign it was when I first started using Pinterest and didnt know any better than to find the original source.  So I am going to show you the pin...but its from Tumblr so I have no idea where the original picture came from.

 (pin source)

I loved it because its a sign to all the crazy places I wish were real.  I knew this belonged in my yard from the moment I saw it and has been sitting on my Backyard board for a long time now.  I kept putting it off because I didnt want to buy wood and because I had other projects I wanted to work on.

Well let me tell you...living in a neighborhood that is under construction does have its upsides.  One being all the lumber the workers put in the trash pile but is still perfectly good wood, they just cant use it for the home they are building.  We scooped up 6 unfinished 2x4's (well not exactly all that size but I didnt measure them so its a guess) for our platform project, a ream of carpet remnant that matches our current carpet (also for the platform) and are waiting to find a sheet of plywood.  For this sign I though we needed more beat up looking wood though so we turned again to pallet wood.  I still had a pallet sitting in the garage from past projects because the wood was ugly, well that is perfect for this sign so off the boards came and Joe got to cutting.  For the post of the sign we went to my mom's house for Easter and found it there.  She lives on 5 acres of land and as some of you may know Texas had one of the worst droughts in history last summer.  A lot of the trees on my mom's property were dead and had to be cut down...great for me because I had a great variety of awesome wood posts to choose from.  Ultimately we got one that was about 10 feet tall, really knobby and not 100% straight.  We got it that tall so that we could cut it down to the height we wanted and not be forced to work with something that wasnt really tall enough for what I was looking for.

So right now I have all the directional signs made, the post prepped and waiting (prepped as in sprayed down with raid to kill any bugs that may be living inside of it) and now we just have to add the lettering.  My first thought was to burn the letters on so that its much more permanent than paint.  My idea was to etch into the wood the words, pour some gasoline on it and set it on fire...what a great idea...but it didnt turn out at all so dont try that at home folks!  Joe is going to get a wood burning kit today and we are going to try that.  If that doesnt work then Im just going to use good old fashioned paint.  More to come on this awesome sign.

Im still in process of taking pictures of the sign so Ill post those with the next update so we can see what we're working with.  Im really excited about it because its so full of character and no one else has anything remotely close to it in the neighborhood.  The plan is to put it in the front yard and if the HOA asks us to move it then it will just go somewhere in the backyard, but we are going to try the front yard first and see what happens!  Wish us luck :D

What projects are you working on right now?!

Project Housewife Out!