Guess who's back? Back again? Making crafts for her friends!
That's right. I dipped my toe back into the crafty waters and I'm glad I did because not only did I make a great Christmas gift that Erika loved but I also took the opportunity to make myself something too!
This year I thought it would be fun to make my best friend her Christmas gift. I wanted my gift to be special this year and I had something to say with it. Erika I used to work together until late last year and up until then we had practically spent every day together. This was the first time since highschool that we hadn't either worked or lived together. Crazy! Now we're so busy following our own paths so I wanted to make something that would remind her that I'm still by her side.
Erika is a big tv buff and we've always bonded over our loves of shows like Gilmore Girls, Greys Anatomy, and Sex and the City. Her gift was themed around those loves.
I wanted to make her a sign that said "Where You Lead, I Will Follow" from Gilmore Girls wanted it to also hold some pictures of us. I saw a similar one at Walmart that I modeled mine after.
My first step was to go to the trusty, old hardware store. Luckily it was Christmas time so they already had some pre-cut pieces of wood for crafts. It was destiny. I picked up enough for both of our signs.
I also picked up some brushes, whitewash wood stain, gloves, cheese cloth and gold spray paint.
My first step was to use the white stain to give a nice whitewash to my pieces of wood.
If you've never stained something before basically, you apply the stain to the wood, wait a few minutes, and then wipe it off with a cloth. Easy peasy.
After two coats the wood had the translucent white finish that I was looking for. I specifically tried to find pieces with knots in the wood so you would really be able to see the true wood under the wash.
Next I nailed my pieces of wood together by lining the four long pieces of wood up in a row and nailing them to the two short pieces behind it.
Then it was time to try out my typography skills!
I definitely liked the way the marker turned out vs what I know I would have massacred with a brush but I think in the future I'll experiment with stencils as well to get a thicker result. I was a bit limited by the thickness of the marker.
My next step was to get my clothespins ready. I spray painted them gold and let them dry for a day.
Finally, I super glued the clothespins on and added pictures and the signs were done!
Here's the one I made for myself:
This Christmas craft was a great success. I loved mine and Erika definitely loved hers! It's a fun way to display pictures that you can change up throughout the year. I put some Christmas themed pictures in mine but I'll keep cycling them because I have tons of pictures and now I don't have to frame them. I'll just clip them on any time and now they can have their day in the sun!
I made her another quick craft which I'll share with you soon!
From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Crafty Kringle
