Lost Sock Sign

Time for a little silly project.

We are Harry Potter fans over here, and I've been eyeing lots of cute "Free Dobby" lost sock signs on Pinterest.  Now that the laundry room is up & running, I decided to make one.

Supplies:
-I found board out in the workshop (already the right size and painted!)
-I had metallic craft paint & paint brush left over from doing the stencils in the master closet.
-I bought some letter stencils, but didn't end up using them!  Instead I used tissue paper & a pencil to trace the letters that I liked online.
-I used a blue sharpie for outlining, and then blue ribbon to hang the board & the clothes pins.

I put "tissue paper" in the supply list, but I used wax paper.  I wasn't thinking about how that would make marks on the computer screen as I was tracing!  Oops!  Luckily it all wiped off with a little effort, but save yourself the trouble and use tissue paper instead!

After tracing the letters off the computer screen, I flipped the paper over and traced the backside of it.  

This will allow me to lay it right on the board and trace it again on the front side, so that the pencil lead from the back will transfer to the board.

It's faint, but then you can just go over it again directly on the board, if needed.

Yes- a lot of tracing, but makes it easier for those of us who can't free-hand the letters!

Next I got to work painting the silver inside the lines.

It wasn't as crisp as I wanted, so I decided to use a blue sharpie to outline the letters.  The sharpie gave me better control than I had with the little paint brush.

Then I took a stable gun and attached some blue ribbon for hanging on the wall, and also for hanging socks from.

Here it is hanging on the wall in my laundry room...

I should mention here that I wish we only had 5 single socks around here... there's actually a bucket of them sitting on top of the dryer!  This may motivate me to go through them though and toss any that are never going to find their mate!!!

A Welcoming Sign

I found this hanging sign on clearance at TJMaxx for $1.50!

It had some goo on it that I was thinking would clean off, but I didn't have much luck scrubbing it.

So I decided to spray paint it with oil rubbed bronze spray paint that I had left over (can't remember what from!)

I was going to hang it from the hooks in the foyer, but I have some Saint Patrick's Day decorations that will be going there shortly... so I put it out on the porch, next to the front door.

It's perfect for this feeling of being in between seasons right now... I'm tired of the winter decorations, but can't call it spring yet- especially with snow still in the forecast!

Siding turned into Signs

Back when we replaced the siding on the goat barn, I had Mike store some of the old barn siding.
I told him I had big plans for it (he lovingly rolled his eyes and left me a pile of it in the workshop!)

Sorry- name has been blocked :o)

The first sign I created was to put on the front of the goat barn, which is also home to the chicken coop.
I thought it would be cute, and I love alliteration!




I bought a pack of stencils and used some old white paint that I had left over from the driveway sign.  The red was the original barn siding color.  It had faded into almost a pink, but had just the right amount of chippy-ness for a rustic farmyard feel. Once the white lettering was dry, I used a clear spray paint sealer (also left over from the driveway sign).  As I hoped, the clear coat made the red more vibrant, instead of  faded pink.

When I held it up to the barn, if felt lost with the red-on-red.  So Mike pulled a piece of the old barn door out of the scrap pile to use as a background.  I painted it white for contrast.

While I was thinking of the chickens, I made a couple of signs for when we have eggs to sell.

Mike is going to attach them to a metal post that we can stick into the ground at the end of the driveway on days that we have eggs available (though that probably won't be until around September).

Let there be Light!

First we had the "Give me a Sign" post describing how we made our driveway sign.

We've been looking around at other nearby signs, and liked the ones that were bottom lit. 
Lights on the sign would help people (aka: me) find our back driveway, since it's particularly hard to see during the winter months when it gets dark so early!

For Christmas, we were given a set of solar landscaping lights that are on timers.  They're perfect- no need to mess with running electrical wires- just shove them in the ground.  YAY!

For reference, here's how it looked during the day before we had lights   --->

And now it can be seen beautifully at night too!

Yep- I get giddy every time I drive up, and even have been going around the long way to get glimpses of it from the other direction!





Gimme a sign!

At each end of our property is a sign post...
(we briefly mentioned them way back here  ).

And last week, we left off here with the planting of the bedraggled mums:

We're in the middle of doing the historical research on the house, to try to find a new name for the property.  The trick is trying to find little stretches of time to go down to the Hall of Records to pick up the trail of property deeds.  We're now back to 1872.  Only about 100 more years to go!

In the meantime, we decided we could make a monogram sign to hang on the driveway entrance that we use the most.

So after measuring, we were off to Lowe's.  They have pre-cut boards, that are perfect. 
We also picked up some trim moulding (to add a little detail to the top & bottom of our sign), and some new hardware (the hooks on the post are all rusty).

Mike attached the moulding to the top and bottom on each side.  A little wood putty to cover the nail holes, a quick sanding, and we were ready to paint it white.

This took a couple of days... waiting for each coat to dry, then flipping it over & repeating.

So, in the meantime, I searched online for a nice "R" to paint on. 

Here were some of my top picks  --->

The winner was from here (they have tons of cool patterns!)

The colors are just representative (the closest I could come with my set of sharpies!)  We're using the blue, green & cranberry house paint that the previous owners had left for us in the basement.

The next step was enlarging it (and thickening up the lines a little bit).

To do this, I went back to basics- the grid method learned in elementary school art class. 
I wasn't confident enough in my artistic ability to draw it directly onto the sign. 
I instead put it onto paper (four pieces taped together to be precise!)

The next trick was getting it onto the sign. 

When I was little, my mom had taught me to use a pencil to trace the design on the reverse side.  Then you tape it up & trace it on the correct side.  The lead will transfer onto the surface.  

(I have no idea what project we were working on when she taught me that- but I remembered the important part!)

I spent the next couple of evenings painting both sides of the sign. 
Then I applied a clear coat (spray paint) to seal it.  Mike then put the new hardware on.


And we were finally ready... 

Tah-Dah!

Out we go!

I was so busy going on about the inside projects, that I neglected to mention the outside stuff!



Tall, tall grass!



After our Florida trip, we came home to grass that was taller than the dog.  We went out running in the pasture, and it felt like the opening of "Little House on the Prairie"!

We had ordered the mower, and it was being assembled... waiting for it to be delivered was torture!  It was like watching grass grow (which is similar to watching paint dry!)

Despite the overgrowth, Mike's parents dug right in!  During their visit, we cleared a lot of the random plantings out of the front yard, put in new azaleas, and even gave the front lawn a trim with the little push mower.  Potted ferns were hung on the porch.  We put petunias into the flowerpot holders that are built into the stone wall.  We're still picking out a tree to put in the front yard- something flowering.

The property used to be called "Three Sisters Farm", and had pretty signs hung at each driveway entrance.  Obviously, "Three Sisters" isn't going to work for us.  We're going to do some historical research before deciding on the name.  In the meantime, I got a hanging planter to put on the front sign post (so it doesn't look so empty!)

The mowing begins!

About a week after we returned from Florida, the mower was delivered!
It took Mike over 8 hours to get the yard done- that's one way to kill a weekend!  Hopefully it won't take so long after that initial cut.

The other good way to kill a weekend ... is building a play set. 
It arrived in a million pieces & the directions said it will take two adults 6-12 hours to complete. 

Uh-oh, we've got one adult & a 6 year old slated to do this...
Another weekend gone, but well worth it!

And now... I'm going to get back inside!