Time with family is so very precious....and thanking our Lord for all his many blessings.
I love creating gifts for family & friends. My sweet friend (Dawn) at work is like a sister to me, we share office space and a very unique friendship. Her birthday was last week and I had been struggling to come up with a gift idea. Then I remembered seeing a cute wood message board at my daughters the last time I went to Atlanta for a visit and thought...I can make one of those!!
Please excuse hot glue strings, I snapped a picture before that was cleaned up. I knew that I wanted to try to make this message board out of materials that were on hand in the garage and my craft stash.
Mr. Darling found some board that had been saved when he removed some old shelving from the basement. Once a decision was made on the size (approx. 8 1/2" x 11") he got to work measuring for the cuts.
I have not graduated to a saw like this yet so I observed and took pictures.
Next we used 5/8" wood dowel rod that he had several of.
He cut them 5" long and they will be the stands that support the message board.
We measured the back of the board to drill holes for the dowels.
I sanded it some but not completely, leaving several stain marks might look better since this wood is pine.
I watered down some of my homemade chalk paint to just lightly go over the surface. My daughter is a stylist and sometimes I get her old hair color application brushes. This one did a nice job.
After the first application dried it needed something else to give it more of a weathered look. I like using acrylic paints and watering them down to use like stain. I lightly brush it on then wipe it off with a cotton cloth.
There was no method to this, I just kept applying the two colors and wiping off till I was happy with the way it looked.
There was leftover burlap wire ribbon from fall bouquets and it would make a great bow at the top of the board.
Wood glue for the dowels and let it dry overnight.
I did buy some small wood letters to paint and attach to personalize it. A clothespin was painted and attached with hot glue just below the burlap bow to hold pictures, notes or whatever she likes.
Dawn and her husband have been building a cabin in the timber for a couple of years now. Its gonna make a great getaway for them and maybe this little message board can be a nice addition to her cabin décor.
She liked it a lot... I liked seeing a big smile on my dear friends face!
Thanks for stopping by to visit.
Have a great Day!
Karen