Lathe Heart Wall Hanging

I was given a bundle of lathe boards.  You know, the kind that live behind your walls in older homes?  I bet you don't give them a second thought do you?  Neither did I.  They were full of nails, but they came right out with no problem.

I chose 3 boards and marked them off at the center and cut them in half.

Next, I cut a couple of smaller pieces to attach to the back to hold it together.  I used Gorilla Glue to secure it.

Use some heavy stuff to pile on top until the glue sets.

On one side of the boards there was a worn white finish which I thought would be the perfect canvas for a rustic, shabby, pink heart.  The boards are not perfectly aligned which was partly on purpose and partly because I haven't quite mastered my circular saw, lol.  It doesn't matter much for this project because I was going for a rustic element anyway.

I started by just free-handing a heart shape using craft paint and a stencil brush.

Then I just filled it in and kept adding layers until it was the shade I wanted it to be.

I added a twine hangar to the backside with my staple gun and hung it beside my bed.  Love it.

I know there are so many uses for pallet wood and I've seen a lot of posts using paint stir sticks, but I'm loving these lathe boards - has anyone else used them?  Any other unusual wood sources you've used?  If someone hadn't thought to bring me these, I never would have thought about using them.

Framed Button Initial

What to do when you need a gift and there is no time to buy one?  Improvise of course!  Use what you have and I had some buttons.  I also had a small wooden frame - I started with that:

I glued a sawtooth picture hanger on the back of it.

Then I painted the frame pink and distressed it a bit.  I then took some leftover pink patterned scrapbook paper and glued that to the back.  Next, I arranged the buttons into a "J" , the initial of the person receiving the gift.  It still needed something, so I glued on a fabric flower that I had in my stash.  Viola - a sweet gift for a sweet girl.

I made a coordinating gift bag to go along with it by simply stenciling a pink flower on a brown paper bag and adding a homemade gift tag.

I like buttons, I always have - they have a certain coziness factor for me.  Do you like buttons?  What kinds of things have you created with them?

A Sibling Baby Gift

So, I had a sweet new great-grand-daughter born and my 5 year old grand-daughter wanted to make a present to give to the baby.  Since her nursery was done in pink frogs, I had my 5 year old gd start by coloring a frog that we found in one of her coloring books.  I then found an old frame in my stash and using the frame backing, I mod podged some pink scrap book paper, then mod podged on the frog.

Then, I painted the frame a soft pink and distressed it.

It looks perfect in the nursery :)

Have you ever thought to do pink frogs in a nursery?  How about sibling gifts - any great ideas?  Please share!