Make your own Wooden Pallet Art

I'm pretty picky about what artwork goes up on the walls in our home. Call it a lesson learned from my first year of marriage. While living in Mauritius, Clint and I bought our first picture in a rush. I cannot even tell you how much we loathed that canvas from the day after we bought it, until the day we happily gave it away! Another art roadblock is that we are often working within a tiny decor budget and tend to focus on more functional / practical items.

Well, the re-covering of our lounge suite (I'm in love love love with it!) prompted me to get creative and make something special to mount above our new three-seater. Clint found a beautiful pallet and we got to work. 

Pretty neat, don't you think! Why this particular verse you might be asking? If you read my story here, you will know that God has brought me through situations where I lacked the strength to cope with life on my own. Even in the smaller day to day struggles as a mom, business owner and wife, this is the hope that I have. He is my help and my strength. 

Supplies:

x Pallet

x Electric Sander / Sandpaper (optional)

x Primer (optional)

x Wood filler (optional)
x Any old interior/exterior paint you have lying around

x Acrylic paint for painting words / art

x Large + small paintbrush
x Stencil (optional)

x Your hardware of choice to hang your pallet art 

Instructions:

 

1) We love the shabby chic look, but didn't want our pallet to look too shabby, rather more chic. We sanded it down using an electric sander, then filled any holes with wood filler. If you do happen to have two sweet boys around, they will love helping / photo-bombing!

2) We chose to treat the wood to two coats of primer before starting to paint. Using a large brush, we then applied two coats of grey paint.

3) While that was drying, I created a paper stencil using a website called 'Free Stencil Maker'. I'm not going to lie, it did take forever to cut out each letter. I used an exacto knife and a wooden block to press on. I chose basic white acrylic paint for the lettering. I taped the first line of the stencil down, applied the paint, and then gasped at how much was leaking underneath the paper! I quickly switched to rather lightly brushing over each group of words, then removing the stencil right away and free-handing a few coats. I'm sure store-bought stencils won't have the same complications. Any touch-ups can be made using your background colour.