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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Handmade Gifts Mean More to the Recipient, Right?

Even if they are less than perfect.

I hope so.

Last week on Tuesday, it occurred to me that 
I had 3 nieces graduating from high school Friday night and I had nary a gift. :( 
My first thought was to get them gift cards since it was so close to graduation. But I really didn't want to.
I wanted something more original that would mean more. So, I began some serious brain-storming/ Pinterest searching. I'm not really sure when or where the idea occurred to me, but I decided to make them each wall plaques. 

Hand painted ones, no less. 

Yeah, what on earth was I thinking?

It's now Wednesday; graduation is Friday. I have never hand painted a sign in my life. I also have a small baby who hasn't been feeling the best. (Teeth?) But I didn't think about all that; all I could think about was how neat it would be to give them something hand-made by me. 
{Snicker. Snort.}
Little did I know what I was in for.

Due to the time constraint, I did not achieve the level of perfection I would have liked
 but here they are. This is the first one I did.


This one is made from wood I salvaged from an old crate.
The crate was here when we moved here and I intended to use it for
something sometime. Unfortunately, my sons thought it was junk
and 'dismantled' it. These were the only pieces I could salvage.
Along with the one end that had the advertisement on.

The second one looks like this.

This one was a cabinet door I had in the garage. 
I should clarify things. These graduates are sisters; two of them adopted.
Since these were all going into the same house, I wanted them to all be different.
I tried to consider the tastes and personality of the graduates. The girl this one
is for is more immature/girly. The sign looks a tad more childish than I was
going for but it matches her bedroom.

The third and final one:

This one I used an open barn wood frame from Hobby Lobby and used
wood reclaimed from the old shed in the back of the house.
I whitewashed it to freshen it like I did the barn door/bathroom door.
The spacing on this one really bugs me. They all have issues with the letter/line spacing
but this one is the worst. Otherwise, I like this one best.

For all of the signs I used graphite paper to transfer the letters onto the wood.
I then used paint pens to paint the letters.

So that was my projects for last week. 

I want to show you my finds from Springfield on Saturday
but I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet.
I hope to later this week.


Linking to: Wow Us Wednesdays

From the Farmhouse

3 comments:

  1. I think I would be very privileged to receive any of these lovely signs. Very appropriate for graduation and also thought provoking. They can keep these for years to come and they would grace any home. Great job. You can use these for a link party or such. Love the new look on the blog, by the way.

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  2. They all turned out cute and I'm sure all your effort was appreciated much more than a gift card.

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  3. verrry nice! love the 1st & last as the middle is too girly for me though you've done a great job on it! you really need to sell some! :) Esther

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Thanks for taking the time to make my day with your comments!