Conch Shell Sign - #listen

I love free finds and palette wood is basically one of those free goodies, except for the fact that you have to cut it down with a reciprocating saw. However , I have mastered this technique. My fiancé bought me a lightweight tool pack from Porter Cable with a drill, screw gun and the reciprocating saw. I have a neck injury that was being aggravated by the saw but thanks to  the new lightweight saw I can tear up those pallets. 


You'll need a stock pile of reclaimed pallet wood for this craft. The wood pieces in this post were from projects I had around the studio. 
You need to choose 4 pieces of wood similarly sized to create the one large sign. 
First glue one board to the next board along the long side using wood glue. I use Gorilla Glue .Get a nice tight bond and then staple the 1st piece to the second piece of wood . Continue this with the remaining 2 boards , gluing and stapling. 
Flip the entire piece over and staple the back. 

At this point  you should have something like this. 

Next you'll want to paint the sign with White Chalk Paint.  I use Chalk Country Paint Crisp Collar.

After that, I painted on a vignette using a DIY glaze, (read about the DIY glaze here), made from Flood and a few drops of craft paint.

Black paint and a floral stencil was used to embellish the corners

Now for the something something.

This conch shell is a favorite image of mine . You can find it and other vintage images  at the Graphicsfairy.com

I printed the image on my computer  and cut it out .

I want to adhere the image with Mod Podge but I need to seal the ink . This will keep the ink from bleeding through onto my project.  It's a simple technique. Using a paint brush coat the entire surface of the image with a layer of Fiddes and Sons Clear wax. 

Work from the center out with the brush strokes. In this way you are less likely to tear or crinkle your image. As soon as the wax is covering the image,  take a clean , lint free cloth and remove the excess wax and then buff the image. Just like you would buff wax on a car or wax a pair of shoes. Wax until you see the shine. Now you are ready to adhere the image with the Mod Podge.

After that I added the word Listen 

You can hand write it or print it in a font you love .

Again, you'll wax and buff your image and then adhere with Mod Podge. You can put a simple sawtooth hanger on the back to hang on the wall.

Here is another one I made at the same time on a small board approx 5 x7. I used paper clay to create a  clay rose and used the Gorilla glue to adhere the rose to the wood.

(Love these roses)

Listen comes to mind with the Conch shell because if you put the shell to your ear you can hear the ocean, but "Listen"  means so much more to me. It means to become mindful, listen to your intuition, listen to your children , listen to those you love and listen to the world and your body and your soul. With all the talking and business and texting and social media .. when was the last time you LISTENED. 

 My wish for you is that you take a moment or two to get quite and Listen . Maybe do a Youtube.com meditation. Here's a Listening Meditation from Youtube.com

You can find links to all the products I use below . Hopefully these products will bring you as much joy as they have to me. 

With love and gratitude,

Michele

Find me partying here all week at these link parties with some great bloggers.

If you are in Myrtle Beach come on down and visit us at the Coastal Bohemian Studio or check us out on Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, or  G+ .