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+ .

Love Blocks

Good morning friends. You are going to love these blocks. It's really just some simple mixed media. This is also a class I teach down at Coastal Bohemian.

We do USA blocks, LOVE blocks, Boo blocks , Sea Blocks, Joy blocks and eventually more. I now keep a steady supply of blocks down at the studio and also for sale so students can go home and do more with their own ideas.

These are pretty easy, if you can cut your own blocks. You can always  have someone or someplace cut the blocks for you. A lumber yard will probably cut for you. 

I buy fence posts that are 4" x 4" and either 8 or 10 ft long.  Get untreated.




Cut them down to a 4" height. 
There is the cube, the block. Blocks will be painted on top and bottom and on two sides.

I like to dry brush red , pink, purple and white on a few sides and of course paint a few sides solid. 

The two other sides get decoupaged vintage papers, napkins and other Valentine's Day colorful papers . I use Valentine's Day themed napkins from the Dollar Tree.

You can also print a romantic photo in black and white. I found this one of Fed Astaire in a vintage sheet music book. It's special because my mother loved Fred Astaire and he is the epitome of Hollywood romance to me. 
If you are giving as a gift to newlyweds, grandma, mom or a friend ,why not find a photo of the lucky couple and print in black and white. 

 After all the sides have a background, you can decorate each block as a different letter  to spell LOVE. One becomes the "L" block, one becomes the "O" block,one becomes the "V" block and one becomes the "E "

block.  Use whatever you can find from the Dollar Tree to form a L.

Here I used a key stencil, twine, rose fabric and stamps to design my letters .

So I did use a giant "O " stamp for the letter "O" but this pick is from when I made "Boo" blocks in October.

Add some dimension by adding adhesive backed pads. Again this is a pic from "Boo" blocks 

 There are 4 sides to each block so you have a variety of arrangements including stacked. 

These make a great hostess gift, tablescape , or  a perfect entryway greeting. 

This is an easy craft, just a little more time consuming. A newbie may have a challenge with the decoupage.

Thanks again for reading along. 



Michele 


Don't forget to find us partying  here all week. 








With love and gratitude
Michele
Coastal Bohemian

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+ .