Ladies Night.. Pallet Art

Hey all

Hope you have all been well.. Sorry I haven't been posting.. We have had some personal family stuff going on and I just needed to step back and go through what was happening around me..

ANYWAYS... posts might be scattered for the next couple of weeks.. Some bigger projects going on and I'm also trying to work on the June Monthly Challenge at Iheart Organizing
Its all about stepping out from organizing our kitchens and playrooms and working on our outdoor spaces... 
We are on a very strict budget right now so some of our  major plans will have to wait until next year.. But I have been doing gardening and am determined this month to get the patio projects going..

HOWEVER some other things have been going on in the background.. like our Craig's list dresser which will be turned into a Entertainment center..

here is some progress of that.

Here is the dresser we were able to get for a very good price on Craig's list.(and no its not missing a drawer.. I had taken it out then remembered to take a photo..lol. when I do the final post on this Ill give you the cost break down.. trust me so far is its a HUGE cost difference compared to if I bought something..

hard to imagine.. but picture the top 3 drawers out and they are now the shelving unit that holds the consoles.. for the Dish, DVD player and Hubbies Gaming station..

Thanks to a seriously fabulous product I will be sharing about I did not have to sand A THING.. i mean I didn't even have to think about sandpaper.. nothing nada.. this is just with one coat of the Cover stain/Primer.. with 2 coats it looks amazing.. hopefully in the next couple weeks this will be done and in place so you can really see the beauty it has become..

With that going on a dear friend of mine decided to host a ladies craft night.. a fun ladies night out with a twist..  munchies and wine and fun conversation but we would be making Pallet art.. she gave us a few weeks notice to the party and to come up with ideas on our own..

She had suggested stenciling or string art.. However I recently had some family photos taken of us that still did not have a place on our wall..so I scoured pinterest and found a few neat Ideas of things to do with photos and pallets..

The idea that stuck in my head was one where a gal used wood plaques from hobby lobby and used those for her photos.. she then adhered them to her pallet.. so OFF I WENT..


First up was to hit up hobby lobby for the supplies I did not already have.. I knew we had grey and white paint leftover from our bathroom update.. so I was good in the main color paint department.. I was able to get some sponge brushes, stencil , the plaques and black acrylic paint..

The gal pal throwing the party had all the pallets, disassembled them and made them into the sizes we needed.. so all we had to do was show up and have fun..


I had to do some work before had..

here's what I came up with..

I bought some plain pine plaques.. I tested out the sizing of the photos before hand..looked like with a little trimming on the 8x10 we would be in business..

Next was where the work began... 

I found a really awesome trick and tutorial on distressing your items by using Vaseline..

You can view the article HERE

the one thing she does not mention in her post but I found out first hand, was use the Vaseline sparingly.. it does not need to be a thick layer.. too much and the magic wont happen..lol..

This was after following her steps.. here is part of the distressing process..

here is one of the 5x7 plaques finished.. well drying..lol.. after I distressed the plaques I adhered the photos on to the plaques using plain old Mod Podge and a sponge brush..

here is the 8x10 finished and dry..

And here is the finished product.. This was the board that my friend made using pallet wood.. I just sanded the board down, then painted it lightly with some white paint.. I did attempt to stencil which I will admit I had never done before.. turns out I suck at it and did not use a small enough brush.. I used a sponge brush and dabbed it on.. IT WAS A HOT MESS and I was sure my project was ruined.. but to the rescue came a fabulous gal.. she is actually the Pastors wife of my church.. she took the time out from her own project to basically go back over the mess I had made and she used her steady hand to fix it and pretty it up...

After the whole stencil debacle.. we screwed the plaques onto the pallet.. nice and sturdy and ready to be hung...

Now the trick is to get hubby to get that part done..lol..

It was a wonderful evening.. If your looking for something to do.. have a ladies craft night.. it doesn't have to be something huge like pallets.. you could have your friends by larger plaques (ps they are cheap at hobby lobby or Michael's) and have a string art party.. or a scrap booking party.. fun times with these gals.. and I have a beautiful piece of art to show for it...

What do you all think??? I had a blast and cant wait to have this beauty up..

Much Love and Blessings- Shanun