DIY Wood Transfer Sign

Oh it feels so good to be creative!  So far today I have made a bracelet, a necklace, sugar cookie cut outs and this wood transfer sign on top of a trip to Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart.  I still have dinner to make, wood to cut and trays to construct for my pantry project.  Oh, I haven't told you about my pantry project have I?  Well out of all the projects buzzing around in my head, I decided to start on reorganizing our pantry.  But that is a completely different post(s).  This post is about this:

I cannot even begin tell you how skeptical I have been about this project.  Skeptical and intimidated.  I've seen this on Pinterest plenty of times, read the posts and have thought...really?  That's it?  YES!  this project took less than 10 minutes, including sanding, painting and transferring the image.  And inexpensive I might add.  I bought a roll of wax paper for $1.18! 

I've had a sign like this in my head for the longest time so I knew what I've wanted to make.  I used Photoshop Elements to create the design, but of course any document program (Microsoft Word) will work just as well.  I flipped the image to make sure when I transferred it came out correctly.  

Here is what I did:

Materials:

glue stick

wax paper

printer paper

ink jet printer

image

wood

ruler/scissors

Directions:

1.  Glue a piece of printer paper onto wax paper using a glue stick.

 2.  Trim off the edges on the wax paper. I lined a metal ruler along the edge and tore the wax paper along the edge of the ruler.  Easy peasy.

 3.  Now, print your image onto the wax paper by placing it in your paper tray of your printer, wax side down.  DO NOT touch the image after it prints.  It'll smudge and smear.  I have a Brother printer with generic ink I bought off of Amazon.  No going to Staples.  No going to Kinkos.  No gluing the paper on the wood and dissolving it with water.  Nope, none, nada. 

4.  Now flip that sucker over onto your piece of wood.  I have a 6x12 scrap piece of wood in my garage I've been eying for a while now wondering what to do with it.  I sanded and painted it with a white acrylic paint. You may want to cut the image down so you don't end up with a crooked image.  Not me.  I'm a daredevil. 

5.  I used my handy dandy stone scraper to transfer the image onto the wood.  Hold the paper in place and gently scrape the paper along the image.  

6.  Wait for it.  Take a deep breath.  Let it out.  And remove the paper to find this:

I literally jumped up and down with excitement!  But quietly so not to wake the babies.  I couldn't believe it worked!  Look how fancy!! 

Be prepared for plenty more wood transfer projects.  This is a game changer for me people!

Living Room {Part III}

I'm so happy I want to cry.  This is my new favorite place to sit and be.  It's a long way away from where it was last month.  If you haven't seen the before pictures, you must.  But don't judge me.  We've been so busy with our two little ones we haven't had time to focus on decorating.

A few months ago, we decided to throw my father in law a surprise party for his 60th birthday.  It was the perfect motivator to get this room done!  This project cost us around $200 by the time we bought paint, fabric and wood for the table.  It was a $200 well spent!  I hope you're inspired!

Check out our new Living Room!

Isn't the rustic-x table just beautiful?

Okay, how cute are these?!  I love my mason jar sconces!

We made this photo tree for my father-in-law's 60th suprise birthday party.  We hung pictures with twine and made Hanging Lightbulb Vases!  Adorable!

I decided to make our curtain tie backs with our yellow chevron fabric to help balance the yellow in the room.  They couldn't be more perfect.

Now what shall we do next?

Vintage Farm Nursery

 
There are a few different reasons why I chose to decorate Little One's room in a Vintage Farm theme and both are incredibly sentimental.  Anytime someone asks me what my favorite childhood memory is the first thing that comes to my mind is my grandparents farm.  My cousins and I spent countless summers and holidays exploring their 37 acres of pastures, hills and woods.  We jumped hay bales, swam in the pond (in papa's shirts), rode horses, went sledding, fished, picked blackberries, the activities were endless.  Oh, how my heart is so full because of those memories.  My grandparents gave us more than just memories though.  They gave us a legacy.  My grandpa has been a pastor his entire life and though he is retired and in his 80's he goes to the VA Hospital in town to pray with vets.  He has shown us in so many ways what it looks like to truly serve the Lord.  Their farm is one of my favorite places to go not just because of the joyful memories but because it has shaped who I am. 

My mother-in-law and I have become very close these past few years.  We serve on the Women's Ministry team at church together and have planned countless events together.  She has helped me make my own house into a home, been a shoulder to cry on and helps me not get too in over my head, or at least she tries.  If you were to ask her about childhood memories, she would also tell you that her grandparents farm was one of her favorite places.  Clide and Sarita were very influential in her life, establishing consistency, love and faith.  They were an escape from what had been a dysfunctional home life.  We chose to name our Little One after his great, great Grandpa Clide because of the impact he made in my mother-in-law's life.  Without him, her life and our family would be very different.

I didn't quite realize the effect that legacies have until you have children of your own.  My husband and I are so incredibly blessed, in ways we can't even comprehend, because of the generations before us that have served the Lord.  We hope and pray that we can share such a legacy with our boys the same way our parents and grandparents have with us.

How perfect is this lamp shade?  We found the burlap at Joann's and covered it ourselves.  I say "we", but I really mean my MIL.  I came up with the idea and she did it for me.  I'm not sure what I'd do without her!  She is always willing to jump in and help me.  We used the same burlap to cover the letters to his name that hang above the canvases.

My mom gave me an old basket that I painted white to store his little blankets in.  It's a great idea if the Toddler didn't insist on dumping them out every other day.

I bought this piece at a local vintage craft fair.  It's one of my favorites!  The faucets act as hooks or door knockers.  We use them as hooks for his bath towel and jackets.

I'm in love with gray.  I wanted everything to be gray.

Don't you love the measuring stick?  Guess who made it for me?  Yup, my MIL.  She rocks.

I had a beautiful white cover on the changing pad but then I realized that was stupid.  I decided not to bother with it the reasons being: 1.  less laundry  2.  wipes clean/stays clean.

What's a farm without mason jars?  They are excellent for storing pacifiers, q-tips, diaper cream and any other little baby accessories!  We bought a big jar and labeled it as his "truck fund". Thanks to my dad, both of our boys have a car fund that we started when they were born.  Little One has a slow start but he has a few years.

My husband brought me home this tractor one day.  Isn't he sweet?

The letter is a decoration from my baby shower that never happened.  He came the night before!

When planning this room, I knew I wanted a gray crib.  I had to have one.  This set was really inexpensive compared to most gray cribs out there.  I was elated to find one in my budget.  I ordered it the day it came out on the market and waited 4 months for it to arrive.  Unfortunately it arrived after the Little One did, but it was worth the wait!  We love combining the modern straight lines with the vintage decor.

Both of my boys love their blankets that my sister-in-law made them.  They are beautiful!

 
The fabric garland was made by a dear friend for my shower.  The one that never happened.

I took the pictures then had them printed as 16x20 posters and I mounted them to canvas using Modge Podge.  Both my MIL and I have mounted poster prints onto canvas using Modge Podge and it worked out beautifully each time!  There are several tutorials to choose from but we were happy with our results.  She didn't Modge Podge over the top of the photos so her photos have a very clean look.  I did because I wanted an old, vintage feel.  I would also recommend trimming down your poster just slightly.  I had a little bit over an overlap that drives me crazy.  Of course no one else would notice it but I do.  So, lesson learned for next time.

These pictures mean so much to me!  They are my own photos I took of my grandparents farm and of a farm we like to take the boys that's just down the road from us.

I hope you enjoyed.  I hope you were inspired, if not to create, then to leave a legacy.