Day 5 - Ten Days of Turkey

I can't believe we are at the halfway point!  I hope you are getting inspired.  Todays project is an inspiration project.  I have seen cute block sayings all over the internet and in the stores and just knew I could make my own set.  This one came in at under $6 with LOTS of paint and about 1/2 the wood left over to make another project.  Here is what we are making:

and to make this you will need:
1 piece of 1 by 3 wood.  Now you can be all fancy and buy the expensive stuff, but I just bought a cheapy 1 by 3 firring strip.  This isn't top quality wood so be sure to look it over in the store and get the straightest, most knot free piece you can find.  It runs about $1.66 at our local store
acrylic paints.  I used some Glidden interior paint in linen for my base coat because I got a pint of it for free from Glidden and free is great!  For the actual colors I used a magenta, antique gold, hunter green and some brown mixed with black for my lettering. 
You will need a saw to cut the blocks.  I used my hubbies "chop saw" for the very first time ever for this project.  I have to admit that I kind of felt silly after I read the manual and then examined the thing for two days trying to figure out how to get the saw to release before I finally found the little release bolt!  No instructions were given in the manual for this!  If you don't have a chop saw any old saw will work, even a hand saw.
Sandpaper, I used 100 grit because that is what I had.
and of course paint brushes.

First measure your blocks and mark your wood.  Notice also that your wood is NOT 3 inches wide.  I really don't know why they advertise it as 3 inches because it NEVER is!  Not that it really matters in this case, just rambling here.  Okay, here is what you need to mark.  Starting at one end of the strip mark a line at 5 inches, at 10 inches, 14 inches, 18 inches, 22 inches, 26 inches, 30 inches, 34 inches, 38 inches, and 42 inches.  You will cut on each line and should end up with 10 blocks, 8 that are about 4 inches tall and two that are about 5 inches tall. 

Next begin sanding all the sides and especially the corners and the short ends.  You don't need to be perfect here but I wanted rounded corners so I had to do some work.  After sanding be sure to wipe each piece down to remove any sawdust or debris.

apply a base coat of paint to each block.  This will help keep your final color bright and should lessen the number of coats of paint you need to apply.  Although I think that my magenta color is either very old or has very little pigment to it because I didn't think I was ever going to get an even color!  Allow the base coat to dry.

Pick a pattern to your colors.  The two big blocks are going to be your "G" and "T" so you want to paint in a pattern that allows for that.  Or not, I am just a pattern kind of gal and wanted my colors to alternate.  Paint all sides of  each block.  You may need to apply several coats.  Allow the blocks to dry.

and the final step is to do your lettering.  You can freehand it, like I chose to do, or you can print out your letters and carefully cut each one out and ModgePodge them on, or you can use vinyl lettering etc.  If you paint your letters be sure to go slow and you may even want to thin your paint some so that it flows smoothly.  Allow to dry.

At this point you need to decide what you are doing with them.  I haven't decided yet.  You can leave them as is and have them sit on a shelf.  You can cut two pieces of your remaining wood, paint it and then use it as a stand.  Simply mark the letter placement, drill pilot holes from the bottome of the stand and then use screws from the bottom to attach the letters.  If that isn't your style you can screw cup hooks into the top of each block and hang from a fall leaf garland.  Your choices are endless!  I would love to see what you decide to do with yours!  You can add your pic to the Flickr Group 

Ohhh, and yes, in that final picture that is a rabbit ear that you see.  What with Netflix and free local digital signal, who needs cable!  Of course my kids are probably among the few in this country that associate rabbit ears with TV!

Until next time,