Pinning-It

You know the saying "Winning It".. well today my saying is "Pinning It!"

That's right.  I'm a proud carrying, paint and stain covered Pinterest winner!

The spouses' club I'm a part of, hosts a bi-monthly "Pinterest Night."  Because um, hello Pinterest is amazing (and evil) and it's always fun to find something and re-create it!  Well, lucky me, I taught this month's class.  We wanted something that everyone would love and enjoy.  And with all of us being military spouses, that personal touch always adds a little something extra to our homes.

I gave our spouses two options. 1) "This is us" 2) Their Initial, Last Name and the year they were married.

We used a 10 inch by 8 foot Pinewood for the main part of the sign, and a 1 inch thick Oakwood for the trim.  To stain the trim I used MinWax-Special Walnut 224 stain.  Two coats of that and it was the perfect shade!

To speed up time, my husband and I pre-cut and built each sign.  I stained each trim piece prior to assembling the rest of the sign.  I knew if we did it all there from start to finish we would either need a whole lot of wine or it would turn into a sleepover!

Once all the boards were built, I used my Silhouette Cameo to create each stencil using Contact Paper. I prefer to use Contact Paper, mainly because its inexpensive and it sticks nicely to the wood.  And when you're ready to peel it off, it doesn't leave a residue.



Again to save time, I went ahead and added painters tape on all the trim so when they put the first coat of paint on it would touch the trim.  Then it was time to box it all up and get ready for our fun night of painting!

Of course you can't attend Pinterest Night during October without some cupcakes!  Check back soon for a post on these "Bloody Sugar Glass Cupcakes"!

Once we got started I asked all the ladies to first add 2 thin coats of black paint.  Doing thin coats helps it to dry faster and prevents from having dried clumps of paint.  The best part of doing this with friends is while we wait for the paint to dry we could all enjoy the snack and of course girl talk!

After about 30 minutes or so, we added the next step of applying the contact paper stencil.  This part can be kind of hard.  Using a hard card to press the white part onto the board while removing the clear paper on top, go slowly and if it doesn't stick just put it back down and try again.  It takes some practice but eventually it will come off.  Then press down all over the letters to ensure there aren't any bubbles and add another very thin layer of black paint over the letters.  This helps prevent the white paint from bleeding through.

Finally once the last bit of black paint dries, I had everyone do another 2 layers of thin white paint.  I know some of you are probably confused as to why they are putting white paint over a white stencil.  This is called the PVPP method, Paint, Vinyl, Paint, Peel.  I prefer not to use vinyl on my signs mainly because over time they will eventually begin to peel off.  Where as with paint, if it chips or gets scratched, it'll add to the look.

Once the white paint has dried, using a knife/spatula we carefully peeled off the stencil.  And we were left with these beautiful rustic chic signs!

TA-DA!!  I'm so happy to call these ladies my friends and that I was able to teach them how to make a special sign for their own homes!  It was a fun night of laughing and paint.

If you would like more details or have a question on how something was done, please feel free to leave a comment.

XO-Beth