Or in my case, pallet wood. I found a stack of pallets lying by the dumpster at our local garden store and went inside to ask if I could have them. They said sure. I’m sure they were just as glad to get rid of them as I was to get them! So, I got them home and stacked them in the corner of my backyard and there they sat. For weeks……okay maybe months. First I wasn’t sure how to get them apart without completely busting them to pieces and then summer came and it got hot. Excuses, excuses – I know. Anyway, I finally decided to put some sweat equity into those suckers and let me tell you – there was a lot of sweat involved even though I waited until the dog days of summer were gone. But, here in the south, it’s still hot in September! Pallets are hard to take apart! I guess the whole point of them is strong construction so that they can securely hold whatever it is they are supposed to be holding while being shipped, but geez, I think it might have been easier to tear down an old barn!
I finally got enough boards off to make my first sign. I lined them up and then nailed a cross support piece on the back to hold them all together. Then I drew out an outline of the state of Alabama and cut it out of contact paper. I adhered the contact paper to the boards and then whitewashed the whole thing, leaving Alabama as a negative space. After that I only had to drag out some old stencils and add my lettering plus a cute heart that is supposed to be stuck on whatever city you love. I have two cities in Alabama that are ‘home’ to me, so I just left it at the bottom. This piece is not for me anyway, it is going in my craft booth.
