Reclaiming a bit of History

 My daughter called me a few months before Christmas and said she wanted to put the commercialism of the Holidays aside, and make homemade gifts.  I can't deny it.  I was a bit surprised.  But after hearing her excitement about being able to save money for a summer family vacation, I couldn't help but agree.  After all, she already had her contribution made, so how could I say no. So, I promised to get in touch with the rest of the girls in the family and that was that.

  I called my mom first. She was a little disappointed,(Mom is Santa Claus in disguise), but she agreed that it would be nice not to have to tackle the busy stores.  Her contribution would be to make some of our favorite baked goods.  My niece was next.  She is a true-blue farm girl who cans everything from her garden, so she had no issue with sharing some of her stash with the rest of us.

Now it was my turn.  I had to come up with something fabulous!  So, I did what anyone would do- I Googled 'homemade gifts.'  I'm not exaggerating, when I say literally hundreds of sites came up, showing the most amazing, crafty ideas imaginable.  But there lies the problem.  I am not a crafty person.

A month went by, and I had pretty much given up hope of ever finding something I could contribute.  Something not only useful, but special.

 A week later my daughter called.  During our conversation, in which we were planning our Christmas get together, she mentioned re-modeling her laundry room.  That's when it hit me! I remembered my mom telling me about one of the corn cribs in her barnyard falling down.  I knew what I was going to make. Signs made with reclaimed wood!

The following weekend, hubby and I made the short drive out to mom's farm with a crowbar and hammer in hand. 

Here is the door of the corn crib. It took hubby a few tugs with the crow bar, but thankfully it came off without any damage.

And here is one of the signs we made from one of the pieces of the door.  This one went to my niece, because it is her favorite saying and the color's matched her cute, country kitchen.


My daughter on the hand-had a specific location she would need to fill, so I made a call to her hubby for measurements.  The planks from the corn crib door were not thick enough, so we searched around inside the crib and found several larger pieces.

This is the completed version.




The how to on these projects were pretty simple.  Even though the wood was aged (awesome) it was not rotted or damaged.  A light sanding to remove any impurities that would show after painting was done with a medium grit sandpaper.  Than it was time to put the base coat on.  We went to Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite stores) and purchased several bottles of Patio Paint.  I can't tell you how amazing this paint is for covering and drying quickly.  Once dry-we used stencils( that we also purchased at Hobby Lobby), and let dry.
That's it!  There was no need to add a coat of poly, because these signs would be out of the elements.  But, if you are making signs for outside, I would recommend doing so.

So-there you have it.  I succeeded at making a homemade gift!  It was simple, made with love, and best of all, now each member of our family has a part of our family heritage hanging in their homes.

All in all-the Holiday season was very successful and who knows, we may even do the 'homemade' Christmas next year!

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!