Pallet Signs for a little boy's room!

After I made the first set of nursery room signs, my niece, Amanda, commissioned me to make another set-this time for a boy!

I began by 'commissioning' hubby to do the technical work. (A bag of dark chocolate M&M's works every time!)

Hubby's List of Materials:

2 pallets- (the signs are 17"x24"-requiring 5 slats each)
wood screws-(hubby uses black drywall screws)

Tools:
Drill
Saw
Clamps
Palm Sander

Step One:  Disassemble the pallets, removing existing nails as you go
Step Two: Cut each of the boards from the pallet to size
Step Three: Arrange the boards(5 for each sign) side by side.
Step Four:  Measure height of boards and divide by 2 (this is to determine length of vertical braces)
Step Five:  Cut 2 boards for vertical braces
Step Six: Placing the horizontal boards face down(good side)-lay the vertical pieces down on top
Step Seven: Mark the vertical boards with an X to show where you will be drilling-(Hubby recommends 2 diagonal marks for the top and bottom (horizontal) boards, and 1 in the center of the three middle(horizontal) boards.)
Step Eight: Remove the vertical board and drill holes through the X's you've marked
Step Nine: Place vertical boards back on the horizontal boards (making sure everything is square) and clamp together
Step Ten: Select dry wall screws at least 1/8" less than the thickness of the combined boards
Step Eleven:  Drive screws through the vertical board into the horizontal board until flush
Step Twelve:  Sand

Whew!  That's a lot more steps than I thought it would be!  Good thing hubby knows what he's doing, because it all sounds too technical for my weary mind!

Okay- so now if you've done everything hubby did-your sign(s) should look like this:

Back view

 Front View

Now comes the FUN part- turning those plain old boards into a work of art.  (Okay, mine are not even close to art-but you know what I mean!)

My supplies:
Pencil
Tape Measure or Ruler
Paint
Stencils
Paint Brushes

Colors: Patio Paint- Summer Sky Blue and Cloud White (missing from photo)
            Apple Barrel- Blue Bonnet and Real Yellow

Since hubby put his directions into steps-I'll do the same-although I'm sure mine will be much less

Step One:  Apply a base coat onto each sign- (In my case-one white and one blue) and let dry for at least an hour.

            I started the blue sign using the summer sky blue-but decided it was too dark for my liking. So, I began experimenting by adding a touch of the blue bonnet.  I liked aged look a whole lot better.

It reminded me of one of hubby's faded pair of jeans-

Step Two: Stenciling- sadly, I do not have a 'quote' vinyl stencil for this sign-(if you do, you can skip this step)- Otherwise, you will need to use your trusty little pencil and ruler-to ensure even spacing between the letters as well as, alignment of the words.

I did pretty well on the first sign-

The second one was a touch off on the first line.  There was a nasty hole in the wood, which made it impossible for me to stencil the 'm' in me in the location I measured.

Since I just recently got into this 'crafty' business, I do not yet have all the supplies I should. Without stencils, I had to improvise when it came to the sun and cloud design.

For the sun- I used the lid off of a canning jar and traced the circle-I free-handed the rest.
For the cloud-I tried to trace one that I'd printed from the internet-but it was a complete failure-so in the end-I free-handed it as well.

Step Three: Attach a heavy duty picture hanger to the back of each sign. (You can also use galvanized wire or a new 'thingy' called a French Cleat Hanger.)  
 

Step Four:  Hang your signs-This usually entails finding the studs in your wall (another of hubby's chores) but, since these signs are going to another home-I gingerly placed them on existing nails for their photo op!

Well, I guess hubby wins on the amount of steps his side of this project took.  Oh well, it was a joint effort any way you look at it!

There are TONS of pallet signs out on pinterest.  What are some of your favorites?  I'm looking for some new ideas- so let me know!

Happy Wednesday everyone!