Posted in Home Decor

Rustic Ampersand ‘and’ symbol

I have been seeing those ampersand signs everywhere lately.  The ampersand ‘and’ symbol really adds a touch of whimsy to engagement pictures, baby announcements, bookcases, walls etc.  I love it.  I have been working on revamping my mudroom.  I want it to be a ‘functional’ command center, to hopefully help reduce clutter on the counter…HOPEFULLY!  So I had an idea of ‘Keys & Things’; and thought it would be a fun way to add an ampersand for a little functional decoration.

The & took all of 15 minutes to cut out with my band saw.  I found a chunky piece of wood that I wanted to use, (it needs to be about the size of a paper 8 1/2″ x 11″).  Print and cut out the ampersand pattern rustic ampersand pattern.  Trace the & onto the wood.  If you are using a band saw then you’ll need to have cuts to get your blade into the inner circles.  If you are using a jig saw or scroll saw, you won’t have to make the cuts through the &, drill holes in the inner circle for you blade and you’re good to go.  Cut out the ampersand.  Lightly sand the edges if you need too.

I really liked the & with raw edges, but I thought it might be fun to add a little pop of color.  So I painted the edges with a coral-ish color.  Once the paint was dry, I roughed up the paint, to look weathered.  I kind of love how it turned out.

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Chunky rustic ampersand 'and' symbol pattern on hertoolbelt.com If you’d like to purchase a chunky rustic ampersand, check out my Etsy store.

Chunky rustic ampersand pattern on hertoolbelt.com

 

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Remodelaholic, Flamingo Toes,  Nifty Thrifty, Sunday Showcase, Skip to My Lou, Mad Skills, Inspiration Monday, DIY Show off, Snicker doodle Sunday, The Makers, too cute Tuesday, Savvy Southern Style, Make Bake Create, Winthrop, Creative Ways, Get your DIY on, Homestoriesatoz

 

Tennis Ball Pallet Sign

Do we have any tennis fans out there?  Tennis has been my favorite sport to play since I was young.  We had the best coach in town, Coach Braithwaite.  He was an avid supporter of the game of tennis and coached at the High School until he was nearly 80.  A couple of years ago, I went to the US Open with my friend, a fellow tennis lover, and a past tennis teammate.  For her birthday I made a tennis ball pallet sign, inspired by the US Open.  A tennis ball pallet sign is a fun decor addition for any tennis lover.

 

Pallet signs are pretty easy to make.  This tennis ball is 30″ diameter, so fairly large.  Start by cutting boards to 30″, you need enough boards to line up to make 30″ tall.  Cut 2 additional boards that are 30″ long, these will be the supports on the back.

on hertoolbelt.com Apply glue to the 2 support boards.

on hertoolbelt

Stack the boards onto the supports.  And nail into place with a brad nailer.  Allow the glue to dry for a few hours.

To make the large circle, put a nail in the center of the pallet sign.  Tie a string to the nail and tie a loop on the other end of the string 15″ from the nail.  Use a pencil in the loop and mark the circle, this will make a 30″ diameter.

Tennis ball cut circle

Cut out the circle using a jig saw, band saw or scroll saw.  Lightly sand the edges.

For the logo, I used the motto to the US Open, ‘It must be love’.  I made a stencil with left over vinyl pieces.  I printed out the lettering and used a razor blade and cut out the saying in vinyl.  Painters tape will also work as a stencil.

To achieve the layered colors, I applied the ‘IT MUST BE’ and fire tennis ball to the bare wood.  on hertoolbeltThen painted the surrounding areas blue.  I used Valspar Exotic Sea for the blue coloring.  Once the blue dried, I applied ‘LOVE’ and painted the entire pallet white.  After the white paint was fully dry, I made the tennis ball lines with painters tape.  (I wish I would’ve adjusted the tennis ball lines to make the words look like the tennis ball logo.)  The final coat of paint is Rustoleum Key Lime.  It makes the perfect tennis ball color.  You can either pull off the stencil and tape now, or pull it off when the paint dries.  Depends on how impatient you are 🙂

Once the paint is really dry, at least over night.  Use sand paper and rough up your sign.

on hertoolbelt.comAdd a hanger to the back and that’s it.

Now my friend needs to add some other super cool tennis decor to go with her fun pallet sign.  Maybe a gigantic racket? 🙂

gigantic tennis racket

 

 

 

 

or Maybe a court couch???

tennis ball couch

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I 'LOVE' tennis. Giant tennis ball pallet sign @hertoolbelt #tennisdecor #tennisLinked to Savvy Southern Style, Remodelaholic,

 

Bracket Frame Pattern

Does anyone else suffer from a case of the procrastinations?  Me, Me, Me, I do!  Luckily this blog is helping me actually finish projects 🙂  My friend bought this cute vinyl cut out on a group dealz of sorts oh maybe 2 years ago (from StyleWithVinyl).  She thought it would be so cute in her daughters room.  The vinyl is a chalkboard/dry erase vinyl, so awesome for a calendar.  She asked me a couple of months ago if I could whip up a frame for the calendar, and of course I would.  Luckily her daughter’s birthday was coming up, so I had a deadline, and I procrastinated until the deadline…ha ha.bracket frame pattern Continue reading →

Entertainment Center (PB media center plan) Doors

This is final part (part 5) in our PB media center build!  Wahoo, we are making doors.  We first built the TV Console, Cabinets & Toy Storage, Bookshelves and Bridge.   We have a few options with our doors.  In the PB magazine, they used inset doors.  Inset doors are flush with the face frame.  Overlay doors stand out from the face frame.  I made the media center with inset doors, keeping with the design in the magazine.

Media Center side view hertoolbelt Continue reading →