Family Signs!

One of the things I wanted to do this year at MOPS was some sort of wood craft. I had taken inspiration from this piece I saw on Pinterest.

 I made an example like I always do for any craft. Once I did that I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a craft that was that big in size so I had to get creative especially since I have a budget to think about. The best thing is one of our friends had a few pallets that he didn't mind giving to me so all the wood ended up being free. Michael and I both cut the wood apart into 12 inch pieces and then we nailed them together so they were 12 X 12 squares.

I stained all the squares with a dark stain I had on hand and then I used this cream colored craft paint that I got on clearance at Joann's for .99! The only thing that ended up costing money were the two stencils I bought and nails. The tree was $3.99 from Scrapbook.com and the one that had the sayings was from Joann's. I think it was probably $5, but I'm sure I used a coupon. In all the entire craft cost around $20! 

Since this was a pretty in-depth craft we didn't actually do the craft at MOPS. Instead I did a demo on how to stencil and then a week after the demo the ladies that were interested in making their own piece came over to have a fun crafting day. 

This was the one I made at MOPS while I was doing the demo. I had already completely one prior to the meeting so I raffled off both of them during MOPS. My friend Amanda got to take this one home with her! 

If I'm remembering correctly there were 8 ladies that came to my house. 5 came in the morning and then the other 3 came in the afternoon. It was a full day of fun crafting! It was really neat to see the different designs that the ladies came up with. Each unique and each fit their personalities. 

Corinne is all about nature right now so this saying was just perfect for her house. I love how she made the extra branches come in on the right side. 

Alicia made this one. The difference in style and preference was fun to see. Alicia wanted her tree to be more solid white, but Corinne wanted her tree to be a little on the lighter side with the paint so the brown would show through. 

Kara made this one...it was fun to see someone make it with the tree pointed the other direction.

Melinda decided to do something different from everyone else. She actually put tape over the trunk on the bottom of the tree. She wanted her trunk to be shorter so she could fit her saying centered in the middle under the tree. It really turned out great! 

My MOPS Coordinator Laci made this for her family. She was super precise with those letters and it took a while for her to complete it. It turned out so professional....love it! She also did her tree faces the other direction!

Elaina made this one. I love how she chose a bunch of different sayings! 

I joined in the fun and made this one for my brother & sister-in-law. Their 5 year wedding anniversary was coming up and I thought it would make a fun gift. Stephie of course loved it! 

There were a couple other ladies that came, but I wasn't able to get pictures of theirs. They all turned out so wonderful and it was such a fun day! Unfortunately the very next day was when I went down hill health wise so I ended up not finishing my own for over two weeks. 

In the end I decided to not have the full tree in the picture. I really like how it's not centered. 

This was one of those crafts that I was actually dreading because it just seemed too overwhelming! I'm really glad that I took the time to give it a try and I figured out how to make it work and not spend a ton of money. In fact I actually have another wood craft in mind for next years MOPS!