Sunday, December 30, 2012

"HOME" is Your Anchor




So I don't know about everyone else but I am a Home Goods addict on a .99 cent store budget. Every time I see something for the house my husband gives me the eye. I love decorating with knick-knacks and other little antiqued items that I find. However, what I usually find, that one awesome looking piece, it's out of my price range. Well one day my Mom and I were poking around Home Goods looking for Christmas gifts when we happened upon a little wall sign that read Family is your Anchor. It was cute and would have looked great it the living room.....WHAT!?$21.99. So that was a no go but the little sign stuck in my head.

Luckily I got some gift cards from the family in support of my knitting habit and took little Miss P and Miss K to the craft store. We found little bird houses for about a $1ea and I thought this would be a great project for them but when I moved around the houses I found an anchor. It was adorable and I had to find them.


I found the wood working section and some awesome little anchors for about .59 cents each. Looking around for some letters in the same section, I found ones that spelled out HOME (1.49 ea.) and picked up some cotton fiber cord in the tapestry section. Finally swinging around to the paint isle and selecting some cool nautical colors. 

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Starting with a layout out of the letters and anchors, I played around with the cord to find my favorite positioning.

Next, I pulled out some recycled packing paper and started mixing the paints to come up with some small color swatches. I used a mix of North Sea Blue and Pearl Finish White by Ceramcoat.

I painted all the letters and let them sit overnight to dry.


In the morning I looked over my letters and touched up all the spots that were unfinished. It took a couple coats to achieve the color I was looking for.


Once the main color was finished and dried I used the Pearl Finish White and began adding a small accent to the edges of the letters. 








To fade in the white I used my finger to blend the color in. You get a more exaggerated look with two or three coats in the same area, just remember to blend each one.








I let the letters dry again, checking them about every half an hour (total wait was about an hour). Once they were good to go, I pulled out the cord and anchors and reset my decided layout.


 






I have to thank my husband for being the handy man around the house and supplying the one thing most crucial to this project, Wood Glue. Now you can use a hot glue gun but wood glue actually will seep into the cord and adhere the wooden letters a little better. It also won't melt the plastic fibers of the cotton cord.

Don't forget to put a little pressure on the letters to make sure they stick. I laid an unused mason jar atop them to make sure they were on pretty well. It takes about an  half an hour to an hour to let the glue completely dry.






To check if your project is dry try lifting the cord carefully from your work surface. If the letters appear wobbly or tip them reapply the glue.

If the wooden letters are dry then flip over. To secure them completely to the rope I used Christmas light staples (they have a white plastic protector that's the prefect size for the cord) and put one to two staples over the cord into the back of the letters. You can also use a regular staple gun but make sure to check the size of the staple you are using. You don't want anything over a half inch.

For the staples that didn't go all the way in I used a hammer and pounded them down until they were no longer loose on top.


Now you have a customized home decor piece (or an awesome gift for a friend).

Remember to do this yourself, you will need:

- Wooden Letters (4 inch)
- Decorative Anchors or other decorative piece. 
(I found the two above at Joanne's Fabric and Craft Store)
- Paints
- Brushes
- 9.5mm Tapestry Cord
- Wood Glue
- Staple Gun and Staples