Pinterest Project Number 1: String Art!

I did not decide to start writing about my Pinterest escapades until after my first Pinterest Project Weekend so the photos for this project will not be that great. String art was one of the first pins I made to my Artsy Fartsy board.

 I went to Hobby Lobby looking for a good size wooden plaque for this project and found this slice of wood. I love the bark around the edges and thought it was perfect. It was $10.99 but I used a 40% off coupon and scored it for $6.59. I would say it's close to 8.5 x 11. If you printed a design on one piece of paper it would fit. Except maybe the far edges of the corners.

(Yeah. No before pictures. Flipped over the finished project for the raw, unfinished side.)

(PS if you shop at Hobby Lobby and own a smart phone but don't have the Hobby Lobby app, GET IT. There's a 40% off one item coupon you can use every time you walk in the door.)

Nosy Kitty. 

I've never used Polyurethane before but it was easier than I expected. I got the kind that cleans up with soap and water hoping it wouldn't be crazy smelly and it wasn't. I used it in my tiny craft room and it was hardly noticeable. The polyurethane was $6.62 from Lowes and I still have a lot left after 4 coats. I used a cheap 1 inch paint brush to apply it. I paid $1 for 3 pack, I think, from Mighty Dollar. I didn't end up with the shine I wanted but I didn't sand between coats and after 4 coats I was done fooling with it. It looked good enough.

Shiny enough for reflections anyway.

I drew an A, a J, and a heart on card stock with a ruler and a sharpie and cut them out. I stuck them to my shiny piece of wood with rolled up masking tape.

I used this little scrap of card stock to space out the nails. It didn't work exactly right but I made each end of the letters have 4 nails and you can't really tell they aren't spaced out perfectly even.

The nails were $1.30 from Lowes. I probably used less than half of them. I used a small hammer from a cheap tool set.

Now the fun part! I used embroidery thread I had in my craft supplies, but they are around $0.40 each at craft stores. I found some metallic thread that I didn't even remember I had. It was in a set of Christmas colors that was somewhere around $8.00 from a craft store. The metallics are DMC brand. The other 5 probably are too. I used light blue and tan for the A, dark blue and brown for the J, metallic red and metallic pinky-purpley for the heart, and dark gray for the outline. I don't have a picture of it without the outline but it was hard to see the A with the cutout in the middle. That was why I tried the outline. I like the way it turned out. To start the thread I made a loop around one nail and added a dot of tacky glue. Then wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped! I layered the colors but it would be fine with one color or even two colors at the same time. To finish the thread I tied a knot, cut it off, and added a dot of tacky glue.

And this is the end result!  

I'll be doing this again! And next time I'll take pictures before and during. Until next time!

So... Pinterest. Hello.

First Blog Post! Hello!

I was strongly opposed to Pinterest for years for who knows why. I caved. Peer pressure. But then I was mostly just confused by it. And as a computer programmer I was embarrassed that I could probably write the dang thing but couldn't figure out how to use it. I've spent a ridiculous number of hours looking at crafty tutorials, blogs, and YouTube videos and saving Better Homes and Gardens and Good Housekeeping pictures.

Last week I decided enough is enough! Pinterest was made for people just like me!

At first I was afraid my pins would make me look stupid so I didn't pin anything. That's when I was introduced to secret boards! I could pin and pin and pin and nobody else would see a thing. Awesomeness on a web page. A secret, non-judgmental web page. And from there I was no-looking-back-obsessed-head-over-heels hooked. I'm slowing beginning the transition to public boards. But I'm not rushing it.

I tried my first few projects from Pinterest this weekend. Mostly successful, one sort of fail. I decided I want to share with the world! So stay tuned!