September D.I.Y.

This weekend I escaped to my cabin for some much needed R&R. It was peaceful, relaxing and completely calming. While not being one to sit idly by, I brought my guitar, some books and all the bits and pieces for a do-it-yourself kind of project. The guitar didn't get touched because friends and family arrived and at my level guitar playing is more of a solitude kind of activity. The books got traded in for some coronas and 3.5 games of Settlers of Catan. But the D.I.Y project was completed and if I do say so myself, I am quite happy with how it turned out.

If you spend any time on Pinterest, you may have seen this idea. You take a box of finishing nails, an unspecified piece of wood and a word or shape to use as a template. You hammer the nails partly into the wood, string thread around it all and voila! You have wall art! This is how I did it:

I scavenged around the cabin for some unique pieces of wood, washed them off and sanded the rough or sharp edges. 

I then took the words I had printed off and tacked them on to the slabs. I printed off quite a few words - Adventure, dream, create, design, laughter - for relaxation sake, I ended up going with live. Nice, simple, short "live".

Start by tapping the finishing nails 1/4 of the way in all around the outside edge of the letters, roughly 1/4" apart. Tip: don't drink a pot of coffee with breakfast when doing this project - a steady hand is key in lining the nails up right and not hitting your thumb.

Once you have hammered all the nails in, peel the paper off. Don't worry about little bits that the nails have caught - you won't see them in the end.

String thread around the perimiter of the letters and then double back to criss-crossing the thread at random. When you start off, leave a tail of thread so you can tie to it when you are finished. 

That is pretty much it. It honestly didn't take all that long. Maybe an hour for the nails and 20 minutes for the thread. And I think it looks great - I even found it a new place on a wall at the cabin! Although, I don't think you need words of wisdom when you are out there...