"Doesn't EVERY Home"???

...need just one more rustic wood sign? I say YES! If you don't have any, you need one...and this simple, simple sign is just the place to begin. And, if you already have one...or two...or many, many more like me? Well, they're kind of like potato chips-there's always room for just one more!

I can't take the credit for this sign. I was looking for just a little something else to "pop" our front porch and I found this lovely on my autumn Pinterest board. Knew it would be easy, so off I went.

I'm still trying to be easy on my back so after checking around the garage and yard and not finding an old beat up piece of wood I could use, I made a quick trip to Lowes and just grabbed a dog-ear fence slat-$1.58. I would have liked a wider piece of wood but I wanted the rough texture, so this was my best bet.

My next stop on a project like this is usually my Cricut. I bought one of the very first one of these machines ever made. I have gone off several times to buy a newer, larger one, but, since I am not teaching, doing scouts, etc. any more, I really don't use it as much as I did and can usually find a way to make it work. Since my board wasn't as wide as I had wanted, it actually worked perfectly with the largest letters I could cut on my Cricut. If I had needed larger letters, I would have just enlarged them on my copier but that would then have involved cutting them out and this was SO much easier.

A lot of time when I am doing something with Cricut cut letters or designs, I cut them from their vinyl sticker sheets but, that stuff is expensive and since this was for a rustic looking design any way, I wasn't as obsessive about paint going under the stencil. I cut the letters out of scrap card stock and determined where they would go.

I cut a little off of the end of this board so that it wasn't quite so tall, gave the letters all a quick hit with spray adhesive, positioned them in place and gave the whole thing a light spray with some orange paint. Again, since I was going for rustic, I kept the paint kind of transparent-just a quick coat or two with some of the wood still peeking through.

I peeled off the letters just as soon as the paint felt fairly dry because my spray adhesive becomes permanent if left on too long.

So this is where I am now. I kind of like it like this although I know my inspiration picture has the letters painted with an off white color. I know my back will be happier if I stop here but my gut is saying "paint it". Another con though is that this is rough wood and getting nice crisp lines is nearly impossible. Not sure where I will end up. I guess I could leave it like this and paint it if I just can't overlook it.

I also want to share the newest member of our family for those of you not on Facebook.

This is Jasper. Isn't he the cutest thing ever? Daughter #1 adopted him from a Golden Retriever Rescue organization. He was rescued from a meat packing plant in Korea. Yes, you heard me right. Apparently, they eat dog! We are looking forward to heading down to meet him next week but we hear he is the sweetest, calmest, gentlest dog ever! And, it sounds like he may even be winning over his sister-dog, Hattie. Hattie is an old black lab and pretty much over the playful puppy stage but maybe this guy can change her mind!

So, if any of you were betting people-and know me at all-you are not surprised at what is coming next!

Yes, I painted it. I took it out front and put it on the porch and with all of the shadowing, the letters just didn't pop enough. I used the left over chalk paint that I had from my 4th of July project.

You can't really see it here but after the paint dried, I took some sand paper and "knocked off" a bit of the paint. I was going to add a bit of stain as well but since this wood is SO rough, I was afraid it would just soak in and leave blotches so I skipped that step.

I love it here...isn't it just what was missing-haha? Don't know why, but I just can't seem to get enough of these signs...so much wood, so little time! Stay tuned.