FINALLY...and, Two For the Price of One!!

Yay! I finally have a bit of Valentine's inspiration. For some reason, I have a very difficult time coming up with new, cute usable ideas for this holiday! I can't begin to tell you how much time I have spent perusing Pinterest and the craft stores looking for something-anything-that would get me motivated. This is really about the only holiday that I don't have so many ideas, I can't fit them all in. I don't know why, but I just know it happens every year about this time-and, tempus fugit!

I am not exactly sure when it struck, but strike it did! I remembered some pallets that Jen and I had stuck stored in our backyard. It was about the time that she was cladding her foyer in ship lap siding made from old, found pallets and she was picking up as many as she could. Her foyer turned out beautifully and she had some left over so, never wanting to "short" a future project (in this case, waayyyy future), we kept them here. They have been here a while and as I started to think about readying the yard for spring, I thought about getting rid of them. And then...LIGHT BULB moment-since pallet art is so popular, how about figure out how to use some of this wood for Valentine's gifts? I didn't want to make anything large and presume everyone else would love it as much as me, so I decided to rig up a small sign that could hang by itself or nestled in a wreath, on a shelf, etc. And, because it is already weathered wood, it could definitely hang outdoors!

Now, I still don't know exactly what this said sign will look like, but I am on my way! And, because just that knowledge got me excited, I am on my way with other Valentines as well.

I finished painting the porch sign. The natural wood lettering would have been fine but I like the white better.

My other projects are beginning to fall into place as well. I got my cards made, found some other supplies I think I might want for the signs and have begun picking up supplies for the kids' Valentine weekend. The best part is that I am finally getting excited about it and cleaning out my yard at the same time! Yay!

If you are on my gift list, I would normally issue a spoiler alert at this point, but since I don't even know for sure where this is going, I don't think I am giving anything away.

The first step of pallet "art" is usually the hardest-taking apart the pallet. But, since I only need small pieces, I found that cutting the strips with a saber saw was WAY easier than actually trying to pry these things apart! Of course, this idea didn't strike until AFTER we had a much needed rain so everything is wet and now drying out in the garage before I can actually get moving on it-hopefully by this weekend! Stay tuned.