From Wedding Signs to Wall Art

Hello everyone! So this week on the blog I thought I would feature a little DIY project.

Recently, in my spare time I have been trying to decide how to decorate the rather plain walls throughout my house. I have tons of ideas of what  I want to to do, but I can never settle on just one. Either that, or I just simply run out of time. So this past weekend I took some time to dust off those old wedding signs that were taking up space in my garage and try and create something functional.

One of my main goals for our wedding was to be able to reuse almost everything that we made or bought, somewhere throughout our house. It is kind of nice walking through our house and seeing little touches of our special day. It adds a touch of nostalgia that every home needs. That being said, I decided to take the rustic style wooden signs that I created and turn them into some wall decor.

I had 14 wooden signs just sitting in the corner of my garage. After disassembling them and touching up the stain they were ready to up-cycle. Each sign is about 11in x 2in, give or take a little. They were each created from an old wooden palate, so if you are need of some wood, that would be a good place to start.

While the touch up stain was drying I took a trip to the local craft store. There I bought the following:

• 3 - 8x10 rustic picture frames without the glass
• 2 - packs of clip magnets
• 2 - squares of burlap (located in the paper isle)
• 1 - square of canvas (located in the paper isle)

I also took a trip to Lowes to get:

• 2 - Vent clips
• Picture hanging kit (I got one that had multiple types of hangers because I wasn't sure exactly where or how I would be hanging them)

Other things that I had around include:

• Staple gun and staples
• Stain (Minwax Dark Walnut)
• Wood Glue
• Hot Glue
• Drill
• Screws
• Scissors
• Mason Jars

Once the stain was dry I tackled the mason jar sconces. For those you will need one vent clamp, a mason jar, drill and nail. You also may need a screwdriver.

1. Decide where you would like to place your mason jar. I decided that direct center was ideal for me, so I then proceeded to drill a hole through the metal vent clip and the wood. Be sure not to drill all the way through.
2. Once the hole is drilled screw the vent clip to the piece of wood. 
3. Tighten the vent clip down enough for the mason jar to fit through. (For this part you might need an extra set of hands to help hold the jar)
4. Continue to tighten the vent clip down completely until the mason jar is secure. This is where a screwdriver may come in handy.
5. Finally, add the hanging kit of your choice and mount on the wall.

After the sconces I decided to tackle the photo frames. For this I took 4 boards for each photo. As a whole the 4 boards together measure to about 11x14.

1. First, to help secure the boards together while I was drilling them into place, I used a staple gun. I stapled three staples down the seem of each connecting boards. You must keep the staples in the center so that the fabric and the frame will conceal the staples. 
2. I then trimmed the fabric to fit the 8x10 frame and stapled the fabric to the back of the frame.
3. Next I added a bead of wood glue around the entire edge and placed the frame in the center of the connected boards. I didn't have time to wait for the wood glue to dry so I added a little hot glue as well. This is not necessary if you have time to let it dry overnight. 
4. Once together I flipped the entire piece over and drilled holes that aligned with the top and bottom of the 8x10 frame. Then I screwed the frame to the boards. This helped to give the piece more stability and gave me some peace of mind knowing it wasn't going to come crashing down on my floor. 
5. Once all the screws were in place I hot glued the clip near the top of the 8x10 frame. I used a 5x7 photo to be sure that I had enough clearance all the way around. 
6. Finally, add the wall mounting kit of your choice. These tend to be a little on the heavy side so I would recommend something more sturdy. 

Now my wall art is complete, my garage was less cluttered and I had a great place to display some wedding photos. I hope you have fun  making your own wall decor. Feel free to share photos or comments about your own experiences.

Cheers!

Kenzie