Honoring the Stars and Stripes

Today is Veteran’s Day!  It is a day where I think of my personal family and friends that have served this nation.  Today when I raise my flag, I will be thinking of my father who served two tours of in Vietnam and came back with a a Purple Heart, my grandfather who served in WWII, and my friend who just got back from a year in Afghanistan leaving his son who was fighting his battle with  leukemia (Click HERE for a sweet media press about this). The sacrifice our American brothers and sisters give to this nation, when they sign their name on the dotted line, is great and I respect that each day.

I am sharing with you a project I made with DecoArt paint products and an old weather pallet. I am a lucky crafter that has an opportunity to play with DecoArt products and blog about it and when I thought of projects I wanted to do with their paints, I wanted to make something I can hang outside that is a symbol of patriotism all year long.  This was such a fun and easy project to pull together and having my Silhouette Cameo handy gave it additional character.

Here is how I did it:

For the stars and sentiments, I cut out on vinyl I scored from Pick Your Plum using the basic Silhouette fonts and a star is from the Silhouette store.

After breaking down an old pallet and cutting to the desired size, I painted each board with “Americana White Wash”.

Once dry, cut and burnish vinyl images onto the pallet and peel away transfer tape (leave the star block in place at this point). Then paint each pallet red or white.

Once stripes are dry, pull off transfer tape around the stars and paint.  Then using a rag, dab “chocolate brown” in random spots along with over the sentiments that are on the white boards.

Once fully dry, pull off all vinyl and sand down using both a hand and electric sander to add more of a “distressed” feeling.

To set and secure the finished pallets, use wood glue and nail two strips of wood to secure each pallet into place (I used a nail gun, but using nails and a hammer will work just as well). Finish project by sealing it with a sealer.  I used a stain finish.

There you have it! Whipping up a patriotic themed project can be fun and easy and having DecoArt be your right hand is a perfect pair in getting a creative job well done.