F is for Family and...

Falcon! 


I'v been slowly but surely working on our Family Photo Wall. I've been searching thrift stores for frames (I could just go to our local Walmart and buy some frames but the treasure hunt is more fun!). I've already started spray painting all the frames I have found the same color:

And last week we took a trip to the "Big City" and I got to go to Hobby Lobby! Oh it's been to long. I found this cute Fleur De Lis plaque for 1/2 off and bought it to go on our photo wall; since we're from Louisiana and all.

They also had some cute wall letters that made me think it might be nice to mix the Letter F (our last name initial) in the photo collage as well.

I created a Letter F Template and printed it out. If you want one for yourself you can download it here: Letter F

After cutting out my template I traced it on a scrap piece of wood then cut it out using the band saw at our local wood shop. If you want to try this project yourself and don't have access to a band saw a small scroll saw or jig saw could work. Or heck- buy one of the pre-made ones at Hobby Lobby! ;)

Since I'm painting all the frames white and keeping the Fleur De Lis plaque gold I decided to paint the F a shiny gold as well since I'm bringing in some yellow tones into the room to contrast with the blue; but still trying to keep everything overall pretty neutral.

Ta-Da!

To complete this project I started by sanding down the wood to even out any rough edges.

Next I painted my base color. In this case a dark brown acrylic paint.

To give it an aged look I used a Weather Wood Medium from Americana Paints I was lucky enough to win in a contest a few months ago. 

This was an easy process. Just paint 1 coat of the weathering medium, let dry, then brush on your contrasting top coat; in my case a shiny gold.

Now all I need is a few more frames, print some pictures and I think I'll be ready for hanging!

Did you do anything crafty this weekend? I'd love to hear about it!