A Wee St. Pat’s Pallet Sign

Top o’ the morning! Before I throw you into this post I need to give you a tiny history lesson… My little brood is actually a wee bit Irish (by ‘wee’ I mean pretty darn close) not through me, but my hubby basically has green blood.  My In-laws emigrated from Northern Ireland in the early 70’s to central Canada, then later moved east to try life in God’s country. Fast-forward 30 or so years, hubby and I get hitched, have little leprechauns of our own, and bam I’m a wee bit Irish! Now that you know I’m legit I can’t wait to show off my St. Patrick’s Day Pallet sign.  My sister is a horse lady (aka Cowgirl) as I’m sure you know horses need their shoes changed, and what are you to do with the oldies?  Throw them away, no way – hand em on over to your ultra crafty sister of-course. Below is the state I received them in.

Looking a little sad and rusty I gave them a blast with a wire brush and it brought them right around. Now if you’re not as lucky as this lady and you’re looking for horseshoes you can buy them new at farm supply stores or perhaps you can find a farrier that could pass on some oldies to you. I put on my thinking cap and decided a pallet sign was in order. Here is how it went:

I first hacked up a pallet with a jig saw (ripping one of these apart maybe more than you bargained for, cutting is much quicker)I then laid out my slats and nailed two others to the back for supports. If you need more direction Shanty to Chic has a great tutorial that is easy to follow. I then cut out my phrase with my digital cutter onto some vinyl, and filled in the holes with acrylic paint.

Easy peasy right?  When my paint was dry I gave it a little scuff with sandpaper, to make it not look so cookie cutter. I didn’t have any shoe nails so I used carpet tacks which have a bit of a rustic look to them. I lined up my horseshoes in a clover pattern and nailed them to the sign.  The part I don’t have a pic of is getting my husband to cut one in half with the angle grinder (cutting metal not really my thing). When all was done it still need a bit of something. I decided a touch of green would do the trick.  I put a little squeeze of paint onto a rag and rubbed it into the wood inside the clover.

Notice how this sign is perched and not on the wall?  Well here is my honest tidbit… this sign weighs more than my 3-year-old.  Harwood pallet + 5 steel horseshoes = very heavy sign!  Just keep this in mind if you consider making one. But WAIT this isn’t all… check back tomorrow for sign no. 2, you’ll be ‘lucky’ you seen it!

-Virginia

I’m sharing this project at:

Craft-O-Maniac

Made by you Monday

The 36th Avenue