I know, it's a
FREAKING miracle!!! I've been jonesin' for a craft fix for a while now and thanks to Jeromina over at
Paper, Plate and Plane I
FINALLY satisfied that craving!!! She made
this beauty . . .
DON'T kill me, but . . . I'm not really into Valentine Decorating, not sure why really, just never cared much about it :(
Jeromina used foam core and I loved how simple and inexpensive it was. I wanted something sturdier and something for Bucket's room. Here is what I came up with . . .
Cute right?? I used orange lights, although you can't tell in the picture. And, of course I forgot to take a pic with the lights turned off. This light was
RIDICULOUSLY easy to make once I got all the measurements done.
So, let's get down to it . . .
I had this scrap piece of pressed wood leftover from the closet redo and it worked
PERFECTLY!! I used my Mickey Mouse Font Cricut Cartridge that I just got from
Paper Crafting Pro, such
FABULOUS deals on cartridges over there, go check it out!!
Anyway, I cut out a "B" at 11 inches and headed out to the garage. My wood was already a 15.5" square so I didn't have to cut anything, which was a plus. I traced the B onto the wood with a sharpie and then used my sewing tape measure to measure around and get the length. Then I figured the spacing for each hole, just making sure that I wouldn't end up with too little space for the holes to be even at the end.
DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?? In my case I marked every .75" with the sharpie. Then, using my drill I drilled all the holes.
I would
LOVE to say that I used my drill press for this job, since it would have been a
ZILLION times quicker, but it's still in the box and it was
FREEZING outside this morning and I wasn't about to figure out how to assemble him.
WOW, talk about a run-on sentence!!!
Doesn't it look so fabulous with all those little evenly spaced holes?? Oh I love it!!!
BTW, depending on the type of lights you use, you'll want to make sure that you use a drill bit that will allow for you to get the lights through each hole. Or if you use the fancy LED lights you may have to take the bulbs out, stick the socket through the back, and insert the light through the front. That way the socket fits tight in the hole :)
I gave it a good sanding with my palm sander and now its time to make the bracket box for the back.
I used a 1 x 3 since it's what I had on hand, but you could use anything that you have. Just make sure that with the thickness of the plank and the size of the initial or whatever else you make, that you cut the wood for the box that it clears the holes and still gives you room on the edges. Easy enough, right?
I should say though, I didn't actually make a box since I didn't have enough 1 x 3, so there are gaps in the corners. I marked the center of the board and the center of each 1 x3 and lined them up 1.25" in from the edges. That measurement will determine how close your shape is to the edge of your board :)
Using the nail gun I shot a few nails in from the underside. Yes, I do my projects on the freezer, don't judge how dirty it is . . . it's rather old!! Once I did a quick attach of all 4 pieces I flipped it over and shot more nails through from the front to make sure everything was nice and secure.
These are my gaps, it doesn't really make a difference to me since you can't see them once the light is on the wall.
Take the palm sander to the nail holes and then used some wood putty to fill in the marks. Let the putty dry and then sand again. By the time I sanded the putty I had almost completely got rid of all the sharpie marks, which eliminated the need for priming :)
I used some aqua-teal-bluish oops paint and gave it a good once over, using a q-tip to paint the holes and get rid of any drips. I let it dry, then applied a second coat and took the q-tip to it again. Rather tedious, but necessary, otherwise my lights might not fit in the holes.
Once it was dry I took the sander to it again to give it a distressed look. I originally thought I would use a high gloss clear coat, but I liked the way the distressed look coordinated with his existing room decor.
Now it's time to put the lights in. I didn't take a picture of this step, but it's quite simple. Ideally I would like to glue the lights in, but we all know that twinkle lights aren't known for their long lives, so that wasn't an option. I just used a lot of pressure and twisted them into the holes. I had 69 holes and the strand had 100 lights so I just shoved the extra lights in the back. I used an extension cord to plug in the lights, rather than having lights running down the wall. I still don't love the extension cord, but since I'm not an electrician and don't know how to wire an outlet wherever I want . . . I didn't have many options :)
I turned it on and showed Bucky and he said
"COOL" which means that I did a good job!!! He is currently obsessed with all things Mickey Mouse, hence the usage of the Mickey font, and I am DYING to make one with an outline of Mickey's head and either white or red lights. I think that once he is in a big boy bed I will do his room in Mickey colors . . . oooo now I'm excited for him to upgrade to the big boy bed!!!
Oh also . . . I jumped on the rain gutter bookshelf bandwagon . . .
and
BUCKY LOVES IT!!!!
