My Mother's Day Project ~ SuperMom Monday

Let me start off by saying I love the Shanty 2 Chic girls and have like TONS of their stuff Pin'd.  This project was inspired by these handy ladies with just a few tweeks by me.  Kind of sac-relig I know.  But isn't that the greatest thing about projects that we find, the inspiration?  I do love this project because it can be given as a gift to Mom not just on Mother's Day, but her birthday, for Christmas, or just because.  Also the free printable available from Shanty 2 Chic comes in other varieties too ~ Sister, Aunt, Niece & more so please check them out here.

Here's how I made my version that is just slightly different from the original, mainly because of the materials I had on hand and what I could find at my local store.  The only furniture nails and metal hinge clips I could find were gold and silver but I wanted the look of black to go with the black and white theme I had planned.  So what did I do?  Bust out my Chalk Board paint, this time in a spray version to make it easier on me.  You could always make your own in any color to match your decor ~ learn how easy it is to do here. 

If you haven't heard me say it before, I love chalk board paint.  I can use it any where.  A quick couple light sprays and my shiny silver clips and gold furniture nails now looked great!

Next step was the wood.  My Shanty idol's purchased a new piece of 2x12 pine board and had it cut to 15 inches wide.  I have a giant supply of wood sitting out back so I figured that something there would work.  My piece was only 11 inches tall but I had SuperHubbie still cut it 15 inches wide.  

It had a nice old-wood patina but the cut sides looked new, plus it was pretty rough and dirty so I had to sand it.  I used a power sander with 220 grit paper and gave it a good once over.

I kind of liked the way it looked after the dirt was off and the silvery-grey of the sun-stained wood looked pretty cool but I decided to stick with my plan.  I sprayed it with a paint that I use all the time, Krylon's Indoor/Outdoor in Satin Ivory.

I wasn't real particular and super concerned with coverage as I was going to give it another sanding to distress it a bit.  I left it to dry for about an hour before sanding.  I like to pay special attention to the corners as that is where the paint always wears off on old pieces.

.I rotated my board around a bit to decide what would be the top and bottom.  I'm kinda finicky that way.  SuperHubbie has gotten used to it.  =)

Now it was time to attach my pieces.  I had already printed my "Mom" sign as well as scanned a picture of 4 generations of girls on my Mom's side and printed it in black and white ~ size 3x5  (I'm the little one bottom right).  I also grabbed my furniture nails, hinge clips as well as the Gorilla Super Glue that was recommend for this project.  

Line up the printable where you'd like and push the furniture nails into the board to hold them in place.  Then simply take a hammer and nail them in.  I covered my nails with a cloth because I was worried the paint might come off if I didn't protect them a bit.  The last step is to glue your hinge clips down where you'd like.  

I had thought about only adding one picture size 5x7 which would look nice too, but the board would have to be cut several inches wider.  I left the bottom picture empty because I want to get a picture taken after my twins are born.  One is a girl and I thought it would be nice to have a picture with 3 generations ~ my Mom, me and my 4 beautiful daughters!

I thought about posting this before Mother's Day but my sweet Mama reads my blog and I wanted this to be a surprise!  But just like I mentioned earlier this is a great project for lot's of other occasions too.  Mom's never grow out of loving hand-made projects from their kiddo's, even if we are all grown up!