Guest Post PoppySeed Project

Guest Post-Pallet Wood Frame Tutorial

Hi there!!  My name is Lacy Horrocks and I am so excited to be a guest on Poppy Seed Projects today!!  I am joining you from Star Valley Wyoming and although the summers are beautiful here, the winters are LONG and COLD!  I choose to fill them with scrapbooking, crafting and laundry...lots of laundry!

I have a new obsession with "upcycling"... finding old things and making them beautiful! So you should not be surprised that I LOVE pallets and the many projects that can be made with them! I had been in love with these frames from The Savy Photographer for a while and when I saw the cute frames that Poppy Seed Projects had, I knew what I was going to do!

What you will need

1.  Pallet-  Check the back of stores or post an add on your local Craig's List and be sure to ask first if you find a pallet.  Most of the time retailers are wanting to get rid of them, but sometimes they have to return them.  I have a small collection so I picked one that would work and started to take it apart, This is probably the least fun part for me, but with the back of a hammer I was able to get all the boards apart and nails out.
2.   Frame-  Get a Poppy Seed Projects Frame in your favorite shape-I chose the Eleanor Rectangle.
3.   Dark Color Paint-  I chose a black acrylic paint, but this really could be any type of paint.  Burnt Umber is another one of my favorites.
4.  Lighter Color Paint - I chose a white, but wouldn't a light yellow or blue be so cute too?
5.  More Paint-  This color will be the color of your frame- This is going in my living room so mine will be red.
6.  Photo Texture Cream
7.  Industrial Strength Velcro
8.  Masking Tape

To start I enlisted the help of my hubby, his saws, and a staple gun.  We found 5 of the best pieces...  The ones that were not cracked or damaged too badly. We then cut them into approx 17" long pieces.  We then laid them all face down and put a small 1" wide trim piece across the back on both the top and the bottom. I stapled it on to hold it together.  (see the photo of the back of the pallet boards at the bottom if you don't understand)

Sand all your wood to get the little edges off of your frame and the slivers off of your pallet wood.  

I brought it inside and got ready to paint...if you want to do the antiquing with the texture cream, please watch Poppy Seed Projects' video tutorials look for "Making an Antique plaque" they are all awesome!!  My base color after the texture cream was black for the pallet boards and white for the frames.  There are so many possibilities this was the hardest part for me to decide what color to paint it all.  If you don't want the antique type look then just pick the two colors and paint away! :) 

After the base coat was completely dry I put on the second coat, white for the pallets and black for the frames.  (the thing in the middle is my brush in a plastic baggy...sometimes the kids don't wait and this keeps my brush from drying out! ) Let that coat dry completely.

I chose to add a little bird vinyl sticker on my frames in this corner and painted on a third red coat of paint. 

Now I let that all dry very well overnight. This is just what time it worked out to be for me, but give it a couple of hours. I peeled off the vinyl and you can see my black paint under that. I (Ignore the peeling nail polish...how embarrassing!)

Now it is time to sand.   I have 3 tips  1. Use 200 grit or so sand paper, so you don't take it all off at once. 2.  Sand by hand. and 3. Wipe the dust away as you sand with a DRY cloth.  There is no right or wrong, start small and if you want a bigger effect sand a bit more.  This is such a great effect!!  I think I am in love with this texture cream. 

Now for the finishing touches. I wanted to be able to change the photo in my frame so I bought strips of Industrial Strength Velcro and cut in in half length wise and took of one side of the paper backing and stuck this to my frame.  I then took off the other paper backing and stuck the frame to my pallet boards. 

Then I put the picture in the frame and just taped on the backing to hold it in place. 

 

Add the hanger on the back of the pallet boards and you are good to go! :)

 

These are now hanging in my living room, and I am loving it and planning the next project that will definitely involve a Poppy Seed Project frame!  Thanks again and remember to do something CREATIVE every day!

_______________

Lacy Horrocks is a mother of 3 small kiddos, who uses crafting as a way to stay sane among the everyday chaos of raising kids! She a partner at The Finishing Touch wedding decorating  and teaches crafting classes for her local community college branch.  When she is not doing these things she is working with developmentally disabled individuals and loves being able to help people better their lives.

More Milk

This is an old post, that I never published, made me smile big!  She was just so darn cute, and so little!!
Gracie has learned Sign Language and has been using it since she was about 7 months old. I hadn't captured it on video, but I just happened to have my camera out because she was belting out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star....missed that but thought this was cute too!

Weddings, Gymnastics and beauty marks

So this weekend the dishes are stacked in the sink and my house is a mess, must be a wedding weekend. Not only that.... this weekend we had Gracie's gymnastics show. She did great and it was so much fun getting her ready. Aunt Erin helped and we made it a girls fun makeover...how often can you say, yes you can wear my makeup? So on went the mascara, eyeliner and all!
It was leaning towards toddlers in tiaras, Complete with a beauty mark drawn on. I am sure that some mom's saw that and thought what the world? But today I didn't care, I wanted my little girl to be just as happy as she could be and I loved that beauty mark. It represented my learning to let go, One of my hardest lessons I first learned as a mom. I used to worry what other moms would think if we went to the grocery store without matching clothes and a cute braid and the perfect flower in her hair that I made myself....ha! What was I thinking!! Who cares what my daughter dresses herself in, she is warm the clothes are clean, and is it really worth the fight to get everything matching and "cute" like I thought little girl should be? Don't get me wrong, deep inside that is what I cross my fingers that she picks. I get a little excited when we have those cute days! But I realize just how "cute" it is and how much I love those days that she comes out with jeans, that frilly skirt and the brown shirt that you can never get her to wear with the cute denim skirt you bought it to go with. Yup I love those days too! See I am learning to see what is really important....beautymarks! LOL!!

Skillz

You know most evenings, I crawl into bed and wonder if I should really be a mom...just the other day I texted Greg and told him I really suck and this!  In fact right at this very moment Edynn is running around naked while I am nursing Treycen and pleading with her to get a pull-up on because Daddy pinches naked bums...I looked to the clock and realized it is at least 3 hours till Greg will be home. I haven't had a chance to take a shower and I really am planning on getting to the relief society meeting tonight for a change!  Big sigh..
Then I realize I am not completely hopeless.  My daughter's I lub you's and listening to her "monkey's jump on bed" song make me smile and I did get Gracie ready for school this morning with out any crying (either of us!!) and  how many other mom's can finally get that pull-up on while nursing the 3 month old at the same time...now that takes talent! 
I may just survive these "I do it me-self" and 5 year old drama, thank heavens for Little Man to cuddle with, he really is such a happy baby.  I know I am doing just what I should and I am learning along the way.  We even made it through this Easter with no broken bones!  ...See I got skillz!

Shootin' Way Up!!  She just keeps growing and growing.  She decided she didn't want to shoot a gun, but was liking the ear protection.  I keep watching her and can't believe the time has gone by so fast.  Soon she will be this young lady going to college somewhere warm in cute scarves and accessories with that beautiful golden curly hair....and I will be here in the snow hoping that I taught her all those things that Heavenly Father wanted me to show her. Hoping that she remembers how much He loves her and looking forward to those great plans He has for her. I guess that is my quest now....figure out how to live life and teach and be that mother I dream of being while life, it seems, is on fast forward.

Photo Session

I just love this one!! :)

http://jproulxphotography.blogspot.com/ Here is the place to go if you want a beautiful new family portrait or picures of your little ones! I loved how these turned out! Thanks again Jennilynn. Right now she is doing a give away...how fun is that? Go check it out!

So a few things have changed ...We have a new family member!

Edynn Elizabeth Horrocks is finally here! We are enjoying her so much. She is such an easygoing baby girl! (Greg might not agree, but as long as her mom is close she is happy and content! )

Gracie is in love with her sister and sometimes I worry that she might be smothered by kisses.

Gracie turned THREE!!

Gracie had to grab her shades before we went and picked up the balloons for her Tinker Bell party!

This was my attempt at a Tinker Bell cake...I didn't want to do anything too hard, and the girls loved it. We just had a few of Gracie's friends and they decorated wings and played with their fairy wands! They loved it!
All worth this cheesy smile! She talked about all her friends that came over for the next week!

Thanks to everyone that helped us make this day special for her!

Camping at Granite

Our summer is full of weddings, so on the 20th of June, we loaded up and went camping, even though it forcast rain! Friday was beautiful and we got to go see the waterfall and enjoy the sun that day....Saturday was another story, but we won't dwell on that!

Gracie said that camping was a "great sleepover" so that made it all worth it!

Suprise

So it has been a while and there is a good reason for it, and I guess I can tell ya what has been going on...Greg has told everyone he runs into....I think he is excited. After a few too many days of being sick, I decided to take a pregnancy test and it was positive!! I am due in October (On Seandara's Birthday--Crazy huh!) We had an early ultrasound and got to see the heartbeat so that is promising...Please say your prayers for us and this little one that is making me sooo sick. Hope all is well on your end of the world!

Gone Sledding

Finally a day that it didn't snow!! So we took advantage of it and bundled us all up and went up on the little hill behind our house! It was just right for spending a fun afternoon together! Gracie had a fun time and Greg and I got our workout from walking up the hill while pulling or carrying Gracie.

Usually I am the one that takes all the pictures, but I handed Greg the camera, so I can have proof that I was there too! I may have gone down backwards a few times, but who's keeping track?

Turning Thirty!!!

OK, so this week I hit a milestone, and turned 30. Greg did great and baked a beautiful cake and gave me roses. Now that it has come and gone it is not such a big deal.... I will just buy a treadmill, take some vitamin supplements and do all the things that 30 year olds are supposed to do right? Right! Ok then, I will let you know when I find out what that is exactly! Until then, I am still enjoying life in Star Valley, (even with the snow)and playing with my daughter that keeps me young!

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was great! It was so fun to watch Gracie wake up and find what Santa left...she opened her presents and had a great time! Guess it is time to take the tree down. Big sigh...On to the new year!

Amiya LeeAnn Call

Landon and Michele had their second baby. Amiya LeeAnn Call. We went down to attend the baby blessing and Landon as usual gave a beautiful blessing. So much fun to cuddle another baby! We love you little one!

Fall is Here

Last week Gracie and I took a little hike to enjoy the fall colors. Gracie had a great time and helped all the Grasshoppers that had passed on by covering them with a rock, and then trying to catch the rest of the live ones. It was so fun to watch her. The dried grass matched those crazy curls and it became a treasured memory!

Chocolate Cake

Gracie and I decided to make Greg a cake, and of course Gracie is so into helping me do everything. We had a blast! She had chocolate from head to toe and beyond! But it was YUMMY! These photos are after we had already used the washcloth and before we got too messy to handle the camera!

Cottonwood Lake

After a busy summer, I decided we had to take a little trip so we took some sandwiches on a slightly chilly picnic after church on Sunday. It was a nice break! and Gracie was able to pick all the different colors of leaves! Fun times!


Greg found out how to set the timer so here you go. Gracie wanted down and I was trying to keep her on my lap and remember to smile still! Ha! It is a nice picture of Greg and the Van!!! :)





Gracie and her leaves looking at the "Big Lake" as she called it.

Summer Projects

I was going to name this post Greg's Summer Project, but I think he might kill me, so I won't do that. He is wonderful though and comes home and works on the fence, if we don't have a million other things going! It is taking a lot longer than we planned and has had a few hang ups, but the end is looking closer and I think we will have a fenced in yard by the time it snows....Cross your fingers with me!

We only have the back posts to finish, and the edging to do on the flower beds, then we can staple on the wire and hopefully all will go according to plan. I want you all to know as well that I moved all the dirt in the front flower bed and helped dig postholes and I even got the skill saw out and started cutting boards! I was so proud of me! He He!

We are going to plant some vines by the bench/Arch and I am going to grow Clematis....I had an older lady tell me they are too much work to grow and she wouldn't share her knowledge on how to care for them...so that is my challenge...I will let you know how that goes!

My blooming lilly's and my pond give me hope that this project will look good too!