Task #1: Established Family Sign

Well, I am not crossing off things from my list like I would like to.  My time is running out seeing as I am now on day 8.  Blah!  But, I am getting some some stuff done.  The first, semi-completed task is a family sign for my niece's upcoming wedding.  She is getting married this weekend and I wanted to make her a sign for their new life as a couple.  I had intended to have it simply read, "The Soto Family, Est. July 2, 2011".  However, a cute play on math had me go another direction.  See the thing is, she is marrying a guy with the same last name.  Yup, lucky her....no annoying paperwork to fill-out!  The other thing is she is a math teacher.  So, I took the sign in another direction and decided to have it read, "(soto)^2=7.2/2011".  Okay, okay, I know...it's not a real mathematical equation and it's probably makes no sense at all mathematically, but I thought it would be a cute way to use their wedding date.

I started out with wood from an old IKEA bed we used to have.  When we moved two years ago, the bed frame broke and we saved these slats of wood from the bed base.  I just knew we would use them eventually for something.  They were connected with a fabric cord/ribbon that I just cut off.  (I left the small piece of cord between the two staples to use as part of my ribbon hanger...keep reading!)

Next, I painted this turquoise as my first coat of paint (Got all of the paints at Micheal's.  Pretty inexpensive, too).  My origianl intent was to paint it this color then black over that.  I was then going to sand the edges to distress it.  However, the sander my mom let me borrow was way to powerful and I didn't like the it came out on my practice sign.  So, I ended up using another technique (keep reading).

 Once the turquoise was dry, it was time for the black paint.  I didn't worry too much about getting all the corners perfectly painted since I was going to distress the edges.

 I did a little practicing on a sign for our family before I did my niece's.  I didn't like the first flat paint brush I used on this sign and ended up using a smaller pointy one that gave me better lines.

For a distressed look, I used a small paint brush (not a art brush, but one you would use to paint house trim) and ever so lightly dipped it in some turquoise paint.  I brushed it over the edges very lightly and then wiped away with a paper towel.

I found some great ribbon with thin wire in the edges at the Micheal's dollar ribbon bin (Score!).  It was actually the reason I chose turquoise as my highlighting color.  I attached the ribbon to the back using the staples and cord that were left over from the wood's bed days.  After I cut off the cord it left a piece of cord that made a loop in between two staples, so it worked out great.  You could also use picture frame wall hanging hardware.

Here is the finished product.

From another angle.  The 7.2/2011 was the most "mathematical" way I could think of writing the date without it looking too much like a date.  

 

I figure the sign could be a good conversation starter too. I thought it came out good.  I really hope they like it!  May God bless their marriage and can't wait til' they multiply! (Silly pun, but I couldn't help it!)