Here's to Gabby D.

I have had this big ol' piece of wood (42"x24") under my couch for far too long, and I will give you one guess where it came from.

That's right. The "As-Is" section of Home Depot.

I bought this honkin' piece of wood on one of my Sunday trips mentioned here, but had no idea what to do with it. I have a tough time passing up such a find from this section of the store...and even though that may sound strange- I got this bad boy for $1 instead of $20.

Okay- it still sounds strange, but it was a good deal.

Anyway, let me introduce you to another FABULOUS area of the depot. Its called the "Oops" section (I think it should be called the "Awesome" section).



***This blog should probably end here...I have shared my two secrets on how to make with love and pay with pennies***


It is where I found these four little guys.

"As-Is" + "Oops"+$6.50=

I was borderline preachy about how art should be personal in my post here. So figured it would be a good idea to come up with a reason why I decided to paint a Union Jack on a piece of wood (even though there really isn't one). So, lets just say gymnastics is my favorite sport, Gabby D from the US won an Olympic gold this year, and she was in London when she did it. There you go, now it is personal.

Most DIY blogs have these great photos that take you through a project step by step, but I get so excited when I start a project that I forget that the purpose of blogging about projects is showing a reader how to DIT (do it themselves). As a new blogger, I may have went a bit over board this time around, but I do think you can get lots of little tips out of these directions...

How to paint a Union Jack:

1-      Trace out your design.

a.       Measure the width and length of the board to find the middle point. Using a yard stick, draw a cross through that point.

b.      Use the yard stick to draw a line from the center point to each corner of the wood

c.       Use the lines you just drew as a center line and draw two more lines (the width of the yard stick) on either side of the center line…it looks something like this.

2-      Paint the board:

a.       Use the color that you want to outline the lines of the union jack. I opted for the light yellow color from the Oops section (1 & 2 above) so that I could see the lines I just drew through the paint. If you choose a darker color, you will want to do this step first.

3-      Tape off your design:

a.       Use painters tape to tape off the outside lines that you drew in step one. Run the edge of gift card or credit card along the tape to make sure there are no bubbles.

4-      MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Paint over your tape

a.       Painting stripes is tough, and while I can’t promise you that your lines will be straight (that’s up to you and your measuring skills), I can promise you that, if you follow this step, your lines will be nice and crisp.

b.      After you have smoothed your tape with a plastic card, paint OVER the tape with the base color

c.       Let dry.



Painted yellow, taped, and then painted yellow again



5-      Next up: Paint the background (using Paint #3 from above)

a.       Mark the areas you DON’T want to paint with little pieces of painter's tape 
b.      Paint the areas not marked with the color you want “behind” your lines.

6-  Yep, you guessed it- paint the lines (where you marked with tape) with Paint #4

7-  Let dry, remove tape, and voila!

I decided to get a little fancy and add a border...

Now, let’s hang this thing (note: you can use these steps anytime you have to hang something with two brackets)

1-Drill 2 D-rings into the back of your board (I used my yard stick as a guide for how far down to drill on each side)

2- Measure and mark the center of the board. Use painter’s tape to mark the distance between the center of the board and the middle of the D-Ring

3-Measure and mark the center of the wall you are hanging your board.

4-Now put the tape from your board at the mark that you made on your wall. Repeat on the other side.

-Drill 2 screws into the wall where your tape ends.

And there you have it. A Union Jack hanging on your wall..Here's to Gabby!