we're all sinking.

two Wednesdays ago, i got an idea. an idea for a project. a fun project. an art project. an epic-ly awesome Mother's Day present kind of project. so of course i immediately called my mom and asked for her opinion and told her all about it. because i am bad at keeping secrets. (its a piano bench!)

the next day (Thursday), i started the project. as the sun was going down, i hauled the circular saw and the miter saw out to the back deck with some random boards i found leftover in the basement and i was prepared to make some sawdust fly. and then the batteries died in the circular saw and i now fully understand why Mark wants to get a new one with a cord. but i eventually got all the pieces cut.

that Friday, i took those nice, pristine, freshly cut boards and i beat the crap out of them with a hammer and a screwdriver and some 60 grit sandpaper. once they were sufficiently beaten, i stained them to help them look more aged, and so that when i sanded everything again later, the wood would show through dark and old-looking instead of its fresh natural light color.

then that Saturday, i painted those boards. i used 4 sufficiently beachy colors of paint that i already owned from painting various rooms and things in my house: the accent wall in our master bedroom, the not-a-credenza, the guest bathroom, and the fireplace room. surprisingly, even though we have painted with all of these colors, i do not think our house has a particularly beachy aesthetic as a whole. but that's irrelevant.

i gave the paint a whole day to dry, but only because i had moved onto sanding the dresser and then taking myself to an "emergency" eye doctor appointment. 

on Sunday, once the paint was good and dry, i attached the boards together using some screws and more leftover boards from the basement. (the order of the colors is meant to approximate the beach, with the sand, surf, ocean, and sky) i used 4 screws to hold each board to the supports, which in hindsight might have been a bit overkill, but when they were each held on with only 2 screws the whole sign felt a little bit on the wobbly side. so better safe than sorry, right? (also, i dry-brushed the boards with some white paint at some point, just to add a little more ocean-y/cloud-y feel)

and then it was time for the words. because what good is a wordless sign? i picked a line from one of my newest favorite worship songs, designed the word art using Microsoft Publisher, and printed it using the "tiled" option with a 1 inch overlap. i transferred it to the sign using a big sheet of graphite paper (not carbon paper, and not transfer paper as i was not-so-kindly informed by the craft store ladies) and then it was time for paint. i used gray because of the varying shades of light and dark on the sign: i thought white could look too washed out, and black might have looked harsh.

it took me most of the afternoon, but i'm kind of in love with the end result. i ran over the edges again with some 60 grit sandpaper just to bring out a little more of the dark wood under the paint, and then i hit it with a couple coats of clear coat before calling it finished.

because i realized there was still a chance i could get this sign in the mail in time for it to get to Dodge City for Mother's Day, i stayed up way too late on Sunday night hacking together a box from our old tv box and getting the sign all packed and ready to go in the mail on Monday. and then by the time i got to the post office on Monday i was 4 minutes too late. post office fail. so i ended up mailing it on Tuesday afternoon, and by some post office miracle it arrived in Dodge City the Friday before Mother's Day! post office win!

the best part is that Mom loves it, and says she is excited to hang it in either her newly renovated bathroom or bedroom, but she can't decide which will let her look at it the most often. i hope she is able to decide soon so i can't wait to see where it ended up when i go out to visit at the end of the summer!