Wooden Flag

  I found a pack of various sized wooden pieces at Michael's a while back and have been wracking my brain on how to use them!   The pack was in the 'summer camp' section with all of the different wooden pieces that kids can paint and make.  Since I live in an apartment and have not saw to cut my wood, this was a perfect way to use wood for crafts!  I believe it was 4.99 but I used a coupon (of course!) and so it made the pack of 15 2.99.  Not too shabby!

I came up with a couple ideas and have made several of each to use as gifts and what not.

I wanted something patriotic, but not over the top.  The kind of thing that you can leave out all year if you wanted.

First I painted all of my pieces white.  I skipped priming, so this was kind of my 'priming' for the wood.  Mostly I just wanted them to be the same shades of color - the wood was various shades with the grains going through it.  For each flag I used 2 - 5 1/2 x 2 and 1 - 4x4. 

After the white had dried, I applied a layer of "Weathered Wood" that I found in the paint/glue section of Michael's.  I did receive a nice tip from Ann over at Make the best of Things!  (Love a great tip!)

Instead of buying the crackle medium, you can use Elmer's Glue!  Go Check out her tutorial about it!

Anywho, I didn't know about this great idea (which I will be trying out on my next set!) so I used this stuff - it was only about $2, and it worked pretty well after I got the hang of it!  The first piece I didn't put enough of the glaze on, so it didn't really crackle.  You need to use a good amount on that layer for it to crackle nicely!

After the crackle medium dried (took about an hour cause I did a thick layer)  I painted my color on. 

I used Navy Blue, Brick Red, and Vanilla.

I used my Cricut to cut out a star to fit my blue blocks.  That was my stencil for the star.  I used the Vanilla for the star.

After the stars were dry I sprayed them with a clear coat of Spray Paint.
I also used a high grit sandpaper to rough up the edges just a bit.

I wanted the blocks to stay together without actually gluing them together.  This was my solution:

I cut a piece of felt the a little smaller than the size of blocks when put together.  I hot glued that on the back.  It gives it a little more stability, and works kind of like a hinge!

Ta-da!  I love how it turned out!

So cute!

Too bad I am giving all three of these away!  I guess I will have to make another one for me! :)

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