NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Craft night and upcycled wood signs

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A few things I love:

  • The barn.
  • Entertaining.
  • Friends.
  • Crafting.
  • Barnwood.
  • Paint.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Craft Night September1

Craft night. At the barn. Making upcycled wood signs.

Last month, I volunteered to host craft night. At the barn. The thing was, the barn wasn’t even close to being done.

Mwahahaha … I’m a crazy, evil genius.

If hosting a party doesn’t light a fire under you to finish projects, I don’t know what will.

Despite the fact that it was a bit stressful, Ryan worked hard and the barn was *thisclose* to being done for craft night. And 12 (amazing) women showed up to hang out with us at the little barn.

Craft Night September4

Note: 12 people is just about the max occupancy for the barn apartment and deck. For future reference.

Craft Night September6

My friend Shannon came over and set up all the tables and chairs on the deck (because she’s amazing and I was too busy taking photos of the barn apartment for the blog … priorities).

It was so fun to take in the view and the beautiful evening with friends. I loved it. Truly. I want to do it all the time.

Oh, and I decided to share this next photograph solely because it showcases the face that Michelle makes every single time I bring out a camera. (I am so evil for posting this, because I require pre-approval for any photo she posts of me.)

Craft Night September5

I wish I would have taken a photo of the spread of food. But just think “yummmm” and that’s what it included. There were desserts. There were dips. There was soup. The best. I even brought home a cheesecake and ate it all myself.

Plus, our friends at Protea Wines USA heard about our little upcycling craft night and sent us over a couple bottles of their delicious white and red wines (in those beautiful bottles).

Protea wine1

Not only was the Protea Red delicious (and yes, I may be drinking some right now as I’m typing), but the bottles are totally going to be recreated into another project. They are just too gorgeous. Stay tuned. (And check out some other Protea upcycled wine bottle projects.)

Speaking of beautiful projects, here’s the two wood signs I created. (These were actually made using scraps of boards that were cut when Ryan was building the barn.)

Barnwood sign craft night1

I love this saying. And it’s a good reminder when I’m feeling nasty. (design from 1,000 Scientists)

Barnwood sign craft night2

And this saying is also quite fitting as we are gearing up to downsize to 320-square-feet, don’t you think? (design from My 3 Monsters printable)

 

Barnwood sign craft night3

 

I learned how to make signs from the insanely talented Jen from Onion Grove Mercantile. She is the master and my little signs have nothing on her talent. But, I do find painting signs to be very soothing.

You can create your own designs and transfer them to the boards. Or in this case, I just found a bunch of rad printables on the Internet and printed them on ledger sized paper. (To the tune of .20/apiece at Staples.)

I shared a little of the process on this post about the sign-painting workshop. And Michelle also shared an actual tutorial here.

So, that’s a little peek into last month’s craft night, in all its glory.

 

Who’s coming next month?

Thanks to Protea for sending us the wine for our little craft night.

 

Comments

  1. So much fun! I am planning a craft night for my mom’s group, and I think we are going to do this next month! Was everyone able to paint the sign, wait for it to dry, and then paint the words? Is that feasible in one night? I’ve never tried painting a sign in one night. I’m guessing the craft paint dried quickly. Also, did you just have everyone bring their own wood and paint?
    I didn’t even think about using print outs for the words…I was thinking about making stencils, but print outs make so much more sense!

  2. Wow, Kim! What an amazing view, fun ideas, good friends, good food, etc. And those wine bottles are beautiful! Wish I could rsvp too. 🙂

  7. Your craft nights always look like everyone has such a wonderful time. How do you organize it in terms of supplies? Does everyone bring their own or do you supply everything or how does that work? I sometimes have a spur of the moment inspiration to do something like this, but to whole supply thing is keeping me from doing it… LOVE those two signs you made. You really have talent. It looks so good!!

    • Our goal for craft nights was to make hosting very, very low-key and painless. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.

      In general, everyone brings a dish to pass and their own supplies. The host chooses the craft and shares the supplies needed and the supplies provided. Sometimes, the host provides most of the supplies (like I did for this one because I just happened to have a pile of old boards and tons of paint).

      But most of the time, we aim to bring most everything ourselves. Then we just switch hosts every month.

      You should totally do it! Make it low-key and it’s a blast for everyone!

  9. the people at protea heard about me too, but they just sent me some info about aa. 😉 kidding. i would love it if they heard about me. 🙂 i want to come to craft night!!!!! one of these days i will come out there for it so i can make snarky faces, too.
    the signs are awesome!

  10. Note to self (once again): obtain endless pile of barnwood to recycle for projects. Love the signs, and I’ll be expecting an invite to the next barn party (I understand there’s a strict limit on the number of people, so I’m just going ahead with my RSVP now ;))