The Stockings Were Hung

I do not have a fireplace or mantle where I am living right now and didn't really have a good place to hang our stockings from. So I thought I would take a stab at making my own stocking board. It was fun and super easy. It is a bit time consuming since there is paint involved but it is simple.

Supplies I used:

- 31" X 7" board (I just used some scrap wood I had laying around)
-Brown, white, and Red paint
-paint brush if you use craft paint you don't need a brush if you use spray paint
-Clear coat
-Sand paper
-Rustic nails (I got mine at Poppyseed Projects)
-Precut Vinyl or cutting machine and vinyl to make your own 
-Texture cream (poppyseed projects and Wood connection both have it) I love both stores I got this jar at wood connection.
-Scrap piece of old terry cloth

What I did:

1. The very first thing is I used the texture cream on the board. You will just need to dip your old terry cloth in the cream and spread it all over the front of the board. Do it in the direction that you want your worn lines to be when you sand it down. I put on the cream horizontally across the board. You will want to use a terry cloth to give it the bumps and texture that you are looking for, this is what gives it the awesome antique look at the end. If you go HERE poppyseed projects teaches you all about their cream and the antique look.

2. Next I spray painted my board a chocolate brown. This is my base coat and will be the color that shows through my letters when it is antiqued. Then when that was completely dry I spray painted a white layer on top of the brown and this will be the color of my letters. Make sure you let the paint completely dry before you do any more coats. I did one coat of brown and two coats of white. Also I used spray paint on the brown and white layers because it goes on smoother so the vinyl will stick to it better when we get to that step

3. Now it is time to either cut your own vinyl using your cutting machine or just getting your vinyl you purchased pre cut. And you will transfer it onto your board right where you want your saying to be I did "The stockings were hung..." you could do whatever you wanted. :)

4. Once the vinyl was on there and rubbed down nicely so the paint doesn't bleed through I painted my last layer of paint and this will be your main back ground color. I did red. I just used craft paint for this layer because I already had it but you could use spray paint if you would like. I did 2 coats of red letting it dry completely between coats. 

5. Once your paint is completely dry. I let mine dry over night. You are going to peel off your vinyl which will then expose the white layering, or whatever color you chose your letters to be. Do not worry if your paint bleeds a little because we are going to sand it down and that will just add to the antique effect. I promise it will end up looking really cool.

6. Then you are going to sand down the whole thing. I used a 220 grit sanding over the top of it all. This gave it a nice antique look. Make sure to only sand a little and then more as you go. You can always sand more if you want more of an effect but you can't put it back if you sand it too much so take this part slowly. Now once you sand it you get the old antique sign look your white and brown shows through the red and the brown shows through the white lettering. It looks sweet!

7. You are almost done now you will hammer in your rustic nails (Poppyseed projects) I thought these nails we so cool and went with the look of the board. I did 6 nails so I did them every about 5.5 inches so they were evenly spaced. So you will need a little math here. Just measure the board you are working with take into account how many nails you want and the spacing between them.

8. I hung it up on my wall using 3m picture command strips. They worked beautifully I used one on each end and one in the middle of the board. 

And last but not least you are going to hang up your families stockings. Perfect if you don't have a mantel or fireplace to hang them from. 

I know this is a little late for this year but you can always make it for next year. So pin it or make it this year so it is all ready for next season. I would love to see if you make one send me a picture and if you have any questions feel free to email me at wjwiki07@hotmail.com or leave a comment below I love to hear from you all.

Don't forget about the amazing Cricut mini and $50 vintage rose wraps giveaway I have going on right now you have until Sunday night to enter.

This project is linked HERE

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