Friday, June 14, 2013

Pallet Wood American Flag


A little later in the day than I normally post, but it's apparently it's Flag Day and I just so happened to have finished it last night!

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It’s 100+ degrees this week so I wasn’t too motivated to go out and work on this one outside or in my garage, but I finished! Yeah!

So I started by ripping my pallets apart. For that I used a friend’s reciprocating saw (aka Sawzall) and cut the board apart. I’m no good at explaining – take a look at this tutorial on how to dismantle a pallet, awesome info!

Then with the boards separated I found the ones I wanted and attached them to a scrap piece with small screws just big enough to go through the scrap board and a little into the board itself from the back. I did it like that so I wouldn’t have screws showing in the front.

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So it looks like this all put together. I gave the whole thing a pretty good sanding to prep it for painting. One word of wisdom – be picky with your pallets. This one was pretty junky, the wood was really horrible to paint. Take the condition of the wood into mind when picking up a pallet to use for art like this. The end of wisdom. Smile

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Then I studied very carefully the dimensions and proportions of the United States flag on Wikipedia. With my measuring tape, yard stick, and a pencil I measured and marked out the stripes and canton – or union- the blue part Open-mouthed smile

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After that I retreated out of the sun into the garage. Now we’re all friends, right? You’re not going to judge me by these photos of my garage and all the mess (aka an unfinished projects – or two), are you? Good…Then you may proceed. Smile 

I got lots of help on this one. Ben felt it necessary to hammer it a bit more. Nice.

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And Andrew wouldn’t let me do all the painting. I painted the outline and asked him to stay in the lines and he did. Works for me.

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Coming along nicely…Oh and notice the bit at the bottom that’s not painted. Just a little extra that I cut off to keep the proportions in check.

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So for the stars, I attempted to put something together on the computer to make it nice and exact or close to exact. Then I planned on rubbing chalk on the back and tracing the stars on, but, it was too small for the canton. So I scrapped this method.

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Instead I scrounged up a glow in the dark star from my son’s room and used it as a stencil. Worked totally fine, just took more time and was a bit harder to get the spacing right.

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It worked out though and I think it turned out pretty great!

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Now to hang it. My husband really wants to hang a huge flag on the empty side of our house. I’m hoping this will fulfill that desire!

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Check out more creative pallet ideas over here:


https://www.designrulz.com/product-design/2012/09/35-creative-ways-recycle-wooden-pallets/

72 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Christi! Hope you're having a great week!

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  2. This is wonderful! I love it! It looks better than Pottery Barn's and I'm sure not a fraction of the cost! Thank you for linking with HickoryTrail

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    1. Thanks Angela, I didn't know Pottery Barn had one. Yeah, my version was free, everything on hand so it sure beats the PB price! :D Have a great week!

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  3. That looks so awesome! You inspire me :)

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    1. Oh thanks Natalie, that's sweet. I'm so glad you liked it! Hope you're having a great week!

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  4. Love it. Nicely done. Especially that you even researched it to be certain it was done right. Cute little helpers!

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    1. Oh thanks Lorna, I tend to be a little OCD on certain projects. My little guys sure love helping anyway they can. Thanks for coming by and commenting, it means a lot to me. Have a fantastic week!

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  5. Hi Alex - I am totally impressed with your creativity and the ability to make this flag. You should sell these. Seriously. Hugs, Holly
    http://coconutheadsurvivalguide.com/blog/

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    1. Thanks Holly, that's really sweet! Thank you for coming by and leaving a comment, made my day! Hope you're having a great day too!

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    1. Thanks Kristin! It was a labor of love for sure, but it turned out perfect! Thanks for coming by and commenting. Have a wonderful day!

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  7. Alison, I see you just linked this up at out party. It's fabulous!!! I love it! Mmmm... definitely a candidate to be featured next week!

    Hug and have a great week! ~ Rose

    btw. As a newbie to Google+, do Follow me there! https://plus.google.com/109808797103645935222

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    1. Thanks Rose, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for hosting each week!

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  8. That is gorgeous!! I'd want to display it at the front of our house, have it attached somehow above the garage.

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    1. Thanks Amber, I like your idea. We don't have a whole lot of room above the garage, but I think we're going to put it above the front door. Thanks for your comment, have a fantastic week!

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  9. Hi alex. Bravo. Great project . Kuddos to your helpers too!!

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    1. Thanks Laura, my boys love to help anytime they can. Thanks for coming by and commenting, means a lot to me! Have an awesome weekend!

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  10. OH WOW!! I LOVE THIS!! I would love for you to come link up at my Paint Party going on now! Hope to see you there!!
    http://startathome.blogspot.com/2013/06/paint-party.html
    Brooke

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    1. Thanks Brooke. I linked up this and a couple other paint projects. Thanks for the invite to your party! Have a great weekend!

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    2. Thank you for Linking up! I love your fun ideas!

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  11. Wow this is amazing!! Love it so much! I haven't found a place around here to get some pallets but I hope I find somewhere soon so I can try projects like this!

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    1. Thanks Katie. Ask at local stores that would get big shipments (hardware, tile/flooring, etc). They might have old pallets they throw away. I found mine at a lumber liquidators, they were throwing it away and I asked if I could have it. Have a great weekend!

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  12. This is great! Pinned it

    Samantha D
    The Kitchen is My Dance Floor
    http://cooksandcreates.blogspot.com/

    (Visiting from Southern Lovely)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and for the Pin, Sam! Means a lot to me, have a wonderful weekend!

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  13. I really, really like this! Even more, I love that you let your sons help!!! It's hard to let them help cause you know they won't do as good a job as you would. You get lots of good mama points.

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    1. Oh thanks, Barbara. It is hard sometimes to let them help, but it makes for wonderful memories. Thanks for your sweet comment, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  14. I really like this. I smiled as I read it because I just made a very similar, but much smaller, flag and I had a little helper too! Yours turned out great! Good ides with the star to trace a glow in the dark one.
    Kristina - you can see my flag here: http://www.thriftysouthernpilgrim.com/2013/06/painted-rustic-wooden-flag.html - Happy Summer!

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    1. Oh I love your flag too, you did a great job at free handing the stars! Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend, Kristina!

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  15. Replies
    1. Thanks Danielle, so glad you liked it! Hope you're staying cool and have fun weekend!

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  16. Your flag turned out beautifully! Love the rustic feel!

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    1. Thank you Sharon! I love how it turned out too, the perfect amount of rustic. Hope you have a great weekend!

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  17. Wow, that's fantastic! I love that you let your sweet son help, too. And that you studied the proportions of the flag, that really makes it look great. Pinning this! Take care - Dawn

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    1. Thanks Dawn, my little guys want to do anything that mommy does so if I work on a project while they're awake, well I pretty much have to find something they can do to help. :) At least they want to be around mommy for now, right? Thanks for coming by and commenting, have a fantastic weekend!

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  18. Love it! I'm going to make two. One for our family and one for the extended family's annual 4th of July auction. Proceeds used to purchase fireworks for the NEXT year. I anticipate highly competitive bidding on this baby! Did you use acrylic paints?

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    1. That's an awesome idea, a family auction. Very cool tradition! I used craft paint (I think that's acrylic, right?) for the blue and the white and I a quart of the red in latex on hand so I just went ahead and used that, but I'm sure the craft paint it fine. I'm going to add a sealant this weekend since we'll probably be putting it outside.

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  19. Love this idea. I did it, but for the stars, I made homemade playdough. I let the kids use the cookie cutter to cut out stars. I dried and baked them, then put them on the board and painted blue right over them. When they were dry, I lifted them up and Voila! ... perfect stars! *****NOTE**** I painted the board white so when I lifted the playdough stars, the stars would be white. The great thing about this way is now you have stars you can decorate for the 4th of July with or you can repaint them and have Christmas ornaments!!!!

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    1. What a great idea! That's an awesome way to do the stars and to let the kids help! Thank you for sharing and for your comment. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

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  20. This idea is great. So perfect for the Fourth of July (or Flag Day! :)) It turned out really nice, too! Great job!

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    1. Thank you Whitney, I'm excited to get it hung this week. Thank you for coming by and leaving a comment, hope your weekend has been awesome!

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  21. That looks amazing!!! I love how it turned out!

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    1. Thank you, I happened to be on Pinterest and saw you pinned it, thank you! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

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    2. Thanks so much for sharing this. It is being featured this week at www.IGottaTryThat.blogspot.com
      Hugs,
      Marcie

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  22. Love it! I'm featuring it in the PoPP Spotlight this week. Thanks for linking up.

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    1. Thanks Maryann! I'm glad you liked it, it was a labor of love.

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  23. Alex I am featuring your fun Flag tomorrow at my Paint Party!! Thank you for linking up!
    startathome.blogspot.com
    Brooke

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    1. Thanks Brooke. I'm honored to be featured on your blog. Thanks!

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  24. So cute and creative! Come link up to centerpiece Wednesday linky party and share your post with us. http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/2013/06/4th-of-july-decorations-and-centerpiece.html
    Karin

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    1. Thank you Karin for the invite to link up! I jumped over and entered this one in. Hope your readers like it, thank you!

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  25. What a great job you did on the pallet American Flag, I love it. You did a great job showing all how you made this and what a perfect time of year to show this. I so enjoy 'repurposing'. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week; I hope you’ll join us again!


    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino

    The Chicken Chick

    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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    1. Thank you Kathy! I love re purposing as well. I'm so glad you liked the project. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  26. This is beautiful. Thank you for joining Home Sweet Home.
    Sherry

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    1. Thank you Sherry, have a wonderful weekend!

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  27. Super Cute!

    I would love for you to share and link up at my weekly TGIF Link Party if you haven't already this week. Your favorite posts, most popular, recent or new! The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday's at midnight. Followed by (Not SO) Wordless Wednesday! http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/. I would be honored if you join us! Have a wonderful week!

    Hugs, Cathy

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  28. You are so stinking talented!! This is awesome, too! :)

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    1. Thanks Melissa. You're so sweet. Some people like cooking, I like building things :D Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for hosting your party each week. Remind me and I'll be back.

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  29. Thanks so much for sharing at A Peek Into My Paradise TGIF Link Party! I just wanted to let you know I am featuring you this week. I would love for you to grab my button to add to the post or your sidebar. I would love for you to share your news of being featured on your social media. I can't wait to see what you link up next week!
    http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/
    Have a great week!
    Hugs! Cathy

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    1. Thank you Cathy for the feature. I will hop on over and grab your button! Wow, thank you!

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  30. Hi Alex - Just to let you know I've featured you in my July 4th Round-up - thanks so much for sharing Alice x

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  31. This is sensational. Would you mind if I shared this in my July 4th post on Monday?

    Steph
    http://www.newlymynted.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Stephanie, I wouldn't mind at all. I'm flattered that you'd like to feature it. Thank you so much!

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  32. This looks great. We love your flag. Thanks so much for sharing with Adorned From Above's Blog Hop. The party will be back this week starting Tuesday and 8:00PM mountain time. We can't wait to see what you have to share this week.
    Have a great week.
    Debi and Charly
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com

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    1. Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it and thanks for hosting each week.

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  33. I featured your beautiful flag art tonight! Hope you can share more of your creativity at this week's linky party on now! http://www.settingforfour.com/2013/07/20-patriotic-ideas-for-fourth-of-july.html

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    1. Thanks Heather for the feature,that's so awesome! Hope you have a wonderful 4th!

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  34. I highlighted this post on my blog tonight :) thanks for linking up last week. Come on over and link up this week with whatever you have been working on.
    Karin
    http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

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    1. Awesome, thanks for the feature! Have a fun and safe 4th of July!!

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  35. Hi Alex - This was hands down my favorite post of all time in 2013. I commented before, but wanted to circle back and say thank you so much for sharing at our Patriot's Palooza party. I am actually in the process of making a much smaller and watered down and not as nice version but you are my muse for this flag project! Happy Memorial Day! Hugs, Holly

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    1. Oh thank you Holly, I totally forgot I linked this up last year! Sorry for the repeat! I'm so glad you like it and I'm sure your version will be fantastic! Happy Memorial Day!

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  36. I just love this! I think your skills and creativity are just great. Your little helper is a cutie!

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