The initial concept

I found these wooden letters in a closet at my parents house. When I asked Mom why she had my initials in wood she said they were for a craft project that never happened and she didn’t realize that they were MY initials. They’re also the initials of the first names of her 3 children. Hmmmm, coincidence? Either way, a score for me!

They’ve been kicking around my craft/sewing table for awhile and I finally decided to do something about it! At first I was just going to paint them white but then that seemed too boring, so I decided a distressed look was the way to go. Since I’m cheap and didn’t want to go buy a crackle varnish I looked up a way to do it for less. Hint: it involves old school glue!

I’ve been on Pinterest for a little while (follow me!) and I have already seen so many cool things others have pinned! Like this idea for using tacks to help hold the letters without getting messy fingers. Or in my case less messy. It also insures the wood doesn’t stick to the newspaper after you paint it! Click to see the original pin. Tip: make sure your pins are in quite deep so they don’t fall out mid paint!

I found the instructions for this faux finish on www.diylife.com and it was really simple. Who knew white glue was good for something other then making patterns on your binder and then peeling it off when dry!? Anyone else do that in elementary school? Lol

After cleaning off the wood I painted a base coat and let it dry completely. I wanted to see if using two shades of blue would have a different effect then a solid color.

Then you take same white glue and mix in a little bit of water, just to get it a bit more runny so it can be “painted” on. The instructions said to put on a thick coat of glue as that yields bigger cracks. Bigger cracks! *snicker*

Here’s the next step as from diylife.com.

“Let the glue set. You want it to start drying but still be tacky to the touch. It usually takes about an hour, but don’t forget that it’s there because if the glue dries completely it won’t crack when you paint over it.”

I let mine dry for an hour. While i was waiting I watched 2 episodes of Don’t trust the B**** in Apt 23. I thought it was pretty good. And James Van Der Beek plays himself which is interesting. Although I wondered if that’s how he really is or if he’s just himself playing a different sitcomy version of himself. Meh, it’s funny either way.

So then you paint an even coat of paint over the tacky glue and voilà! As it dries the cracks start to appear as if by white gluey magic!

I used some sandpaper found at the bottom of my paint kit to scruff up the edges a bit more. Then, because I ripped off the ugly plastic tabs your supposed to use for hanging, I tied some ribbon through the nails.