PALLET VALENTINE FOLK ART

You know, mostly, I consider myself to be a craft blogger.  But, I realize that it's been a long time since I actually posted a craft on here.  Two months to be exact.  Not that I haven't tried.  Oh yes, I tried.  I had a major lamp makeover craft fail and I promise to share that with you...as soon as I make it right!  Then, we bought a new house requiring major renovations, which means that when I am on the computer, I'm cruising Pinterest and Houzz for ideas instead of posting craft projects.  Then, my well froze and I was stuck in the house with no water.  This kind of forced me to take a good hard look at my surroundings.  Since I couldn't be bothered to decorate for Christmas,  my house has been  seriously lacking decor since last fall.  I thought maybe I should put up some Valentines stuff and make my house look a little cheerier, which I did.  In my box of Valentine decor, I found a small scrap of pallet wood.  Inspiration struck and I decided to make something. 

It looks a little "folk-artsy" to me, so I'm calling it folk art.  It went together pretty quickly.  In fact, it took me longer to get a good picture of it than it did to make it.  Figures.
I took some craft paper and made a template of my hand which I then traced on to some sheet music.  (I know, I could have just traced my hand directly on to the music, but I didn't.)

My hand is not that fat and funky looking, I'm sure of it.  I gave it a makeover with some scissors.  After deciding it was too white for my old pallet scrap, I gave it, and some words I tore out from the title, a quick coat of antique gel.

Also, in my box of Valentine stuff, I found a set of 3 wooden plant stakes all cute and painted (by someone else in a land far, far away).

I didn't really like the middle one with the hearts on it so I broke the stake off and flipped it over and used the plain red side.  I decided it was too plain and used a piece of fabric and a little charm key that I spray painted black, in the center of it.  I put it all together with a glue stick (for the hand,fabric and words) and a glue gun (for the heart and key).  I added some tiny eye screws and a chord to hang it with and called it good.  

 Getting a good picture of it was a different story.  First, it was evening and I lost my good light.  Second, I couldn't find a good background that made it look all cute and folk-artsy.  I finally decided to take it outside where I have all kinds of rusty, crusty farm stuff that makes for great backdrops.  I know my friend Donna at Distressed Donna Down home will appreciate the rustiness of the old blue pick-up bed and the tin from the old shed that I settled on for my finished pictures.  Me?  I'm just happy to have started and finished a craft.  (It's been way too long and I was jonesin a little! LOL!)

Bye-bye for now!