DIY Camping Sign EAT Sleep CAMP Repeat

Eat Sleep Camp Repeat Sign from Booth555.com

I saw an idea for this cute type of sign on Pinterest. Although, it was a cute, smaller hanging sign.

I loved the lettering and design but

I wanted something large that you could sit out and people would see it immediately. 

Kinda like a focus to get you in the outdoorsy mood.

So I went looking around in our garage and sheds until I found this old, solid board.

It was a large wood shelf from a wardrobe that I eventually used for a quilting cabinet.
It was large, like huge, had more shelves than I needed. I needed the room to stack quilts! So I had removed this shelf and saved it in case I ever wanted to put it back.

The years in the old dusty shed have really gotten to it. But thankfully it was easily washed away and ready to paint white.

This was a first coat.

First coat

I loved it kinda streaky, but want it completely covered so it would last for years.
I used an exterior enamel by Rustoleum.

I didn't bother with much of a neat thing. It's going to stay outside.
I just used rocks laying around to keep it off the ground while I painted, lol.
The board is way heavier than you think.
It was from a very old cabinet. It was solid.

After drying for a day, I used a black marker to write out the words.
I just looked at the Pinterest, smaller sign and kinda freehanded what I saw.
Arrows and all.

Eat Sleep Camp Repeat Sign from Booth555.com

And here it is standing up.
Lots of error here and there but I don't want it to be perfect, it's just for an outdoor camping and fire pit area outback.

Eat Sleep Camp Repeat Sign from Booth555.com

I ended up sealing it with some spray on clear coat. I hope that is enough to protect the marker lettering.  If I see it running or so, I will follow up with a brush on polyurethane stain.
As for now, it's still fine.

Eat Sleep Camp Repeat Sign from Booth555.com

As for now it's just a leaning sign. I think I will make a hinged leg for the back to lean it up on it's own soon.

And that's it. It's going to hopefully be used for many summers to come.
I am going to store it away each fall.

See ya'll next time!
-Lisa

CANDY CANE WREATH with Instructions

Here's a cute candy cane wreath I made and the instructions are below.

I first saw this idea when my Aunt sent me a link on fb. Then I did a quick search and found it on Pinterest here. It looked super cute to be so simple that I just had to try it!

And here's how I did it.

First I headed down to the Dollar General Store to buy the candy canes, it takes 22. So I had to buy two boxes. And I needed something roundish to decorate the center and try to hide where they all come together. I didn't see anything I loved so I drove over to the Dollar Mart. And there I found the cute, clear and silver snowflake! It is simply PERFECT!

 

Then I got all my stuff together when I got home. 

You will need:

1.scissors

2.Hot glue gun and stick

3. Twenty two candy canes

4. A centerpiece (round is perfect)

5. Ribbon

6. And e6000 glue (optional)

7. White sparkly glitter (optional)

Okay so here we go. First, I laid all the candy canes out in sets of two, to form a circle,  like this:

And then just shove them together to form a "wreath" circle.

And next you simply just take some ribbon, I chose white, and tie them all together in sets of two, like so:

Simple so far, right!

Okay, next, after doing all 22 of these like that. I arranged them all into a circle again, and took my hot glue gun and glued them all together at the inside center circle. Each one to the next, to make a tight hold. 

I also did this to the top outer parts, where the canes form a heart shape. Just to make a stronger hold.

And then I got my plastic clear, sparkly snowflake and glued it directly onto the center of the candy canes with my E6000 glue, found in the craft section of stores. I'm sure you could probably just hot glue the star on, but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall of soon.

(this wasn't the pic I wanted to post, but I couldn't find the correct one where my canes were tied with ribbon! But this one will due.)

Now this e6000 glue takes a while to fully dry, but when it does, it has a strong hold!

Now you could finish up here, if you didn't want to take it a step farther like I did with the photo insert.

But since my Aunt had sent me a photo wanting this, and she recently had a son to pass away in a car accident. I thought I'd add a photo of him in the center for her. It'd be a great way for her to have his photo around during Christmas. And he use to always steal her candy canes off her Christmas tree too. So this is extra special for her.

I chose a photo from when he was younger and printed it off.
I then glued the edges of the photo to the inside of the clear snowflake, from the back side. 
I also smeared some extra glue around the edges on the inside and sprinkled all kinds of sparkly, white glitter in it.
I thought it was a good way to hide the edges of the cut photo, since the center of the snowflake was clear.

Also, this is where I found some little red pip berries in my craft box, and hot glued them to the white ribbon ties.
You could use jingle bells, little fake presents or bows. Just about anything to dress them up a bit.

And lastly, the final step was to simply add a piece of ribbon to the top, to be able to hang it by.

I just tied on a piece like below:

And that is all there was to it!

My Aunt loves it and it is a great way for her to keep her son's spirit around at Christmas.

Hope ya'll like it!

And by typing out these steps, it makes it seem way more complicated than it is.

Believe it, it's simply tieing two candy canes together, hot glueing them and assembling it all.

Very Easy!

If you do give this a try, I'd love for you to send me a link or photo of it!

I gave this one to my aunt but I'm making more that's on the way to my Craft Booth #555 and Etsy where they can be purchased as a great, unique gift!

See ya'll next time,
~Lisa