Inspirational Pallet Art | Thrift Store Upcycle Challenge!

Hi friends,

Spring has sprung and this upcycle is definitely inspired by it! Check out how you can make your own inspirational pallet art below!

The Rules:

• Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
• There’s no monthly theme.
• There’s no budget to stick to.

Meet the Hosts!

Amanda | The Kolb Corner    Maureen | Red Cottage Chronicles    Kim | Made in a Day    Dru | Polka Dot Poplars

Erlene | My Pinterventures    Colleen | Life on Kaydeross Creek    Pili | Sweet Things    Shirley | Intelligent Domestications

Ann | Duct Tape and Denim    Debra | Shoppe No. 5    Marie | DIY Adulation    Chelsea | The Johnsons Plus Dog

Jes | My DIY Envy  Lindsay | Crazy Organized    Molly | Just a Little Creativity    Ashley | 3 Little Greenwoods

Kimm | Reinvented    Michelle | Our Crafty Mom    Ali | Home Crafts by Ali    Sue | A Purdy Little House

Chelc | Inside the Fox Den    Sara | Twelve on Main    Claire | Pillar Box Blue    Kim | Farmhouse Made

Victoria | Dazzle While Frazzled    Sherry | Savvy Apron    Jennifer and Vicki | 2 Bees in a Pod    Lora | Craftivity Designs

Megan | C’mon Get Crafty    Denise | My Thrifty House    Toni | Small Home Soul    Deborah | Salvage Sister and Mister

Jeannee | Shepherds and Charnonnay    Sue | A Purdy Little House    Medina | Grillo Designs

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To be completely honest, I had a whole different upcycle planned for this month. But the snow is gone (at least temporarily here in PA) and I have Spring on the brain. I wanted some new art and I wanted it to be Spring inspired. So I headed to Sal Val to figure out if anything would work.

I found this pallet looking piece of wood and was instantly drawn to it. I have no idea what it was in a past life (it has hot glue all over the back) so…idk. But it would work for me!

Supplies

• pallet wood / wooden plaque
• chalk paint
• verse printout (optional)
• scissors
• tape
• dark chalk
• pencil
• acrylic paint
• paintbrushes

Instructions

1. I liked the look of the wood, but some of the pieces were really dark. So I decided to give it a light whitewashing by adding water to the chalk paint. I applied a few layers of watered down paint and I just love the finish of it!

2. Because I tend to be a bit anal when it comes to spacing, size, and alignment, I decided to create my design on the computer first so I could edit it there and print it out and transfer it. If you’d like to use the same verse / layout that I did, you can find it here. It is sized for 16″ x 16″, but you can totally resize it if you need to.

3. It printed out poster style so it was in 4 separate pieces. I taped them together and made sure each piece aligned with the other. I flipped the paper over, covered the whole back with a dark colored chalk (graphite pencil would work too), and then taped it into place on the pallet.

4. I’ve used this transfer method a couple times in previous posts (you can find them here and here) and it is so smart and so easy. Once I covered the back with chalk and taped it into place I began tracing over the outline of the words and where I wanted the leaf border.

5. You should be applying a bit of pressure when you do it (but don’t go through the paper!) and the chalk will transfer where you traced. I like using chalk because it’s a super easy clean up when you’re done painting, or if you happen to make a mistake.

6. I have an obsession with the colors navy and emerald. But I like them to be suuuuuper dark. I decided to make the font dark navy.

7. And the leaves a dark emerald.

8. I liked how it looked when I finished the leaf border, and I honestly could’ve left it like that. But I wanted it to be a bit more Spring-y. I decided to add small flowers to the border and paint flower clusters in each corner to add a bit more color to the piece.

I added it to the vingette on the shelves above my bed and I’m just obsessed! I’m probably going to need to add more Spring-y things, but it’s a start!

Are you guys excited for Spring? How are you decorating your spaces?

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And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!