I'm not much for new year resolutions but I knew one thing for sure......I wanted to be more creative during 2015. I have been so busy with that resolution that I haven't had much time to blog lately. Now that I'm finally catching my breath, I'm excited to share what I've been up to.
I started an Etsy store! :) My shop is called Southern Girl Up North (which describes my situation perfectly!) and it is finally open for business.
I have been a fan of rustic wooden signs forever. I've created several to use in my own home and thought others would be interested too. Here's the prototype.....
I created the Etsy shop for one reason......share the things I love with others. I didn't care if I made a dime. I just wanted to keep busy doing things I love. Well.......I have DEFINITELY kept busy!! :)
Step One: Research
I found tons of wooden signs online but they all used broken-down pallets as the wood. That was a bit too rustic for my taste. I wanted a cleaner, more polished look. Finally, I tagged along on one of Jim's Saturday Home Depot runs and got the supplies I needed.
Step two: Build (like a girl!)
The super-sweet lumber guy at Home Depot cut the wood down to size for me. Now it was time for me to put the signs together. I could not have chosen a COLDER day to do this. Notice the garage door is down plus I have a portable heater on full-blast plus gloves plus my brand new headphones!! Yep, that's me in all my no-make-up-glory. Scary!! :)
Check out all those signs I made!! :)
Step three: Paint those bad boys!
I knew I wanted to do the painting inside (downstairs in my craft room) so I prepped my work-space.
During a recent trip to Crafts Direct (my absolute FAVORITE store on Earth!), I picked up several colors of this chalkboard paint.
The first coat determined the color of the letters. After trying several different combos, I decided to make it easy on myself and go with plain white letters. It actually turned out better because the white really stands out next to the chalkboard paint.
Once the white paint dried, I used my Silhouette (last year's birthday present!) to cut out all the phrases. I transferred them onto the primed signs then painted another coat on top. Before the top coat dried, I carefully peeled the letters off. Voila! :)
Step four: Apply a clear coat
To make the signs more durable, I sprayed on a layer of clear coat. Check out the first one......I used one of my favorite Bible verses. This was very symbolic for me because I was putting the success of my small little business in God's hands.
Now that my prototype was done, I went to work finishing the others. Check them out.....
Step five: Upload the photos to Etsy
This was probably the hardest step for me. I had to create the pricing, descriptions, etc. for each sign. There are many more to choose from now so, if you have a chance, check out the shop....
Epilogue: As I'm typing this post (a month or so after getting the Etsy store going), Jim has been promoted to my sales representative. He was bragging on me -- how sweet is that?? -- to the lady at Home Depot last weekend and started showing her the signs. She is officially my first customer requesting a custom order!! :)
