DIY Pallet Board Horse Sign

While I was on Pinterest looking for baby shower ideas I ran across a pallet board that had a horse on it and since my sister-in-law loves horses I knew it would be the perfect decoration for the shower and gift. I wasn't sure where I was going to get a pallet from, but I found a pallet crate at a used furniture store and thought it was worth a shot. 

To do this project I used the following: 

Wood crate - or a wood pallet 

Hammer 

Light Creme / White flat interior paint

Black wood stain 

Stencil 

Pink acrylic paint 

Wet wash cloth 

Paper towel or rag 

Sand paper 

I forgot to take a picture of the crate, but this is the crate reassembled into a pallet board. I used every piece from the original crate including the nails. I pulled the crate apart using a hammer and then lines the boards up and nailed them all back together. 

Front

Back

I wanted an old grey barn wood look to it, so I used a trick I found on a blog a few months ago. 

1. First take your black stain and lightly paint it on the wood. 

2. As soon as you paint it on take a paper towel or old rag and wipe the stain off. You can also rub it across places that got missed. Be sure and do this immediately after you apply the stain. 

3. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, so it is mostly dry to the touch.

4. Take a paint brush and apply a light layer of light creme or white paint. I used flat interior paint. You could also use acrylic paint.

5. Using a wet wash cloth wipe the paint off / rub it around the board mixing it into the black stain. This is what will turn your wood a grey color. 

It is okay if you miss some spots. It will give it character! 

For the horse I created a stencile in Sillhouette. I used a light pink acrylic paint. Make sure your stencil is secured really well so you don't get paint outside of the stencil. I had a few spots that were funny so I took a pencil and dipped the eraser in paint and went around some of my edges. 

Let it dry and you now have a finished pallet board horse sign! After all of the paint had dried I took some sand paper and went over the board very lightly. I wanted to rough it up a little bit, but I didn't want it to be obvious that I took sand paper to it! 

It was the perfect centerpiece for our dessert table! 

I can't wait until I have a little girl of my own and I can make her one!