My "Funky" Valentine

 I made a Valentine for our Family...

I wanted to create something a little "funky".   

Something that had a mixture of woods and turned it into pallet art.  I came up with this idea that is all about our family. 

I wanted it to appear as if I had found all of these wood strips somewhere.  As if they were from a company at one time and I re-claimed the wood and re-created it into a design.

So this is what I came up with...

I cut some strips of wood and also found some yardsticks and rulers. Stained them to look "old".   I then created and turned the kids into "Companies" with their birth year ...

I created the names on my Silhouette Cameo, cut them onto contact paper and randomly stenciled them onto the wood strips.  

One I even stenciled on a yardstick...  I also included a Favorite place our family loves to visit and turned it into a company too!

I arranged the wood as it would fit best.  Not worrying too much about how "perfect" it was, in fact, I like how it lays a little uneven...

(I was particular about where mine and Ryan's name was. I wanted it up at the tip of the heart... awwww)

Once I had it all laid out and where I wanted it, I glued the strips together on back.  Free hand sketched a heart and then cut it out with the jig saw.  I next mounted it on some "pallet" looking wood that I made from cedar fencing.  

I cut a "love" in red vinyl...

I am excited about this because it is something I can keep in the house year round if I want.  I can always remove the vinyl "love" if I want it to have a more rustic look...

I have it on our Fireplace mantel right now. It is crazy big and we love it.  My little ones keep saying, I like that big heart mom and all of the kids like to find their names on it.  I'm sure I will move it after Valentines is over, but for right now, I like it there. 

  I like our last name and  the No. 5 to represent the 5 kids.  kinda fun.

I still have some other Valentine items I'm creating and will share with you! 

 This one took me a bit to get it just the way I wanted it.  

(I tried to get shots taken of it yesterday, but the lighting was so strange,  I gave up and thought I would just try for in the morning.  So I woke up to Freezing Rain here in Utah.  I decided I was still going to do the photos and I did it!  Freezing Rain and all!)

If you would like to see how I made this heart, you can see that here or by clicking on the photo below:

For now, stay warm and have a great day!

With Much Love & Gratitude,