Martha Stewart Mother's Day Campaign: Stenciled Garden Sign

A couple of months ago I signed up to be a part of an exciting Blueprint Social campaign sponsored by Plaid to test out a new line of Martha Stewart's Craft Supplies. You can guess that I had a lot of fun getting this huge box of freebies and dreaming up a project to make for a Mother's Day gift. (Check out what I got to choose from here.)


When I found out that  Martha's new craft paints were good for use indoors or out on wood, glass, metal, fabric and just about any surface I figured the sky was the limit with what I could create.

So, my task was to create a pretty Mother's Day gift using any of the supplies in my goody box. Knowing how much my mom enjoys being outside made me think she might like a decorative garden sign.

 So, in the spirit of repurposing I grabbed a pallet plank from my stash, picked out some of the adhesive and monogram stencils, paint and brushes to design a bright sign to hang outdoors.

Here's what I used for my pallet garden sign:

pallet plank
rope
staple gun
Martha Stewart Monogram stencils
Martha Stewart Craft Paints
Martha Stewart Adhesive Stencils
stencil brushes
paint brushes
stencil tape
pencil
electric sander and sandpaper

First, I secured a piece of rope to the back of each end of the wood with a staple gun so it could be hung from a branch or nail. 

Then I spread out my monogram stencils to spell out the word "GARDEN" across the pallet. 

I drew a line down each edge of the stencil so I could paint the background in sections before stenciling the words.

Next, I painted in the penciled in sections with two alternating colors of brown and fuschia.

I decided to sand down my dried painted wood before adding the stencils to give the sign that nice distressed, weathered look I love.  

Then, I used the adhesive stencil, stencil brush and paint to add a design between the sections where my letters would go with a light aqua. 

I also taped off squares in each section using the stencil tape and painted them in a medium aqua in for even more color borders before adding the letters. 

It was finally time to spell out my word!  I used my monogram stencil and smaller stencil brush to add each letter in brown.  Once these were dry I outlined each one with my light aqua to add contrast. 

I decided my sign was done after adding a few flowery stencils around each letter in light aqua. 

And the humble pallet was transformed! The project had taken a few more steps than I had envisioned in the first place but it was worth it because I was really happy with the nice pops of color in the end result.

Here are a few beauty shots of the garden sign hanging in my yard:

I have to tell you, I was really impressed with the quality of the Martha paints. I loved the pretty, modern colors and how smooth they were to apply. And I admit stenciling was a craft I used to shy away from because I thought it would be too easy to mess up, but the adhesive ones were so easy to work with and could be used again. Also using stencil tape to hold down the letters helped too. 

Now, I love stenciling and plan on using these again-maybe on fabric next time?

If you like what you see here and want to be inspired by more Plaid craft ideas and find out about their latest products, ideas and promotion, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.


I wrote this post as a part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are 100% my own.

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple-hope you enjoyed your time here and left with a little inspiration!

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Retro Stenciled Side Table

Since the New Year, I've been having fun changing up a few painted furniture pieces in my house, turning a few things lighter from rusty reds and blacks to yellows, whites and pastels.

And, this little side table of mine was bugging me. It looked too dark and boring sitting in the corner of my living room next to a dark brown leather chair. 

So, I decided to give it a lighter, brighter revamp...

I painted the legs a pale gray, and the top the same yellow as my pie safe called 

"Yellow Magnolia"

by Martha Stewart. (Looks a lot like hard boiled egg, but I like it!)

I used eggshell latex paint for this (not on the chalk paint bandwagon...yet).

After the paint was dry, I decided to stencil the tops and sides for a nice pop of "Tangerine Cream" colored paint.

 I used my Nagoya Craft Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. 

(I had done stenciling for the first time with this stencil on a market tote bag 

and decided stenciling was fun and not scary!)

After the stencil was dry, I thought the design looked a little too bright how it was, 

so I decided sand down the top and sides with an electric sander using fine sandpaper.

Sanding the table did the trick of toning down the orange accents and added that aged 

look that I love to the table. I love my new brighter table-

I think it adds a fun retro feel to my previously dark corner. 

And I love the combination of stenciling and distressing-will definitely be doing this again sometime!
(And maybe I'll be trying out that chalk paint everyone's raving about too...)

I hope you enjoyed this table revamp and thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple today!

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Hello Yellow: Pie Safe Revamp

Ok, here's the big furniture project I've been working on for the past week:

Changing my pie safe from reddish-orange (the color it was when I bought

it from the antique market about 5 years ago) in the picture below...

To a vibrant yellow! Enjoy a short video of the reveal below!

Here I am doing some finishing touches with my new Dremel (in my 

classy safety goggles) lightly sanding the edges and using

the brush attachment to remove paint that had gotten onto the metal latch.

I used Martha Stewart paint in Yellow Magnolia and I love how this

not- too- bright yellow pops out cheerfully against my pale gray walls.

(It's important to let you know I used two coats of primer before
adding the yellow to let the true color stand out and last longer).

Yes, I am in love with yellow and gray.

Previously I had put metal screen inside the doors for decoration and

to keep little hands out, but I thought switching it to

 chicken wire would be a nice change. 

I cut it with wire cutters and attached it with 

a staple gun. Pretty simple. 

And a decorative way to kid-proof your home.

I will be working on changing my side tables in my living room soon, because as much as

I love color, it is even becoming a little to rainbow-like for me. 

They will still have color, but more complimentary to my new love for yellow. 

Next, I'm excited to be showing you what I've done to create a gallery wall display

in my dining room. Transforming traditional into modern and eclectic.

Stay tuned...



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