What Our Crew Would Do- Paige

Hey All!!! This is Paige from the American Fork Wood Connection. As I was trying to decide what “This crew member would do”, I thought about all of the things I have seen floating around on Pinterest lately. One of the most popular things I have seen is the family birthday board. After talking it over with a few people I decided this would be an excellent craft to display. We have lots of customers come in and ask if we sell all the pieces and guess what, WE DO!!!! So here it goes. This is actually a very simple craft however; there are lots of little steps.

First I needed to decide if I was going to do my family or my husband’s family. His family is much larger and I thought it might show how to do this project better so I chose him. I figured out how many people he has in his family and gathered all of their names and birthdays. He has 49 members! Maybe I took on too muchJ.

Next I gathered all of my supplies and chose all of my colors. I wanted this to be very colorful and fun but not over powering.  I got all of my supplies at the Wood Connection and they will have all of your supplies too! I chose 10 colors of paint for the birthdays and then a color for the board. I gathered all 49 nickels and cut 7 yards of different colored twine, grabbed my vinyl and my brushes, then I was ready to go!

I needed to make holes in all of the nickels so that they could be tied together. I made a template by tracing one of the nickels onto paper.  Then I cut it out and poked holes where I wanted my drill marks. I then placed the template on each nickel and marked it with a pen. Next was drilling. This was lots of fun! Thanks Shanna for helping!!!

There are nine children in my husband’s family and then his parents. I decided the best way to mix up the colors on the nickels was to give each family a color, then when I hang them in their birthday months they will be mixed up.  I also decided that I wanted my board to be a neutral color so that the birthdays would stand out more, so I chose white for the board. So I lined it all up and got to painting. This is not as daunting as it looks. Grab yourself a buddy and get to work. Thanks Hannah!!!

My next step was to let the paint dry and then apply the vinyl. If you have never done this before don’t worry it is very easy. I promise! You want to rub the vinyl with a squeegee or credit card or Popsicle stick. Anything with a straight edge really. This will make it stick to the pre-mask side of the paper so that when you pull it apart it will look reversed. This next part is pretty crucial. You want to make sure you get your vinyl right where you want it before you apply any pressure. Make sure it is where you want it on the board and centered top and bottom & left and right. Once it is in position you can apply the pressure and rub all of the air bubbles out. I like to start from the middle and work my way out to the edge. Make sure you rub each part of the letters to ensure that they stick to the wood. Once you are done with this just pull the backing off. I like to start from the corner and go at an angle slowly. Take your time and this will work out perfectly!

I chose to hang the birthday nickels from eye hooks and bakers twine. Inserting the eye hooks was very simple. Just chose your position apply a little pressure and start twisting until it is in all the way. Oh by the way I lied (oops!) I did not get the eye hooks at the Wood Connection I got them from a hard ware store they were not very expensive and came in different varieties.

We are getting close! Almost done!!

For this next step I recruited my friend Sarah at the Murray store. She is awesome!!! My hand writing is NOT GOOD. I was told she was amazing and it was the truth. She wrote all the names and dates for me and was so fast and they look so good!!!! Thanks Sarah!

Lastly I tied all of the birthday nickels together with bakers twine. We sell this for $0.10 a yard at the store. An excellent deal!!! You want to make sure they are placed in the correct months and in date order. I recruited my friends for this too! Thanks Shanna, Sami and Hannah! Once that is done you tie the whole line to the board. I then added multiple colors of wire to hang it from and to add a little more pizazz. There you are, good to go! This is so fun, so cute and so easy! Thanks Wood Co. for this opportunity it was a blast and I can’t wait to see you all at the store soon!