Anniversary Sign

My husband and I celebrated our ten year anniversary yesterday! I have been looking for some sort of something I could buy or make or anything to commemorate this and make it really special. We’ve been talking about what we wanted to do for about a month now. Usually we go out to a really nice dinner and treat ourselves to a special day together.

He loves to spoil me and it is so sweet. But I wanted to do something bigger and better besides that. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when he spoils me, but I also wanted to find something for our home to celebrate it. As I’ve said before, we’ve been slowly remodeling our home over the last couple of years, and I’m decorating. Which is where this inspiration came from. This anniversary sign is such a perfect addition to our home!

I happened to putter on Instagram not too long ago and I saw the cutest sign someone had made for their home. It was two puppies kissing with a heart above their heads, and the couple’s initials underneath, with the words, “est. 2016” and I thought it was amazing.

Now the medium this person used is not something that I am familiar with. She used string and nails to put all of this together, which is pretty impressive, if you ask me. But, I’d have to practice a lot before even trying something like that. But, the inspiration for what I created was there. The best part of this is the fact it was not an expensive project. Between buying the materials I needed and using some I already had at home, I spent $26.

Given that it was inexpensive and easy to make, it would make a great gift for someone as well. I love handmade gifts, that someone put their own time and effort into creating especially for me. It is a very special thing, in my opinion. That is what makes this an excellent project for that too. I am debating making something similar for others soon.

I picked up everything I needed at Hobby Lobby, which is part of what made it so inexpensive. Side note here, if you download their app, it gives you a 40% off coupon to use any time. It gives an expiration date every time, but it’s always there. I’ve never gone in without using it. I picked up the wooden board that I used as the sign, the lettering, and glue for it. The paint I used I had at home already, and that was perfect because I was able to use the exact paint I’m currently using on my walls. Bonus that I was able to make it fit into my home decor perfectly!

I started with painting everything. I recommend a bunch of newspapers being put down on whatever surface you are painting this on because I made a bit of a mess, plus the glue leaked out of the container too. Luckily, the newspaper saved the day. It is my best friend when I am doing any craft project. Thankfully I keep a small stack of them on hand at all times. I used 2 coats on everything.

The lettering is obnoxious simply because it is time consuming to paint. I am a bit messy when it comes to painting and I ended up with a bunch on the back of the letters as I was trying to paint the edges. I would probably use a small brush the next time. Think almost like an eye shadow sized brush. In fact, the slanted one I have for that would’ve been the perfect size and shape. But, I didn’t do that. I simply painted everything with a 1 inch regular paint brush.

Once painting was done and dry, I started to arrange the letters and hearts. One of the things I absolutely love about this project is the fact the wooden sign board that I picked has borders around it and are raised. The beauty of this is the fact I could simply put the letters in each corner. There was no attempting to adjust or taking them off and putting them back on because they were crooked.

It was almost like having tracing lines on a piece of paper. Or a paint by number grid. This added to the ease of this project. The big letter R and the numbers were the only thing I had to worry about being perfect. Everything else was easy because it was in the corners. The numbers on the bottom I lined up before gluing them down, and then started in the middle and worked my way out. That way if I bumped one, it didn’t throw off the entire project.

One of the joys of buying things at Hobby Lobby is the fact it is inexpensive. However there is some sacrificing of the quality when you are buying here. In some cases, this can be a problem. In other cases, I can work with it. Luckily in my case here, I could work with it.

The “R” I bought did not sit flat on the board unless I was using both hands to hold it down at all times. Because I don’t have the hands or the time to babysit that to let it dry and dry correctly, I ended up having to weigh it down pretty significantly. Luckily this was easy for me to do, and I left it there for 48 hours. The more weight I could keep on it, the happier I was. I sent my husband a picture of what I had to do (I’m posting it here as well) and I had to kind of laugh at how creative I had to be just to weigh it all down.

Another thing I noticed is that the glue I used completely reeked. It smelled up the entire house, and I had to turn on fans in the kitchen and bathroom to take out the smell. This didn’t affect me, like no headaches or anything like that. It simply didn’t smell pleasant and it was a very strong smell. Which is why I recommend doing this in a well ventilated area. Because otherwise you’ll be smelling glue for a couple of hours.

This was such an amazing project for me to do because it holds a very special value to Nathan and me. This is the perfect way to help celebrate ten years together. I had a lot of fun doing it too. Nathan grumbled at the idea of traipsing around Hobby Lobby with me, but he still went along. Once I explained what I wanted to do, he actually got involved by helping me pick everything out. That for me is so worth it, when he gets excited and wants to be involved in a project with me.