How-To Make a Faux Pallet

I love pallets and even made my poor ♥husband♥ dumpster dive at our church parking lot for them ~ he's a good sport.  He dove for those babies and put them in my truck and then....get this...he ASKED me what I was going to do with them...well, cha {that's usually my response when I'm stumped}.  I have a whole pinterest board devoted to pallets.  I mean....how could anyone possibly think I wasn't going to do something with them.  Fast forward 14 months....the pallets are still sitting, one in the garage, one on the side of the house totally intact and the last time I looked not one single thing was made with them.  Once I got them home I realized how dang heavy they are....I mean...what was I going to do with them.  I certainly was NOT going to hang them on any of my walls.  I occasionally find studs but drilling into the wall to hang art is not really my thing.  But {and I JUST LOVE THIS BUT} as a member of the FloraCraft Make It:Fun Team I get monthly challenges and this month's challenge was making pallet art with STYROFOAM™!  Hello...what a fabulous idea!

I wasn't sure where to even start with this challenge but I wanted to think outside of the box.  I started by first making my pallet base.  As I was making the pallet everything came together and I couldn't stop adding 'stuff' to my faux pallet!

Supplies:

2 12" x 36" x 1" Thick FloraCraft® Foam Sheet cut lengthwise into 6" wide strips

FloraCraft® Smooth Finish {3 containers}

FloraCraft® Foam Connectors and Eyelets

FloraCraft® StyroCutter Plus

FloraCraft® Burlap Garland and Wired Burlap Ribbon in Cream

StyroGlue®

Acrylic Paint in Burnt Umber

Stencils

Wooden Spring Clothespins

Hot Glue Gun

Cork Coasters

Twine or Hemp

1.  I started by cutting my FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Sheet with the StyroCutter {which was surprisingly relaxing helping me to enter my crafting zen!}.  You can also use a knife but the StyroCutter makes it much easier to cut these longer lengths equally and smoothly.

2.  I then coated the foam sheets with the Smooth Finish using a spatula.  *I did not do the edges which was a mistake.  I went back and did this after the piece was finished but it would have been easier to do before the final painting was done.

3.  Once the Smooth Finish is dry, I used the foam connectors and the  StyroGlue® to join the pieces together.  As an added precaution I also hot glued craft sticks to the back of my finished piece.

4.  Next, I coated my faux pallet with the burnt amber craft paint.  I did this in a bit of an uneven pattern because I wanted the finished piece to look like worn and aged wood.

5.  I next made my banner cutting equal lengths of burlap and then stenciling on my phrase, BLESSED.  Once dry I folded over the top and hot glued it down allowing enough space to feed the individual pieces on to some hemp string.

6. I painted 3 spring-type clothespins with the burnt umber paint.  When dry I used the Burlap Wired Ribbon to make roses and hot glued these to the top of my clothespins.

7.  I used 3 cork coasters for this project writing the No. 5 on one with a Sharpie and then pleating a length of the wired burlap behind it, again hot gluing into place.

8.  One all of my components were completed, I attached the BLESSED Pennant to my faux pallet using the FloraCraft® Foam Eyelets, one on each top corner of my pallet.

9.  Hot glue the clothespins and coasters where you would like.

10.  Attach photos or notes to your board either using the clothespins or the coasters.

That's it ~ A simple to make LIGHTWEIGHT Faux Pallet that can be used as a Memory Board or Message Center.  I'll be hanging mine up in our hallway between our bedrooms and I will change out the pictures and notes for the seasons. Such fun!

If you have any questions about any of this process, just leave a comment or send me an email.  This was a fun project to make and the end results were better than I even hoped.  My oldest son actually thought it was one of our dumpster dive pallets! I impressed him with how easily I lifted it...until I told him it was as light as a feather.

I am a member of the FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Team. This post is brought to you by FloraCraft® and Dow. The opinions, as always, are my own.  For more crafting and creativity inspiration, check out the Make it Fun: Website, as well as the Crafts ‘n Coffee blog.

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