String Art

Project of the Day:

I saw this pin and absolutely loved it. I figured-hey-I'll go to the etsy shop (here) and buy one. Then I saw the price tag: $60. Yeah..that wasn't going to happen. I figured it couldn't be that hard...or expensive. And it wasn't!

I chose to go with Minnesota first, using the Twin Cities as my center mark. (I went with a circle instead of a heart)

To start out I got a little wood plaque from Michael's for $1.99:

 I used some brown acrylic paint and instantly rubbed it off to still show the wood grain. (faux stain, anyone?)

 After a second coat I finally got the dark wood look I was going for:

 I printed out a MN image and simply traced it with a pen:

 Using tiny paneling nails (brown-grey instead of the silver used in the inspiration) I starting hammering around the outline and began looping my string around the nails:

 For my first attempt I didn't leave my Twin Cities point open like the heart in the Texas pin. (I was too antsy to get a finished product!) Instead I filled it with nails.

Cost breakdown:

Wood Plaque: $1.99

Box of Paneling nails: $0.97

String (the friendship bracelet kind): $0.35

A grand total of....drumroll please...... $3.31

Not $60 dollars at all! Although, I'll have to say theirs does look much better after my first try. Next time I think I'm going to do it again with the Twin Cities center left hollow! What do you think?!