Whitney's Christmas JOY Plaques

 Like Ashley, I too like to start decorating for Christmas in early November... we inherited this from our mother!  I hope you all are not tired of seeing us create with candlesticks and finials because here we go again:)... This is what I did!!

I decided to make wooden plaques that spelled JOY.  My first step was to get my supplies...

Three unfinished candlesticks and 3 little wood circles ~ found the sticks at Michael's and the circles at Hobby Lobby.

An 8ft 2 x 6 I purchased at Lowe's.  You can have Home Depot cut it down to buy less but at $3 I wanted all the extras!

I started by using my Gorilla Glue Epoxy to attach my candlesticks to the circles...

I want to again mention that the epoxy has the consistency of a hot glue, only it sets in about 5 minutes which gives you more play time and it is a very permanent hold... this has become a very favorite product of ours!

Just added a bit to the circle...

And added the candlestick.

While those were drying I went to cut my 2x6.  I measured it off every 8 inches.

I then used my $12 Stanley hand saw I purchased at Lowe's to cut the wood.  This tool is a must for small jobs and if you do not own a power saw.

This is what my 3 pieces looked like...

Now it was time to attach my wood pieces to the sticks.

I used my Gorilla Glue Epoxy once again to attach them.

Just added some epoxy to the top of the stick and then placed the wood on top.  I stole my next idea from the Gorilla Glue Girls who used Gorilla Tape to clamp things together until they dried.

So I did just that...

Not too shanty, right??!

After those dried I added my wood finials.  I found these at Lowe's.

Just added some GG Epoxy...

And put them on the top of my wood plaques.

Now it was time for paint... I used American Accents Canyon Black spray paint on these babies.  Once it dried I used my 3M block sander with 80 grit paper to shanty my edges up a bit.

This is where I learned the importance of wearing safety gloves.  This lovely ended up about an inch into my thumb while sanding...

So after getting a bandaid I started on my next step... I cut burlap into three 4x6 pieces...

I used my Elmer's Spray Adhesive to attach them to the wood.  I just sprayed some on one side of the burlap and placed it on the wood.  I then used decorative furniture nails on each corner to give it an even cuter look...

They all looked like this at that point...

Stencil time... I used my Cricut Personal Cutter to cut out each letter.  I used black acrylic paint and my stenciling brush to get the letter on the burlap.

Added a little twine and a few jingle bells because I could...

And now time for the reveal....

So... what do you think??!  I love them!

I made all three for under $12.  Now that is a thrifty gift!! These would make great teacher gifts and you can use any word which makes them decor you can use in any season... can't beat that! 

~Whitney