Pallets

If you spend any time on Pinterest, you know there is a major obsession with the various uses of shipping pallets.

Found behind a local grocery store

I have acquired several great pallets to play with. If you're panning on starting any projects with these versatile objects, trust me when I say be picky. When you find one, check it up and down. Look for mold, sharp edges, dirt, nails poking out, and anything else that might make sanding difficult. I purchased a small sanding block with a handle to smooth mine down. It doesn't take a very long time when you find a rhythm to  covering all angles. 

I began my obsession with pallets by making a vegetable garden from an idea straight off of Pinterest. It was a project idea for someone possibly living in an apartment. The soil for the garden is contained inside the pallet, so you don't need a yard to plant your favorite healthy greens. I have a back yard to play with, but was unsure of where to place the garden. That's when I decided to construct this pallet vegetable garden: 

I planted all of my veggies on 4/9/12

Chose the size you need for the amount and size of vegetables you want to grow. Sand down the pallet until it's very smooth, making sure there are no rusty nails sticking out. Stretch burlap from side to side and top to bottom. Place a piece of plywood over the back, and nail it down. I purchased 3-4 bags of vegetable soil. to stuff inside the pallet, and planted my seeds. Within two weeks I had some green showing! 

I painted the names of my vegetables above their home to remember where I planted everything 

As of May 6, 2012. You can see that within two months, you can be checking your peas and beans to see if they're ready to pick! Nothing from the squash or cucumbers yet, and who know with the onions and carrots, but it makes me smile when I look at what I've made!

From the top left, I have peas, carrots, squash, cucumbers, onions, beans, and tomatoes. I purchased a couple of tomato plants that were already growing, because they are my favorite and wanted some as soon as possible! 

It was the best tomato I've ever had! I currently have one more that is almost ready to eat!!

My second completed project was a table for the back yard patio. This is what a couple of days, paint, stencils, and some newspaper can look like: 

There is a purple stenciled birds nest on a limb on the right side of this end, and a bird stencil diagonal on the opposite end

The legs have a scrapbook cut out page with purple spray paint and a regular stencil flower on the bottom. 

This table has been a great and useful thing to have around. All I have invested is the paint and stencils. Speaking of the stencils, I was given some advice from my boyfriend about taping the newspaper around the sides before spraying. I took it a step further and cut out the stencil shape in the middle of the newspaper, so I could easily move it around for multiple uses. 

I found several smaller sized pallets, and knew they would be great to play around with. This picture is to show you a  comparison of the size next to a regular sized pallet. Oh, and my puppy Geoffrey wanted to say hi :)

I have yet to complete my very latest project, but love the way it has turned out so far! This is a smaller pallet, painted and stenciled in a seemingly short amount of time. The purpose of this was to have a sign to bring to arts and craft festivals or whatnot to show everyone the name of my business. I haven't actually added Struttin' Your Buttons yet, but I will certainly post when completed:

This can also be used as an awesome wall hanging, I want to possibly write a special saying or quote on another pallet like this. 

I tried a lot of different styles, repainted it a few times, and was finally satisfied when I used a special scrapbook paper just like what I used for the legs on the table above. 

The sides both look like this

Well, that's all I have for my first blog post. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have been inspired to make your own veggie garden, or maybe a table for a special area in your home. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Christin, Struttin' Your Buttons