Several, I mean several months ago I showed you the awesome, simple and cheap pallet sofa table on the blog (here).  I also showed you the pallet sign that Wade Nagy made for me and told you how that pretty soon, I was going to do a pallet project to showcase above my mantel.

Well, over 5 months later, I am now ready to show you.  Don't worry, it only took me 5 months to start, but only one day to finish.

I am expecting baby number 4 and these days my energy is come and go and so is my patience to try new things.  But yesterday, when I awoke I felt the energy to get something D O N E.  I decided to focus my time on the long awaited pallet project that quietly awaited me on my fireplace mantel.  Plus, I have a wedding shower at my home in a few weeks and I cannot have dead grass AND and a blank pallet board displayed.
So it was time to get busy.

The boards were already put together, thanks to my man.  So the first step was to sand the boards.  So while the kids ran around in the driveway, mama got to sanding with the electric sander.  If you don't have one, this exact Dewalt sander is $40 at Lowes.  And super easy to use.

Now, the outline.  I have wanted a chic, vintage deer since they first came in style.  Part of me was afraid that by this time, they were out of style.  However, I still wanted it.  So a deer it was.  I simply printed off a design that I liked and I re-drew the deer by hand.  Now if you are not able to do this free handed, just blow up the outline as large as you can (you may have to tape the 8x11 papers together), cut out and trace around the design.

Next, the stain.  Of course I had not planned to do this project until today, so a trip to Home Depot was needed.  A fun, spontaneous field trip for these homeschoolers, of course.  I chose to use a stain because I wanted the wood to look rustic and I also knew that it was cheaper and would be much faster to apply.  I chose a gray, even though it did not turn out like I had envisioned, as far as color, I was still pleased with the rustic look.  However, that example hanging on the wall at Home Depot showing this beautiful gray color... not what happened.

Just keep adding stain until you reach the desired color.  The stain will absorb slowly into the wood.

 And finally, the fun part.  Once the stain in somewhat dry (mine was still sticky, but not wet) you can begin to paint the deer.  I used an acrylic craft paint that I had purchased a long time ago from Michaels Craft Store.  I used one coat so that it would still have a vintage feel.  Start with the outer lines and work your way in.  Don't worry about staying in every line perfectly.  Part of doing your own DIY is creating the character through your own natural flaws.

Last summer we moved into this whole house of ours.  It was a lovely Ranch style home overtaken by the monsoon of jungle that wrapped all the way around the house.  I remember shortly after moving here that there wasn't a single window that you could not see some sort of vine or shrub slowly creeping up it.  And the grass.  Whoa.  It was green and lush and pretty much all weeds.  Yup, not much grass to be seen.  However, that late in the summer our only option was to mow and keep it mowed as it grew like wild flowers.  I mean dandelions.

I am a daughter of a landscaper.  Having pretty grass, you know with the stripes and all, is just how I know to do things.  I usually never notice the weeds in the neighbors yard, but the ones in mine, they taunt me and tease me and literally drive me crazy.  I was actually thankful when winter came and the whole jungle became dormant.

Now, it is Spring.  And things are finally starting to take shape.  Wade Nagy spent a whole weekend last Fall trimming and practically butchering off every shrub surrounding the house and as you can see it paid off this Spring.  Our plan is to add a shrub, a flower, here and there until we have the beds full and colorful.  But this is a start.  Especially from last year.




We went from a lush weed garden to a dry and barren desert.

We have used weed killer and slowing the weeds are dimensioning.  However, grass doesn't magically grow in the bare spots and it is looking like we may have to wait until Fall since the summer heat has already began to set in.

I was thinking about how ugly the yard is and I was actually embarrassed about it.  I am having a wedding shower at my house in a few weeks for a friend and I am a little ashamed to invite them to the Sahara.  However, it dawned on me just like everything else that this is a process.

I want the green grass and I want it now.  But the reality of it is that it takes time.  You have to work diligently, be patient and the seed has to be planted at the right time. Otherwise you are planting seed that will never grow.

Get where I am going with this?

So often we want our dreams and desires to come to pass right now.  We look across the road at our neighbors and see that theirs is beautiful and lush and we wonder why it isn't happening for us.  We want to be in our God-given destiny and we want it NOW.  We can see it, feel it and we are eager.  But the timing just isn't quite right.  We have to learn to wait on His timing.  As hard as it is.  We don't have to understand it and honestly I don't think the Lord wants us to.  He wants us to fully trust, rely and obey.  Then at the proper time, the seed will be planted, it will take root and the it will grow into the beautiful thing that it was intended to be.

And this time... it will be fully "weed free,"

So as I watch the weeds fade away, I am determined to see the bare spots as areas where the Lord will grow newness.  No longer are they considered bare and dry, they are new pallets waiting for new seed to be planted so that when the time is right, the grass will grow abundantly.

You just WAIT till next Fall.