Home Is Where the Heart Is: How to DIY a little state pride

Home Is Where the Heart Is:

How to DIY a Little State Pride

About 2 years ago, my husband Tony and I picked up and moved ten hours away from everything we’ve ever known. Though we absolutely love where we live now, we both miss home and our families every day. My hubby and I have Tennessee state flag stickers on our cars, Vols t-shirts, and TN croakies, koozies, and keychains, but as our anniversary approached, I wanted to surprise Tony with a piece of home that would be a focal point in our home together.

So what did I do? I opened up my computer and went straight to Pinterest. I shudder to think about the crappy gifts we all sent before Pinterest. (I’m kidding, of course, but seriously, how did we have creative thoughts before Pinterest?!) I searched home state decor and finally ran across a “state yarn art” pin. I loved it. As I looked more into this project I found that there was more than one way to create these works of art:

So I read several how-to’s, made a list, and headed to Lowe’s. The whole process took me about a day and a half, and the result has gotten me some of the most wonderful compliments of any decor in our home. If you’ve seen similar projects before and wondered how to pull them off, I’ve outlined here the steps I took to create a large-scale version of a Tennessee state yarn portrait that could easily be translated into whichever state or shape you’d like to create.

Buying the supplies you’ll need

First, I visited my local Lowe’s for some supplies. I headed to the lumber section and found an associate to grab me some 2x6’s. If you want to create a 4 foot long, 1.5 foot tall plaque like I did (great for long shapes like the state of Tennessee), Lowe’s sells 2x6’s in 12 foot lengths that you can ask them to cut into three pieces of equal length. If you would like a plaque of a different size, they have all kinds of different options for you to choose from, but what I recommend is getting a few pieces of wood that can be cut and put together like mine, not just a piece of plywood cut to size. I have seen projects done with plywood, either stained or painted a certain color, and they just do not have the “wow factor” that stained wood planks have. Smaller projects can use 2x4’s or 1x6’s, just as long as they are untreated lumber. You will be putting a stain (or paint, if that’s what you’re in to) on them, so there is no need for them to be treated.

Also, lots of posts on wood DIY’s advise you to ask Lowe’s associates to cut your lumber for you. Yes, they can do this. What I have found, however, is that depending on the quality of the Lowe’s (or any other home improvement store) you visit, not every set of employees will volunteer to cut your lumber for you, or be “so helpful” about it, as I found that many pinners say. Sometimes, especially on a busy Saturday, you will have to wait around on an associate to come over and help you get the lumber down from the rack, and then you may even get an eye roll when you ask if they can cut it to a specific size for you. These guys are used to working with contractors, and when see someone who is very obvious a “DIYer” standing in their lumber aisle, they assume that us silly women most likely have no idea what we’re looking at, talking about, or needing to purchase, so just be prepared for that.

After purchasing your lumber, head over to the painting section and pick up a stain. For my project, I used Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain in dark walnut (Here's the link!). You can choose whichever color best suits your decor, but for me the walnut created a nice, rich finish, while still allowing the wood grain to pop. The smallest size, 32 oz, I believe, was more than enough even for a large project like mine.

Then, you’ll need some glue to hold the boards of wood together. I used Gorilla Wood Glue (Here's the link!) and it has held up wonderfully! No nailing needed whatsoever. This really helped me to achieve the seamless look I was going for, with no nails sticking out all over the place.

Next, you’ll need to head over to the hardware section to grab some tacks. These will serve as the outline that you’ll attach the yarn to on your project. The ones I purchased are ¾ inch escutcheon pins in brass. They had a few different colors (silver, gold, brass) and sizes. Just make sure the pins are an appropriate size for your project (ie: don’t buy 6 inch tacks for a 1 foot by 1 foot plaque, silly!) (Here's the link!)

Finally, you’ll need a medium-sized paintbrush if you don’t have an extra one at home, just big enough to fit inside the can of stain, and a plastic drop cloth to avoid staining your floors in the process (the cheapest one will do).

Now load up your car and head home, but stop by a craft store on the way. You’ll need some yarn to fill in your state. I headed to the sewing/crochet department and bought off-white yarn that is not too fuzzy, more like string. Choose any color you’d like. I only bought one skein, or bundle, of yarn at first and had to go back for another. Go ahead and buy two or even three just in case. Extra yarn always comes in handy around a DIYer’s house!

Getting your supplies together

Once you’ve got everything home, start by spreading that dropcloth out and laying out all your supplies on top:

• Boards of whichever size you chose
• Wood glue
• Tacks
• Hammer
• Wood stain
• Paintbrush
• Yarn

You’ll also need:

• Hammer
• Measuring tape
• Computer with a printer
• Scotch tape
• A little patience

Putting together your beautiful work of art

1. Your first task is to glue your boards together. Decide what sides of the boards are prettiest and should face out. I like for the knots and intricate swirls in the wood grain to be on display, but if you would like to have a more uniform look, then make the more irregular sides face down. Check to make sure that each of the boards line up with each other along their sides. You may have to switch around the order of the boards to do this.

2. Now, take your gorilla glue and squeeze a line along each edge that needs to be bonded in a zigzag pattern. Push the boards together and wipe away any glue that squeezes out with a paper towel. If you have giant clamps, clamp the boards together while they dry. If you are a normal person, like me, without a fancy woodshop, then push these boards (still on the drop cloth) against a wall and stack some heavy textbooks or anything extra-heavy against them to hold them there nice and tight. Let the glue dry for 6-24 hours; 6 hours if you need to have this gift done to surprise your husband who lives in the same house as you, and you only have this one day off before your anniversary, and you know that there’s no where in the house that you can hide a 4-foot block of wood in your house; 24 hours if you are under less constraints.  

3. Give your can of stain a good shake for a few minutes. Once it’s good and mixed, open it up begin spreading the stain in an even coat with your paintbrush.

4. Stain the front, sides, and top and bottom of the plaque. It’s up to you if you want to stain the back. I did not because I knew I was going to have it against a wall, so the back would not be seen. As you stain each board, wipe any excess stain gently with a paper towel. This will ensure that you have a nice even coat and that the wood grain shows through. Give the stain time to dry, according to the directions on the can.

5. Now you need to search for the image you’d like to put on your plaque. Use google images, and select one that is a high number of pixels (ex: 2700 x 600). This is the number that pops up on google images when you hover your mouse over the image, or when you click on it to show a bigger version. If you want to use a Tennessee image, this is the one I used.

6. Print the image out on multiple sheets of paper, using Microsoft Publisher’s banner creation settings. Cut out the image and tape the sheets together. Lay your image out on your plaque and secure it with a rolled piece of tape on the underside of your cutout. Use a tape measure to center your image juuuuust right.

7. Hammer the tacks around the outside of the image, leaving the width of one nailhead between each tack. I’ll be honest with you, this part is the longest step, especially if you are doing a large project like mine. But trust me, the work will pay off. I’ve seen similar versions of this project that leave wider gaps between each nail, and therefore use less nails which takes less time, and the result is less detailed, more elementary looking, and just doesn’t have the custom appearance that it will with more tacks.

8. When you have completed the outline, remove the printout. Make note of where you would like the heart in the middle of your image. You can position it anywhere. I positioned ours over our hometown. (If you are doing an image other than a state, you can leave out the heart and simply zigzag the yarn from one side of the image to the other.) Use a pencil to freehand the outline of your heart on the wood.

9. Nail tacks into the outline of the heart that you drew and get ready to start stringing that yarn!

10. Tie one end of your yarn to one of the nails on the main outline. Take that string and pull it to one of the nails that make up the heart. Wrap the string once around that nail, then return it back to the next nail on the main outline. Continue this pattern of once around an outer nail, followed by once around a heart nail. There are many less heart nails than there are main outline nails. This means that you will have to loop around each heart nail several times, but each main outline nail only once. If you run out of yarn, simply tie on a new piece to the end of the first skein of yarn.

11. Enjoy your gorgeous work of art!

I hope you have enjoyed this DIY. I’m certainly not the one of this duo that is generally considered the creative or decorator-savvy one, but as I have gotten so many wonderful compliments on this piece, as well as questions on how I made it, I thought I’d share it with you guys. This plaque is a beautiful reminder to me every day that it pays off to not just pin good ideas you see on Pinterest, but to make them! If you have any questions on making your own, please leave a comment.