Faux Pallet Valentine’s Day Sign

Faux Pallet Valentine’s Day Sign . . . you don’t need a pallet to make this fun Valentine’s Day decor. It’s made of foam!

I love the look of pallet wood signs, but I have never been able to actually find a free pallet to use. Anywhere. My Valentine’s Day decor is lacking, and I really wanted to make something to display. Thanks to FloraCraft®, I was able to make a faux pallet Valentine’s Day sign. And I didn’t even have to rip any boards apart!!

In years past, most of my Valentine’s Day decor has been red and white. This year I decided to throw a little pink into the mix. I’ve never painted anything ombre before, but I think it is such a fun look. I had plenty of pink paint leftover from Rachel’s room, and I knew it would be just perfect for this project.

I really love how it turned out! I had a dickens of a time getting a great photo, it is actually much prettier in real life. Love it!

One bonus of working with foam sheets is that they are sooo lightweight. I was able to just glue a piece of string on the back, and the sign hangs easily from a tiny nail. Couldn’t be easier!

 DIY Faux Pallet Valentine’s Day Sign

Supplies:
-One 1″  x 12″ x 36″  FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Sheet
–FloraCraft® Styro Cutter  (or a knife)
-80z jar of Smooth Finish
–Sandpaper
-Paint and paint brushes
-Stencil or chipboard letters
-Paintchips or scraps of paper
-String
-Hot Glue and Glue Gun
-Tape

-Measure your piece of styrofoam to the size you want. I wanted mine square, so I cut it down to 12×12″. I used the StyroCutter® Plus, which is amazing for cutting styrofoam. It melts through it just like magic, and it is so fun to use!  But if you don’t have one, you can use a knife. After I cut my square out, I marked three lines 3″ apart to make four sections.
-Next you need to make grooves in the styrofoam to mimic the look of pallet wood. Yep, that’s right, you don’t even have to cut all the way through! This is where the cutter is super helpful. It just melts through the styrofoam and leaves a perfect ridge.
Next up you want to spread the Smooth Finish over the surface of your styrofoam. I used a putty knife and it worked great. I used some on the sides as well, and I used every last drop in the tub. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth, pallet wood sure isn’t! After you get it smoothed on, make sure you scrape out the ridges that you created.
After it’s totally dry, give it a good sanding to smooth out the rough spots. I let mine dry overnight.

Now it’s time to paint! I already had pink paint from my daughter’s bedroom makeover, so I just added white to it to get the various shades.
Now you get to add your words. I liked “Love Never Fails” for my sign, but you can do whatever the heck you want! I stenciled my words on, but you can paint them by hand, or use chipboard letters if you prefer.
After my paint was dry -it only takes a few minutes- I carefully pulled off the vinyl. Look at those crisp lines!
I decided to add a little bunting to the corner of my sign. I simply cut some hearts out of paint chips and glued them to a piece of string. Then I just taped the string to the back of the sign. Easy peasy!
I totally loved this technique, and I see more faux pallet signs in my future! 🙂

You can find more foam craft project inspiration over at the Make It: Fun site. Some of my favorite bloggers have even shared projects there. 🙂

Disclaimer: I was given supplies from FloraCraft® and compensated for this post. The project idea and instructions are all mine.