Gettin' Kinda Crafty!

I made a craft from Pinterest yesterday!  And I love how it turned out. 

We had the wood in our garage, but I had to actually saw myself a piece.  Yes, I sawed.  It was hard, but fun!  And that explains the board's crookedness.  But don't look at that.

I printed off the letter h (for our last name) and taped it to the board.  At first I thought about drawing the shape I wanted, but then wondered how I was going to erase the lines after the nails were pounded in.  Printing the shape is the way to go.  

After taping the paper to the board, trying to get it as centered and straight as possible, I penciled some dots for where I was going to place the nails.  Some dots were measured with a ruler, like on the straight part of the letter, and then I just placed dots along the curves. 

I didn't string the string in any particular pattern, I just wanted to make sure each nail got some string wrapped around it.  I also wanted to make sure there was string on the outer part of the shape, just to give it a finished look. 

I think this took me an hour (minus the sawing part.  I won't say how long that took).  I would recommend tearing the paper off after the nails are in.  I left the paper on until after I strung it and it was difficult getting the paper out from under the string. 

This is exciting for me!  The corner where this is displayed is pretty much the most decorated part of the whole house.  It's sad, I know, but I'm working on it!  My Pinterest challenge is going to help me with that!
My little project was literally made with blood, sweat, and tears.  And crayon. 

• the blood:  After I was all finished, I had propped up against the oven door, on the floor (because that's where we were working), and Avery fell on top of it, with her head.  She's okay, very little-to-no blood.  Several of the nails were bent, but I was able to bend them back easily.
• the sweat:  from the sawing, of course.  It's a good workout!  Too bad I can't saw with my left hand.  I could totally be buff.
• the tears:  from when Avery fell on it. 
• and the crayon:  Emily traced around the whole letter with a blue crayon and then stated, "Mom!  I connected the nails!"  I guess she thought they needed connecting.  I was able to get the crayon off with a Magic Eraser (LOVE those things!  They really ARE magic!).