Wood Slat Mat

Everyone knows by now, I love crafting in groups.  So when Hometalk encouraged me to put together a craft group to make something for the home, I was all over that.  The project was a Wood Slat Mat and I am in love with my ombre version (ombre tutorial below) – –

First up, a few excuses on this post – – it was raining and dreary, but I took pictures anyway so they aren’t the greatest.  Also, my computer has been super slow so Trevor tried a whole system reboot.  It’s so much faster now, but meanwhile I had files in weird places that are now lost and need recovered – like my blog logo and watermark!  And all the cute fonts I had installed – so look past the boring watermark in these, I’m working on it…

Now, back to the project – – we used the DIY Doormat post from The Accent Piece (head there for the tutorial):

The boards at my store were much cheaper, so these turned out being $5 a doormat – nice!  The boards were only $2 (you need 2) and that’s for the fancy pressure-treated ones.  Trevor precut the boards to the right length.  Then we got together and drilled the holes with the drill press and stained the boards:

The fun group, sporting our fashion-forward utility aprons from Hometalk.  I love when we can turn playgroup into a little fun crafting:

Now, for the tutorial on the ombre look I went with – – I really love the subtly of it.  First, grab a color of paint and some white paint and your boards:

Paint the first board with straight color.  Then scoop out some white (I used a stir stick) and add it to your color.  Stir with your brush.  Then paint the second board.  Then add a scoop of white.  Then paint the third board.

And repeat, adding a scoop of white in between each board painting.

The sunlight is making this picture a little greener than real life, but you can see the color gradiation, dark to light:

I wanted a little something on the doormat, but “Welcome” seemed pretty formal.  I settled on “hey there” and used my Cameo to cut a stencil out.  I took the time to do the Mod Podge trick so the letters would be crisp:

Then I painted it onto the darkest board using the mixed paint from the lightest board:

Here you can see the subtle color change in the boards:

And a view of the whole mat.  I think this would also make a pretty cool wall hanging:

But it does look awesome as a welcome mat:

So grab a group, grab some boards, and get to crafting!!