Jillibean Soup Bean Talk

Wooden USA Sign with Wheat Wreath

Jillibean Soup offers several gorgeous plank shapes, and the USA map one is a popular one. It comes in a rough-finished, medium stained wood and includes a heart pin if you'd like to highlight your location on the map. What makes this surface so fun, is that you can use it as is or decorate it in a variety of ways. Some ideas might include: string art, spray paint, acrylic paint, vinyl sentiment (see our Silhouette cut files HERE), galvanized words, or wooden words. Really the possibilities are endless. On this project, we've added a wheat wreath to give this a farmhouse sign styling.

We suggest looking for wreaths designs to fit around candles. These are typically 6" in diameter and fit perfectly on most surfaces. For our larger surfaces, you can go with wreaths that are larger. You can glue these wreaths to our surfaces, or you can use a nail and change out the wreaths to match changing seasonal decor. You can find our USA map HERE in our online store. But search for other shapes like stars, hearts, hexagons, circles and more.

How to Use a Pen to Create a Farmhouse Sign

There are lots of ways to add phrases, sentiments, or sayings to a Farmhouse sign. You could use vinyl, wooden words, stickers, or in this case: a pen! Yes, a pen can be used to create the perfect saying for any farmhouse sign. Pick a paint pen or a Sharpie that works well with the surface you are using (do your research so you know what works with a chalkboard, galvanized, enamel, or wooden surface). Once you've chosen your pen, pick a sentiment. Search on Pinterest for uplifting quotes. You'll find lots of ideas there. Use a pencil to lightly write out your phrase. Change and alter the phrase as many times as you need with the pencil before you begin. Trace over your design with the pen and let dry.

If you're not comfortable with your handwriting, you can use a stencil instead. Or use an overhead projector to project your sentiment onto your surface.

How to Mod Podge Scrapbooking Paper to a Plank Sign

Our plank signs are perfect for adding scrapbooking paper to. Because the plank surfaces are divided into separate planks, you can alter each plank with pattern paper for a beautiful sign. Mod Podge for paper is designed for a project like this. Simply cut the pattern paper to each plank's size. Use Mod Podge to adhere the paper to each individual plank. Then add more Mod Podge to the top of each paper layer. Let dry and then gently sand the edges of the paper so the paper lies perfectly flat on the planks.

We suggest using our pine planks (see options HERE) for this project as the wood is smoother than some of the more rough surfaces of our other planks. You can use our other planks, but the smoother wood makes the project move a little more quickly. To finish off this project, add foam stickers, a vinyl sentiment, or a wooden word. Beautiful felt flowers make this project even more feminine. You can find lots of beautiful felt flower styles on Etsy or HERE in our online shop.

We love that Jill kept one of the planks natural and then white-washed a second plank. There are so many different ways to dress up these plank surfaces. And they all turn out beautifully!

"Welcome" Wreath Farmhouse Sign

The quickest way to dress up any plank surface is with greenery. One beautiful wreath can give any frame or pallet sign an instant farmhouse decor makeover. For this project, we've added a 10" wreath to one of our Mix the Media surfaces. Then we spray painted the galvanized "welcome" word with red paint and glued it right on the wreath (you could also wire the word to the wreath). We now have a gorgeous DIY frame that we can hang on the front door, or display in our home. It would also be a gorgeous gift to give a neighbor.

We offer several different styles of word phrases you can alter. You can find them HERE in our store. We also offer lots of different frames and surfaces, which we call "Mix the Media" surfaces. You can shop for those HERE. We'd love to see how you combine greenery with one of our surfaces. Let us know what you've created in the comments below.

"Together" Moss Covered Frame

When you think of adding unique items to your frame, do you ever look to the gardening section? These days there are so many faux (and real) plants and flowers available that would make the coolest craft projects even better. One item you may not have considered before is moss or greenery. You can find both real and faux moss in hobby stores and gardening centers. We prefer the ones that come in sheets. To add these to a frame, you simply cut down the sheet to the size that you need and then use a hot glue gun or E6000 glue to add them to your frame. A black, spray painted "together" wooden word finishes off this project.

Don't you just want to reach out and touch this project? Think how cute this would look as a series! Oh the ideas are endless. Tell us other unique surfaces you've added to frames or wooden surfaces. If you're looking for some of our surfaces to cover, then check out store HERE. We have acrylic frames, wooden frames, windows, planks, galvanized and chalkboard surfaces to choose from. So many ideas, so little time!

Glowforge Succulent Sign Project

Have you heard of a Glowforge before? It's an amazing machine that can cut shapes from a variety of surfaces including wood. Jill has been using one to add shapes and phrases to the Jillibean Soup Mix the Media surfaces. Today's project is a succulent plant shape cut from the Glowforge. She painted the plant in a pot with green and black acrylic paint. And then before gluing it to a hexagon Mix the Media surface, she wrapped the pot shape with a gingham ribbon and tied it into a bow. This looks so incredible! If you own a Glowforge, we offer lots of cut files through our Etsy shop HERE. If you don't own a Glowforge, then we suggest you shop for pre-cut shapes from individual shops on Etsy. There are lots of people that will cut beautiful phrases and shapes for you and they look stunning on any surface.

To shop the Mix the Media surfaces we offer, you can search for different styles HERE. We offer a variety of styles and sizes so keep that in mind when purchasing a shape (you'll want to make sure it's not too big or too small for the project you have in mind). If you look closely at the above picture you can just see another Glowforge project Jill was working on. That machine is magic I tell you! If you make something with one of our surfaces, let us know. We LOVE to see what you're creating!

Using a Stencil to Create a Two-Tone Phrase on a Sign

Jillibean Soup offers lots of templates that can be used on fabric, wood, metal, and practically any surface. You can find these stencils in packs at Walmart and JoAnn stores. They come in a variety of sizes and are perfect for creating beautiful hand-written sentiments without having to use your own handwriting. We offer both paper stencils and plastic stencils. What we love about these stencils are their usability. You can use them with spray paint, markers, watercolors, acrylic paint, colored pencils, fabric paint, and more. For this project, Jill used a foam dauber brush and two colors of paint to create a two-tone phrase on this wooden sign.

We love how she changed the last line to a different color. It makes the word "kind" really stand out and using the pouncing technique gives the words a distressed look. So pretty! Have you tried one of our stencils? If you can't find our specific stencils, try vinyl or another company's stencil to add your own design to one of our Rustic Frames. You can find our frames HERE in our online shop.

Planks: Using the Backside versus the Front Side

Jillibean Soup offers lots of plank surfaces. You can find them at JoAnn stores, Walmart, AC Moore, and in our online store HERE. Each of these planks has a front surface that is raised, but if you turn over the planks to the backside, you'll see an indented crafting surface perfect for some very cool projects. For instance this Family Sign, uses the backside of our of our rectangle planks. The wooden "family" word is placed near the top while a vinyl phrase/sentiment was added to the bottom of the surface.

These surfaces come with rope for hanging, but it was removed for the purposes of this project. Have we got you thinking? Is the backside of your surface more interesting than your front surface or can you do something more creative with one side versus the other? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

How to Create a Frame Background with a Sharpie Pen

If you're looking for a creative and easy way to add a background to a frame, look no further than your Sharpie marker stash. Because these are permanent markers, they make the perfect tool for creating custom backgrounds for your frames. Think back shapes like swiss crosses, hearts, dots, etc. for an easy project or go all out with a more complicated design. In this frame Mix the Media project, Jill used her marker to create horizontal lines. Doesn't it look modern and fresh?

She finished her project by adding one of our wooden words painted in black to the frame. This has such a cool masculine vibe to it and yet would also work perfectly with a farmhouse style. You can find our frame surfaces HERE in our shop and our wooden words in white HERE and in plain wood HERE. So many options to choose from and now that you know the Sharpie trick, we'd love to see what you create. Tag us at #jillibeansoup so we can see what you're making on social media. We're so curious about what inspires you!

Welcome Embroidery Hoop on a Plank Sign

Our owner, Jill, is AMAZING at coming up with beautiful projects featuring our Mix the Media surfaces and embellishments. And this project is no exception! For today's project, Jill layered an embroidery hoop filled with farmhouse fabric on a plank surface. She then outlined the hoop with pom pom trim and glued a ribbon to the top of the hoop. To finish off the project, she hot glued the galvanized "welcome" word to the hoop. Isn't this so beautiful? Wouldn't this look so pretty in a gallery of photos and home decor projects on your wall?

You can paint our galvanized words or leave them as is. Jill added black spray paint to this word to help it stand out a little more. You can find all of our galvanized words HERE in our online shop.