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Pallet Wedding Guest Book

6/28/15

Welcome back everyone! As you know if you’ve read my other posts, I recently got married!  We knew we wanted to do a few different and creative things to celebrate our big day, and this post is about one of those ideas–the Pallet Wedding Guest Book.

Pallet Guest Book Final Product 3 -- Sweet Tea in the South

 

Every wedding has a guest book.  They are great ways to remember who could join you and your special day and give your guests a way to personalize a message for you.  We love the idea but wanted something a little different.  While looking around online, I found a print that looked like wood slats painted with a leaved tree and a couple birds representing the happy couple.  The idea is each guest signs a leaf instead of a page in a book.

Since I’m a little crazy for pallets and have a garage overflowing with them, I asked the fiance if he would try building this idea instead of buying a printed version.  Here’s how he built and painted it.

First choose your pallet.  We had one that sat out in the rain and sun for a year.  I thought that might ruin it but after a quick wipe down to clean of the dirt, it ended up having the perfect rustic look.

Now that you have your pallet, plan out your design.  My pallet slats measured about 40 inches long by 3.5 inches wide.  I decided to use 8 slats to create a finished product that would be roughly 28 in by 40 in.

Next you’ll want to disassemble the pallet.  I like to use a flat crowbar and hammer to really get under the nails.  I find the easiest method is to get between the main beams and the slats by hammering down your crowbar, prying the slat up about and inch, then gently hammer the slat back down.  This should leave the nails sticking up from the slat about and inch.  Get the hammer under the nail head and pull it out.  Most pallets have multiple slats held together by three main supports.  Each slat is held to each support by at least two nails so expect to repeat this step about six times per slat.

Pallet Guest Book Pieces -- Sweet Tea in the South

Now that you have your slats prepared you’ll need supports to hold those slat together.  I elected to use some scrap wood we had lying around. These will be pretty much hidden behind the slats so don’t worry to much if they don’t match.  Lay your slats together spaced the way you like them and measure the height. While your here, number each slat so you know how they fit together later (start with your bottom slat as number 1). Like I said earlier, ours was about 28 in tall.  Now cut your supports a little shorter than that (I chose about 2 inches shorter) so they won’t stick out the top or bottom. Now place your supports on the ground or workbench 20 in apart and parallel.

Pallet Guest Book Scrap Wood-- Sweet Tea in the South

Mark your bottom plank (number 1) 10 in from each end (adjust if your slats are longer or shorter than 40 in).  Line up the marks on your slats with the inside of your supports.  Ensure your supports are still parallel and nail your bottom slat to your supports using 2 nails per support.

Pallet Guest Book First Slat-- Sweet Tea in the South

Congrats, that was the hardest slat! Now continue nailing each slat to the supports according to how you lined them up earlier.  You can sand your piece if you want but I liked it rough and weathered.

Pallet Guest Book Assembled Pallet wood-- Sweet Tea in the South

Before I tried to draw out my pattern on the piece, I drew out a practice sample on a printer paper.  Now is a good time to figure out how many leaves you’ll want.  We planned on about 100 guest so I figured out space for 100 leaves.  You can do the math and figure out how big each leaf should roughly be to fit on your pallet like a nerd [which is what I did =)], or you can wing it!

Pallet Guest Book Stencil -- Sweet Tea in the South

Now it’s time to translate that masterpiece to the pallet.  The branches are easiest done free hand.  I free handed the leaves as well to get a good idea of how to fit them.

Pallet Guest Book Penciling -- Sweet Tea in the South

It is always good to have a helper ; )

It is always good to have a helper ; )

For the branches and leaves, I used white acrylic.  For the birds, I used a house paint we found on the reject shelf at Lowes for 75 cents.

Start by painting your branches with a large brush, slowly decreasing the size of your brush as your branches get thinner.  Next are you leaves.  You can try this free hand but I found the edges of the leaves tend to be fuzzy due to the wood.  After a few failed attempts, I decided to create some stencils out of a thin sheet of cardboard.  Make sure to use multiple shapes to mix tings up and fit more leaves.

Pallet Guest Book Painting Branches -- Sweet Tea in the South

Pallet Guest Book Leaf Stencil -- Sweet Tea in the South

Pallet Guest Book Leaf Stencil Example-- Sweet Tea in the South

You’ll likely have to complete two coats to get the proper coverage.

Paint your birds and choose someone with good handwriting for the names and dates.

How to Make a Pallet Wedding Guest Book

via

How to Make a Pallet Wedding Guest Book | Sweet Tea in the South

via

Take your completed guestbook to your wedding and enjoy all the compliments on this creative way to make memories last!

Tutorial to make a DIY Pallet Wedding Guest Book

Pallet Guest Book Final Product 2 -- Sweet Tea in the South

Check out my other wedding posts:

Wedding Invitation Ornament | Easy DIY Gift Card Box | Brooch Bouquet

Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

Jess

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Filed Under: crafts, DIY, wedding Tagged With: guest book, pallet, wedding

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    June 29, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    What a great project! Love how it turned out 🙂

    Reply
    • Jess says

      June 30, 2015 at 5:06 pm

      Thanks!! : )

      Reply
  2. Karen says

    July 2, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    Jess, this is absolutly beautiful! What a wonderful and personal piece!
    And I loves me your helper 🙂
    Thanks so much for sharing at Something to Talk About!
    Karen

    Reply
    • Jess says

      July 6, 2015 at 10:26 am

      Thanks Karen! Our helper never likes to be left out of our projects 😉

      Reply
  3. c.a. says

    July 29, 2015 at 9:48 am

    OH MY GOSH! I LOVE IT. It is totally cute!!!! I wonder if you could use this for other things too, other events perhaps?

    Reply
  4. Sarah says

    March 4, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    What did you use to have the guests sign the “guestbook”?

    Reply
    • Jess says

      March 9, 2016 at 7:57 pm

      Hi Sarah, we used a pen that is sort of like a fine Sharpie. Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  5. mackenzie says

    May 3, 2016 at 9:40 pm

    you should totally sell these!! I am trying to find someone to make me one right now i think i could do everything besides paint the trees and leaves ahahah

    Reply
    • Jess says

      February 13, 2017 at 8:38 pm

      Hi Mackenzie! I’m so glad my now hubby handled the leaves bahahaaa! 😛 Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  6. Tanya says

    August 9, 2016 at 2:11 am

    I love this idea, but I like a darker look on the wood, would I be able to stain the wood then paint on the leaves? Would the stain leak into the paint?

    Reply
    • Jess says

      February 13, 2017 at 6:59 pm

      Hi Tanya, I’m not sure about the stain. Maybe you could do a test spot on the back? I would think if you were to try it, maybe do a primer layer first? Another idea would be to use vinyl cut outs rather than painting. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

      Reply
      • Sue says

        September 11, 2017 at 3:28 pm

        I made one just the other day. I stained the wood dark and waited a good day or so and then used acrylic paint for the hearts that I put on the board to sign. Did not bleed!!

        Reply
  7. DonaldThync says

    February 27, 2017 at 7:48 am

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  8. Tammee says

    May 29, 2017 at 7:03 pm

    Did you sponge the leaves on with the stencil or use your brush still?

    Reply
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Hi I'm Jess, and I call the Rocket City (Huntsville, AL) home! While I'm not doing my 8-5, you can find me hanging out with my lab mix Riley or starting a craft or project (sometimes multiple) around the house. I'm always doing my best to stay active and try new things. Hopefully you will stick around for the ride!
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