Sometimes I want to name my posts, “What not to do to achieve blank”! Because it sure seems like something always goes wrong.

Anyway… I’ve wanted to make an American Flag out of pallets for a long time. I got some pallets from the golf course that we play at. We know the manager really well. I spotted these on the course and asked what he was going to do with them. When he said burn them, I jumped at having them! He may or may not have given me a strange look.

So I took them apart. If you’ve never taken apart a pallet, then you are missing a great workout. I was so disgustingly sweaty and tired after taking these apart. And this time I didn’t cut the sides like I did in my pallet art. I wanted all of the nail holes. Take my word for it, this made it doubly hard.

I used our nail gun to secure the boards on the back.

I gave it one coat of white paint. I didn’t want it to be to perfect.

I then measured from top to bottom and divided that number by 13 for the stripes. Taped them all off and then put plastic bags on the stars and blue part.

Then I tried this trick that I learned from Sugar Bee Crafts. Take some mod podge and podge over all of the edges of tape. The mod podge is clear and seeps under instead of the paint seeping under. Worked like a charm!

Then I gave it a nice coat of red spray paint.

Then I hand cut out 50 stars and only used around 32 or something. I figured if someone actually counted them and caught that there weren’t 50, I would give them a prize. I mod podged the stars onto the pallet. I mimicked the real American flag by doing a row of 5 then 4 then 5 and so on.

ATTENTION: Here is the spot where you don’t do what I did! Do NOT use printer paper. It was incredibly thin and SUPER hard to mod podge onto the wood and peel off.

I gave it a nice coat of blue spray paint. I used the edges of my sheet to tape off the red and white stripes.

Whew those first 2 were cake compared to the rest! My newly polished nails were ruined after picking the little pieces of paper off.

I did have to touch up a few of the stars. I blame it on the copy paper.

And that’s it! I love the crisp lines and will most definitely be using the mod podge trick again.

Please ignore my ancient, palm tree welcome mat. I think it’s time for an update. You can find my square rosette wreath HERE.

I intentionally did not line up the boards and I also intentionally started the stars off of the edges.

I love the statement it makes from my front porch!

ATTENTION: Here’s another hint. If you want to complete this project in record time, be sure to sit in the sun in the middle of the day when it’s 100 degrees outside. Pros: Drying time is SUPER fast. Cons: Sweat will be pouring out of your body and you may feel light headed when you stand up.

Go grab you some free pallets and make you some art. Pallets are everywhere and if you ask a company for one, chances are they will give it to you.

Thanks for dropping in 🙂