Craft express blog: NAME PLATES

Name plates play very important role in enhancing the entrance space of a house. They speak volumes, not just of the decor inside but also of the person staying in the house. It is important to have a name plate as per vastu as well.

Today I am sharing with you few unique, handmade name plates. I have recycled left over planks of wooden flooring, decoupaged them to create these lovely name boards. You can use any piece of wood.
Most houses have left over pieces of plywood during renovation, that goes to trash. Why not use them instead. Name plates are just one of things you can make with them, you can create many more handmade stuff for your home !!!!

Left over piece of wooden flooring. I had a few of these in different sizes.

I decoupaged this plank with a pattern paper, using mod podge. Choose a paper that compliments the wall colour on which the name plate is to be fixed. Also fit the ears ( metal hangers) at the back to hang the name plate. Do so before starting the work so that you do not spoil the finished surface later.

Now select alphabets of colour that compliments the paper. Here I have used foam cut alphabets. You can use paper die cuts, mdf or acrylic laser cut alphabets as well. Colour them with acrylic colours,if required to match the paper.
I have made small dashes on the alphabets with permanent black marker to give a stitch effect.
Next step is to embellish the name plate further. I have used paper flowers, metal charms and chipboard laser cut out. The house numbers are of foam, painted with maroon acrylic colour.

Making the chipboard piece- First I coloured the chipboard cut out in a dark maroon shade of acryllic paint. Let it dry. Then gave a coat of clear crackle medium. Let this air dry. As the medium dries, egg shell cracks start to appear. Size of cracks depend on the thickness of coat of crackle medium. Now I highlighted the cracks by rubbing metallic pink acrylic paint and distressed the edges of the cut out with black. Happy with the crackle effect....

Crackle effect on mdf pieces, done in a similar way. The pieces are hung with the help of jute rope and I added a paper flower as seen. The jute rope is stuck all around the name plate like a border using silicon glue.

Complete look of the name plate, ready to adorn the entrance of a home.

Do not forget to varnish the name plate. I have varnished using aquadur wood varnish.

Would love to share some more name plates made by recycling the wooden flooring pieces.