Family Birthday Sign

Family Birthday Sign

My grandma just celebrated her 80th birthday and my sister and I saw this beautiful sign on Pinterest and decided to replicate it.  My grandma had 8 children, so we have a VERY large family.  We have 80 family members, plus one on the way.  The project took several hours, broken nails, and major arthritis in the hands.  But it turned out beautiful and she cried when we gave it to her.  Here is how we did it in case you are interested in making one.

Here is what you need

Wooden Circles(1-1/2 x 3/16 in)-enough for each person

Various colors of acrylic paint (we did one color per family)

Paint Brush or sponges

Sharpie Paint Pen

Large Wooden Sign

12 Eyelet hooks

Round Jump Rings 10-12mm(can be found in jewelry sections of craft stores)

List of dates

Drill with a 3/32 drill bit

Alphabet Stickers

Paper plates

Wet wipes and paper towels

Needle nose pliers

I found the sign at JoAnn Fabrics back in December when they had their 75% off sale on all Christmas stuff.  Not sure why it was in the Christmas section, but it was.  I got the sign which says FAMILY for $7.

Next we bought all the wood discs from Michael's, as well as the paint, paint brush sponges, alphabet stickers, and 10" round jump rings (in jewelry section).

We got the small eyelet hooks from WalMart for $1

Then the fun began

We started by separating each of the 8 children into colors.Then we painted each wood circle on paper plates, waited for them to dry them painted the back.  They dry pretty quickly.  Some colors needed 2 coats.

After the paint fully dried, we drilled 2 opposite holes into each circle.  We used a 3/32 drill bit to drill the holes.  Go very slowly and do not push hard at all.  I broke or split the first 3 until I got the hang of it.

After all the holes were drilled, I wrote all the names and dates on each circle.

The the hard part began, We had to add all the round jump rings.  This is where our fingers began to hurt and we suffered many broken nails.  We added two to each circle and connected them all in birth order per month.

Then we added the stickers to spell our BIRTHDAYS and all the abbreviations of the months,  I measured the distance, and divided 12 even spaces. Then carefully applied all the stickers.  I had a hard time with the spacing since all the letters are not the same width.  I had to remove some and start again.  They are not perfect, but they look good when hung up on the wall.

Then we needed to add the eyelet hooks on the bottom under each month.  I tried to do the first one, but really had a hard time.  I asked for my husbands help and he screwed in all 12 of the eyelet hooks.

After that, we added the strings to the proper month and were finally finished!  All 81 members of my large crazy Italian family.  The project took at least 5-6 hours to complete and cost $42. Well worth it if you ask me.  Best part was it made my grandma cry when she opened it, priceless.