Be Still...

For a while now the first part of Psalm 46:10 has been playing through my head... "Be still and know that I am God..." A good reminder for anyone... Especially comforting for all the chaos in my life right now...

Since I'm craft and like visual reminders, I thought I make myself a board... Surfing on Pinterest I found a new technique for staining or "ebonizing" wood... Basically it's a way to make new wood look old and weathered... Here's the blog I followed:
 http://ourlittlegreennest.blogspot.com/2013/07/weathered-wood-crates.html

So basically you need:
Wood
2 Jars - I used old spaghetti jars
Tea
Vinegar
Steel wool

In one jar, fill 3/4 full of vinegar. It kinda depends on the size of your project. I had PLENTY left over. It just needs to be enough vinegar to cover your chunk of steel wool. I used the super fine stuff 0000. Then you just let it sit for at least 24 hours.

Is it done yet??

Now some people's vinegar turned brown... Mine never did and I let it sit for days..... It still works...

Oh and you may want to strain the vinegar before using it. The steel wool will disintegrate and leave little pieces all over. I didn't have much to do so I just dipped my brush into the jar... 

ANYWAYS... In your other jar, brew like 3 bags of tea... I let mine sit over night as well... Now the blog I was following said to use black tea. I don't like black tea, so I bought some flavored yummy tea. Did it work any better I couldn't tell you, but it smelled nice :)

So after waiting........ (looks at watch)......

You paint your board with your tea and let dry..... more waiting..........

Then you paint it with the vinegar..... and wait......

Some of the websites said you can see if change after a couple mins. I waited a couple mins and nothing happened.... So I thought it was a flop and let it sit on my table. 

HOWEVER!! 

After work the next day, I came back to check it out and it had weathered! Woot Woot!

I did a second coat with the vinegar and here is my board:

TA-DA!!

I realize now I should have taken a before picture of the wood for comparison, but I'm not very good at this tutorial thing yet... So just trust me that it looks awesome! :)

So I cut out my stencil using my handy dandy Cameo and painted the words "I AM GOD" on my board. After MORE WAITING........ I sanded my letters to also give them a worn look.

I think cut the words "be still" from some white vinyl and slapped that on the top... 

And here's the finished product!