Pick your state [crafting time]

Ever since my last post, I have had a couple of people hundreds of requests for direction on how to make the state peg board that my brother and I worked on.

Let me quickly walk you through it:

1. Pick a state. Connor picked Oregon for Cassy because she loves it, and she lives there. (plus, it was actually easier doing a square-sized state instead a long skinny one). I picked California for Brandon, because he loves it (I think...) and he lives there.

2.Get a base: We used some leftover wood from the shed outside, but I have seen others use cork boards. Cut the plank of wood to the size of your state. Connor used a hand saw - I had my dad use an electric...

3. Find a state you can blow up. I mean, the outline of a state you can blow up. I Googled "California outline" and found a good one, made it double the size, then taped it to the piece of wood. I then put the heart where I wanted it to go (or you can do a star...). The heart can go where you live, your favorite city, the state capitol...

4. Grab a hammer (or your thumb). I used really skinny 3/4" nails that had a head to them, that way the string wouldn't slip off the top. I have seen others use sewing pins in cork; that works too. Nail along the outline of the state with about a quarter inch in between each nail all the way around.

5. Get yo wrap on. The next step is to wrap the string (oh yeah, you need string... thin, white, cotton string can be found at craft stores, home improvement stores, or garages sales...) from the state to the heart. For every one nail in the heart, I wrapped about 10 nails on the outline. There were parts that seemed a little sparse compared to others, so I wrapped those twice.

Viola!

{Oregon: Made by Connor}

{California: Made by yours truly}