Ballard Inspired Decor

by Margita

I recently received my new Ballard catalog and was inspired by the vintage tape measures. I thought they would look great in my craft room.
I had already had two boards, that I had purchased for $1.00/each at Home Depot and had all the other supplies on hand. I went to work:

ballard inspired decor, how to, wall decor

This is what I started with, a couple of boards from the dollar pile at Home Depot.

First I applied a stain wash to the wood. I made a mixture of half Plaid water-based stain in walnut and half water. I used a sponge brush to apply the mixture.

Next I applied the measuring lines to the wood. I used a black Sharpie for that.

Just like the Ballard's tape measure, 1 inch equals one foot.

i also choose to apply a graphic.

I came up with a great way of transferring a print. I printed the graphic on the glossy side of a sheet of contact paper. Then I cut another piece of contact paper and peeled away the backing. I laid the sticky side onto the print, to transfer the ink. Then I pulled the top sheet away and placed, it on the wood. I used a seam roller to apply pressure and peeled the contact paper off. That's it! I also applied the numbers that way. I will be happy to give more detailed instructions, if anyone is interested.

Btw, all the graphics are courtesy ofthegraphicsfairy.com

I made each tape measure slighlty different.

I used my tape measures as door toppers.

And here is the inspiration piece. Ballard's tape measure wall decor $69. My cost $2.

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4 of 12 comments

Christina on Mar 03, 2015
This is great! Can I get more info on how the graphic was transferred? I'm having a hard time picturing how to do this.

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- Margita on Mar 03, 2015
  @Christina Sure! What I did was I applied the sticky side of clear contact paper onto a piece of card stock. This was my printing surface. I used my regular ink jet printer to print the design. Then I cut another piece of clear contact paper and peeled away the backing. I immediately laid the sticky side of this contact paper onto the printed image smoothing it out. I used a wall paper seam roller to roll over the design applying gentle pressure to ensure all the ink was being transferred. Then I peeled away the contact paper. You will be able to see the printed image. I placed it onto my wooden surface and once again used the seam roller to smooth and transfer. Then I peeled the contact paper off and there was my image transferred on the wood. The beauty of using the clear contact paper, is that you can make out exactly where it is placed on the surface. I hope this will help, if not let me know and I can follow up with a few pictures of the process.
  
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S.Harley on Sep 18, 2015
Very cool! Thanks for sharing your transfer idea...I'm going to give this a try on some old drawers I've got.

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