DIY Football Decor {Pallet Board Sign}

So, I realize it has been football season for about a month already, and I just got around to making my first football craft.  Life. has. been. busy.

Today I made this SUPER EASY and cute sign for my family's beloved OU Football team.  This was actually my mom's piece of wood, so I gave it to her because we don't really have room for it currently.  Maybe next year I'll make one for us.

I started with a piece of wood that had already been painted white.  I'd guess it was 14 inches in length and 6 - 7 inches high.  

I started with the football.  I color blocked the entire shape with brown craft paint.  I kind of eyeballed it, but if you have problems with symmetry (i.e. if not being perfect will bother you, or you can't paint a shape that is close enough to a football shape) then you can always cut a shape out of paper to use as a stencil.  

After I let the color blocked shape dry (and put another coat and let that dry), I shaded the bottom portion of the football.

Shading with paint really isn't that hard.  Here's what you'll do...

• Mix the SAME color you used to color block with a very small amount of a darker color.  I used navy blue because I didn't have black.  When you get it just a tad darker, you're ready to go. 
• Stroking the paint wasn't looking right, so I used a poking method (for lack of better technique name) to dab the paint on.  Think impressionism style.  If you want to get technical, you can put the darkest off the shade near the bottom of the football, and gradually work your way to the original color blocked color as you get to the middle section.

Then you can highlight the top of the football.  Use either really thinned out (mostly water, some paint) white paint or mix the paint with the original color to get just a lighter shade.  Unless the object is shiny, you probably shouldn't use just white.

When you add the highlight, do it just a little ways from the top.  As you can see on my football, the light section is a few millimeters down from the top of the color blocked area.  This helps give the illusion of depth.

There, you have a football!

Next, stencil out your team name, or whatever you want the sign to say.  I lightly drew mine with a pencil.

To paint the letters, the method is up to you.  I didn't have a fine tip paintbrush or paint pen, so I used the butt end of a paintbrush to write my letters.  They didn't turn out perfect, but you don't notice the shakiness of the letters unless you're seriously examining it.

Finish your letters, add the grip marks with white paint on the football and call it done!

BOOMER SOONER!!

Stripe the Stadium

This weekend, Tyler and I were fortunate to again be able to attend the SOONER football game!  His dad's company divies out tickets amongst the workers, and we're suspecting that we've been fortunate enough to get tickets for the past two weeks is largely due to the hot weather and late games.  Either way, it's been a lot of fun!

My parents came with us this week, which is their first time to attend an OU game!  We did the whole experience and went tailgating before, and chilled out in a campus building until it was time to head over to the stadium.

Here's Tyler chilling and reading the Oklahoma Daily...our "interesting" campus newspaper.

This week OU played West Virginia University's Mountaineers.

It was also a special game, because fans were asked to "stripe the stadium".  All that meant is that fans in even sections wore red, and fans in odd sections wore white.  We were sitting in an odd section, which was a little harder than normal since most of our OU gear is red.  

My parents at their first OU game!

Tyler and I "striping" with white!  Sorry hubs, I always cut your head off in pictures. 

Maybe you shouldn't be so much taller than me?

Let's just say it was a close game the entire time...so much so that not even a quarter of the crowd had left by the middle of the fourth quarter.  That is unreal, you guys...because normally the majority of people have already left the game by the middle of the fourth.  (Sorry if you're that person, but I feel nothing in my heart but disrespect for people who leave games early without a REALLY GOOD reason).  Especially when good money was paid for that ticket!  

Disclaimer: The only person who I'd rather leave early at a football game is that guy who never shuts up the entire game and obviously just wants attention or the people around him to think he is a football commentator...a REALLY REALLY BAD football commentator.

The final score ended up being 16 to 7 in our favor, but whew!  It was close, and often times scary!

I'm not sure anyone even punted the ball during the third quarter, because EVERY exchange was an interception or fumble. 

Since we were sitting in the white section, this bracelet was my form of red!  I bought it in China, and it was my first time to wear it! 

(Okay, yeah, that was 2 years ago, and I don't know what took me so long to wear this bracelet in my school colors for the first time.)

So glad our SOONERS pulled it off in the end!  What a (stressful) but great game!