Cull Lumber

I don't have any finished projects to share even though I promise I have been spending my naptimes and evenings crafting.  Yesterday and today I have been busy drafting patterns and then subsequently cutting out letters on my scroll saw, sanding their edges and then staining the backs and sides with walnut stain.   I have cut out a total of 30 letters and all of them are now stained and ready for me to mod podge.   I can't wait to show you the projects ( but I don't want to spoil the reveal).  Just be patient.  I might have a word done by tomorrow night.
Do you know what cull lumber is?  At Home Depot go to the back of the lumber section.  There is a pile of wood there called cull lumber.  When people buy planks and have them cut them, any extra pieces that they don't want are put into this pile.  It is the clearance lumber.   There is usually a ton of it and the store sells each piece for $0.51.  A regular 6 foot 1x6 pine plank might be about $6.  But, I can generally find a couple of 4ft lengths in the cull lumber pile.  For my crafting purposes these are perfect!  Theses pieces might be slightly warped or have lots of knots or maybe cracks.  That's why they weren't wanted by someone else. But for me, I can cut around the cracks, knots and warping.   So, I end up being able to buy a lot more wood for a lot less money.
Now I know that most of my readers probably don't have a scroll saw, so you aren't able to copy a lot of my scrolled letters. But, here is something you could do.  There is always a ton of 2x4 wood in the cull section.  You could have that wood cut into blocks and then you could stencil letters onto it, or buy the premade letters at the craft store, modpodge them and then attach them to the wooden blocks.   Next time you are at the hardware store, walk down and check out the clearance lumber.  You might just be surprised at what you can find!