Medal Holder Tutorial

I know I kept saying that this tutorial is coming, but now that I've given one of the sets away as a birthday present to my Dad I can show what I did along with links to the specific products.  To break it up a little bit, here is the medal holder tutorial.  Tomorrow I will post the bib holder tutorial!

Here's what I used:

6x14 inch Innkeeper Signboard

acrylic paint in your favorite color(s)

paint brushes (these aren't the ones I used, but would work well!)

This template
1 cafe curtain rod
2 #8 Screw Hooks  (Note:  If you buy these in store you can buy 1 package of two for about $1.18.  The link is for a package of 25!)
Your favorite picture hanging product (you will need something to attach to the back.  You can use 1 sawtooth hanger, or 2 d-ring hangers and picture wire.)

First, you can paint the boards or jump right in with transferring the words onto the plaques.  I found transferring the words first went a lot faster since I didn't have to wait for the paint to be completely dry.

For this one, I transferred the letters first then started painting.

The top of the page for this one lines up perfectly.  
I had it about half an inch from the top of the board.  

I then used a metal tipped pen to trace the template while pressing into the wood to make an indentation.

This is what you should have afterwards (if you don't paint first.)

If you chose to transfer the letters first, now you should paint the background color around the indentations.

Here's how it looks after outlining the indentations.

Then paint the rest of the background color to fill it in.

Then paint the second color in the lettering.

It's not perfect, but still looks great!

Painting the border.

Painting is done for the medal plaque!

After I was done painting, my husband offered to drill holes to make the screw hooks go in cleaner.

The holes are approximately one inch from each bottom edge.

Then screw in each of the hooks.  I was able to start them by hand, but then used pliers to get them in further without hurting my fingers.

Once the screws were in, I attached the cafe curtain rod and it's almost done!

The last step is installing the d-ring hangers and attaching the wire between the two hangers.  You just need to screw in the hangers on the left and right sides of the plaque and then use the wire to attach the two.  (Be sure to allow yourself at least 2 extra inches so you can twist the wire on itself.)  When you're done, the back should look something like this...

And now you're done!  To add your medals just slip the cafe curtain rod off the hooks and thread the strap of the medal onto the rod.  And since the cafe curtain rod is expandable you should have no problem using this plaque for a long time.