There’s this slight catch to being a blogger, you know: just in case you might start to delude yourself that you haven’t been putting something off for quite as long as you actually have, there is often a little date-stamped piece of evidence there to convict you of your slackerdom.

But today I finally checked this task off the dust-layered to-do list: hang the fence plank scripture art.

My husband and friend built our fence last October, and these four planks became a canvas of sorts sometime after that. Then I spent some time cocking my head to the side and staring at it by the front door before I moved it to its current spot. It’s been sitting there like that for almost a year now. Just waiting patiently, standing on one of my husband’s old torn up undershirt rags, and leaning against the wall.

Since the wall it is centered on only has one off-centered stud in the width span of this piece, my father-in-law and I thought about how best to hang it.

Incidentally, my father-in-law was just in town for a few days. His grandparent name is Ba. He chose this name because the kids’ grandmother chose Nana.

Get it?

Ba-Nana.

Yeah, he’s funny like that. Oh my gracious, I just love it. He even indulges me when I make all the members of our family dance to a Michael Jackson song at a restaurant. [I won’t bore you with that video at this juncture.] We’re thick as thieves, he and I, and I love it when he comes to stay.

He’s also the ghost writer for one of his cats… the fat, slightly surly, and spoiled Baxter. I’m hoping Baxter will guest post one day. If he doesn’t think it beneath him.

Ahem, but I digress.

Ba helped my hubs knock off all sorts of things from our home’s to-do list while he was here. And although he says he really just watched, I know he did far more than that. Ba went and got the right length screws (enough to go through two fence planks, dry wall, and into the stud), but we didn’t quite get to hanging this.

However, our almost hanging it was the catalyst I needed to finally git ‘er done. So this morning, I grabbed a level, a chair, three 2.5-inch screws, and two drills. And I set to work! I had marked where the stud was on the wall up high (and I knew it ran next to the outlet box down low), so I could see where the planks would need to be attached. The piece is flush against the wall just where the two connecting cross planks are (in the back), so I simply drilled a hole straight through the plank & drywall and into the stud. After one screw was secured, I laid the level along the side of the piece to make sure I had it straight and tweaked it a bit.

Incidentally, if you are just dying to get me a gift, get me this drill. ‘Cause hubs borrowed these from a friend (’cause ours is weak and old and pathetic). And apparently borrowing them means we actually have to give them back. How sad. They’re powerful and fantastic and I ruv them. Actually, scratch that: get my husband a really awesome drill. And I’ll just use it.

Next, I secured it with two more screws–a second one through the top cross plank and a third through the bottom one. It does not matter that the hanging screws are not centered on the piece since I have it attached to the wall at both high and low points (so it can’t tilt or get off-kilter).

It took me just a few minutes… Well, almost a year and a few minutes… Go fig.

So, want to make some fence art of your own? The tutorial link’s below. And since 6′ planks are just a buck or two each, this makes for a really interesting and inexpensive canvas! Wheeeee!