You are my sunshine

I saw something like this from Barn Owl Primitives on Pinterest.  But,  as much as I loved it, since I am not working, I needed to make my own. 

I started by getting a birch board from Michaels. 

Then I added a coat of black paint.  I did not cover it comepletely or edge to edge.  this was on purpose.

After that dried, I added a coat of white.  This was complete and edge to edge.

 

 

 

While this was drying, I printed out my words on paper.  I cut them out so that I could move them around and figure out the position that I wanted.

 

Once I figured out how I wanted them on the board.  I tried (the Pinterest method) of tracing over the letters to leave a dent on the wood.  This didn't really work for me.  Then, I tried using and exacto knife to go around each letter, thinking that it would scratch the surface of the wood and leave the outline of the words.  That worked, but it was very hard for me to see the outline.  Sooooo, what I finally ended up doing was cutting out each letter and tracing around it with pencil. 

Then I started painting.  I began by outlining each letter.  Then went back and filled it in.

 

After I had painted all the letters in, and the paint had dried.  I went over the surface with some fine sand paper.  Just to smooth it out and take off some of the new, painted look.  I wanted it to look aged and rough. 

 

And this is the final product.  Eventually, it is going into the family room.  I am hoping that next week (after the garage sale) I will be able to get the family room repainted and then I can put this in place.  Boy, are there some big changes coming in the family room!

Blessings friends,
Tracey