Sign

 One of the Christmas gifts I made this year was a sign with a saying for my sister-in-law.  She said she wanted this particular saying in her house as a reminder.  I got the wood from a friend and it was already painted red.  So I made a mix of blue and painted a layer over top of the red.  Then I sanded it around the edges to let the red show through a bit and give it a distressed, worn look.  I used vinyl lettering and a vinyl bird decal and painted in the negative space and peeled the vinyl away before the paint dried.  I sprayed a couple of coats of protective sealant on the top to prevent peeling and scratching.  Then I gently pounded a metal hanger on the back with a hammer so she could hang the sign on a nail.  She said her favorite color is green, and I was planning to do some green, brown, and neutral colors in the beginning.  But then when I got this red painted wood I got a new vision of how it should look.  I hope she likes it!