Sep 2, 2012

{You are my Sunshine…}

Do you ever make something and immediately have the urge to run around yelling “Look at what I made!  Look at what I made!”?  Well, that’s kind of the feeling I had when I finished my “You Are My Sunshine” copy cat wall art.

IMG_3479

I was inspired by charm this time…and I’m not ashamed to say that I was a total copy cat. 

Of course my sign is a little different…but definitely a copy.  My version was made by simply using 1/2 inch maple plywood, “fill it” strips (1x2 knotty pine boards, from Lowes in bundles of 6), and left over paint and stain I had in my craft closet.

Simple and easy…so much so, I’m not even sure you need a tutorial, but here’s the run down on how I made it.

  1. Trace the sun.  I used a bucket.
  2. Tape the rays. 
  3. Paint around the sun and rays in red (or whatever color you choose). IMG_3430
  4. Lift the tape.
  5. Tape around the red lines.
  6. Paint the inside of the rays with different colored paint.  I used shades of blue.  Why?  Because that was what I had laying around.  I left some of the thinner rays without paint.  I wanted some of the wood to show through after the stain step. IMG_3434
  7. Let the paint dry.
  8. Sand lightly.  ***Be careful sanding craft paint.  It seemed to gum up in a hand sander and smear on the painting.  My red paint made all sorts of messes.  I ended up having to sand again and paint over.
  9. Frame out the plywood painting with the pine fill it strips.  Just nail them in place.
  10. Stain.  I used a 1 part dark walnut and 1 part English chestnut stain color.  That’s my formula for everything I stain.  I just buy small Minwax cans and mix my own. IMG_3468
  11. Add a hanging thingy on the back and hang on your wall.
  12. Run around your house yelling “Look what I made!  Look what I made!”  (It feels good, doesn’t it?)IMG_3480

I’ve hung this in “The Kid’s” playroom (our morning room/bonus room off the kitchen), because, he is my sunshine, after all.

Take care!

2 comments:

  1. I made a copy cat of this too! I turned it into a desk. Yours looks so great!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice! Copy cat or not, I think it looks fantastic.

    ReplyDelete

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