A Father's Day gift for Grandpa

So, like most crafters, I'm big into making handmade gifts. So with Father's Day coming up, hubby and I thought it'd be a nice idea to make something handmade for his dad. Wanna see what we came up with? Forgive the not so great pic of it. A certain 22 month old has figured out how to delete pictures off of my iphone so I'm missing the close up pic of it. Grrrr.

It was super easy to make. I got a wood plaque from Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks (don't forget to use your 40% off coupon). I went through all of them until I found one that I liked the wood knots on it. 

I started off with painting the front of it with vintage white craft paint, it's a pretty cream color. When that was dry, I sanded the edges, and then used my favorite product. 

It's a nice, thick glaze made for antiquing. I painted on a layer, and then used a napkin to lightly remove some of it until I liked how it looked. I like to keep more of it along the edges than in the middle. If it has started to dry and I can't get it off with a napkin, I use a baby wipe very lightly to keep wiping. Then let dry. I spray on a couple of coats of matte clear sealer at this point. 

At this point, I didn't like how dark the glaze filled in the crack, so I just went back over it with some watered down white craft paint until it toned it down a bit. 

Hubby designed the text, and sent me the jpeg. I took that jpeg and opened it in Silhouette Studio. Do you know how to use the trace function on the Silhouette?

It's at the top, it's the blue square inside the yellow square. You first hit the "select trace area" and draw a box around your jpeg. Then I adjust the high pass filter until the entire letters are solid yellow. Then I hit the "trace" button. Your letters will have a red outline around them, and then you just drag off the original jpeg. 

Now, I will try and explain this the best I can. I don't like having to deal with trying to line up the middle of letters that get cut out (like inside the b, the D, the a, etc). So, to get around that, I connect them to the sides. 

I first ungroup my letters (on my Mac, it's command and G). I open up the modiy window (it's the M on top of the gray rectangle by the top arrow). Then I draw a rectangle over the letter's center, and then hit subtract. I do this for all the letters. Then I'll cut it out. I like to cut it out on freezer paper with the vellum media setting. 

Then I just lay it on top of my wood, and trace it with a pencil. 

Once it's traced, I'll paint it with black paint. Sometimes if I can't get the edges to look clean, I'll take a black sharpie to clean up the edges of the letters. And voila! 

  
If you'd like to make one and want my husband's design, shoot me an email (you can find it under the harass me tab up top) and I'll send it over to ya.