{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.

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).
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.
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.
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?)

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!