Pro Deo Pro Patria

My hubby bought this painting for me several years ago for Christmas.  It's one of my favorites.  It's been hanging on our wall ever since, but recently I've been trying to do more decorating around it.  I'd seen several projects were people secure a few boards together then paint a saying on them.  I liked the look and the project seemed easy enough so I thought I could do one to go with the painting.  However, I couldn't decide on a saying.

One day, like a flash of inspiration, it hit me.  "Pro Deo, Pro Patria"  As I've mentioned before my husband is in the military and this saying is his unit's motto.  It means, For God, For Country.  It's perfect for this painting!

This was an easy enough project.  I used boards that my husband brought home from work.  They were just throwing them away.  I used left-over stain from the chair I refinished.  All I had to buy was the mending plates to secure the boards together, 12 screws, the white paint, some letter stencils, and stencil glue.  I'm not lucky enough yet to own a Circuit or Silhouette, so I have to rely on the old fashioned type of stenciling. :)

Let me say I forgot how much I dislike stenciling.  I stink at it!  At first I just taped the edges of the stencils and used acrylic paint.  BIG MISTAKE!  I had major paint bleed.  I tried scraping and a few other things to fix it, but it wasn't working.  So I resanded the board and restained it.  I wasn't about to make that mistake again so I bought some stencil paint (it has a creamy texture) and stencil glue.  So much better!

I still had a few places where I got paint outside of the stencil, but nothing like the paint bleed I had before.  On the places where the paint was light I was able to put a little stain on a cloth and rub it over the paint.  It covered it up great!  Then on the places where there was thicker paint, I would put some stain over it, let it sit a few minutes, then rub with the cloth to blend it in.  I was so happy it actually worked!  There are still a few places where there is faint paint, but nothing bad!

Now my sign is happily setting above my George Washington painting.

Happy President's Day everyone!