wedding gift: DIY hand-painted established sign

I love these established signs. (Sorry if you don't!) See my other one HERE.I like them because they are classic and personal - plus, handpainting them really makes them special.

I spent quite a while deciding on colors, design, etc. and finally came up with this. (The camera caught some of the nuances of the brush strokes in these photos, but the color is really solid and nice.)

The photo above shows the original finish. I sanded, stained, drew, painted, then sealed the above. The wood grain and color is really pretty.

I had some issues with the paint pen (note to self: don't waste time/effort on a paint pen) splattering all over. I thought it was ruined, but had some encouragement to try to fix it. So I re-sanded spots, re-stained them with a paintbrush, brushed up the blue and then crisped up the over-letters with the pen again. And it worked!!

So, there you have it! Another great wedding gift.