Crafting Days: Wall Sign

I just finished making this wooden sign.  I had been wanting to make some sort of sign with the words of Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" to hang by our front door.  I was originally inspired from a Bible Study on the life of Paul that I did about 2 years ago.  I learned that in Bible times, Jewish families would uphold the words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 as one of the most important biblical phrases in their lives.  The entire passage is an encouragement to carry these words in your heart, to teach them to your children, and to have them constantly on your mind.  Verse 9 talks about writing these words on the "doorposts of your house" and once I read that, I knew I wanted to make this sign for our home.  

These words serve as a reminder to me to always dwell on the fact that God is one and we are to fully love Him with everything we are.  If we serve Him with all our being, He will bless us and answer us.  

Then one day, I came across a beautiful painted sign on Pinterest, along with a tutorial on how to make one of your own, and decided to go for it.  

The hold up was finding some good wood.  I didn't want to use any old plywood from Home Depot - I was hoping for something more original.  Thankfully, my Mom had some old weathered fence posts in her garage that fit the job perfectly.

My husband is amazing and worked one Sunday afternoon with his table saw cutting it to size, and adhering the pieces together.  After sanding it down, adding two coats of primer and two coats of Heirloom White paint, this was my blank canvas.  

I played with fonts and printed out the words from my computer.  Then I was able to tape down the words where I wanted them, and used graphite paper to transfer/trace the letters onto the wood.

(My boys gave me a glorious, rare block of time by taking a nap simultaneously, so I could complete this step in one day.  Yay for nap times!)

And this is what I had.  Its light, but you can kind of see the outline of the words.  

Next, came the slow process of filling in each letter.  Once I got the hang of it, it took me about 2-3 minutes per letter, uninterupted.  

And after another few days of working on it every spare moment that I could find... this is what it became.  

I love it!  What a wonderful reminder each time we cross through the door of our home.  :)