Hail To The Whale!

by Country Design Home

4 Materials

Here is my latest DIY project- an Americana Whale Sign created from an old cabinet door. The original door was creamy white, or so we thought. Until a thorough sanding revealed this beautiful teal paint (with a hint of country red) underneath! The perfect color palette for my American flag whale. You can find the full details and instructions on the blog! https://countrydesignhome.com/2017/03/22/hail-to-the-whale/

This guy! So happy in his new coat of American Flag colors!

The original cabinet door was plain creamy white, but it had a beveled edge which created the perfect frame for the artwork.

Once the frame was sanded to reveal the teal and red, I left that alone to show off all its former glory. Then I painted the inside black to add contrast to the whale.

First, I stenciled on the white whale back ground, then added the taping to create the red stripes.

Then I added the field of stars- those I cut out with my Cricut machine- do you have one of those?? It Is amazing! That little square would have taken me forever to cut myself, and I surely would have ended up in the ER because I cut myself! The Cricut took about 10 minutes, tops, to create and cut the stencil.

Here is my Cricut Explore Air. I got it on sale at Joann.com. I LOVE this thing! If you do any kind of crafts with just about any material- whether its stenciling, scrap booking, sign-making- you need this machine!

Once the whale was complete, I added some stars to the corners. Note where I left the faint outline of the old hardware- another way to give your piece some rustic character.

Finally, I used a topcoat of General Finishes Flat Out Flat. This is my go-to finish for anything that I want to have a velvety, low glow finish. When you apply it, the milky white streaks are a bit off-putting, but once it dries, its perfect!

The finished American Whale hanging by my back door. So colorful and welcoming! For the full info, please visit my blog @ CountryDesignHome. Thanks for reading!