Maureen's Garden Plaque

Here is my sister with her garden plaque:

Hi Everyone, today is my first time hosting the weekly challenge at BBTB2.  This one will be a little challenging, that's for sure; Use a Cricut cut as a stencil on a card or project.   I had to think about this one for a while, as I didn't really have an idea for a project when I came up with the idea.   I made two of these plaques, one for me and one for my sister.

They were actually pretty easy to make.  I took a board and put stain on all sides, letting it sit overnight.   In CCR, I typed the text "Maureen's Garden" using the Artbooking cartridge, and cut them out on heavy cardstock.  I made another cut using the shadow icon of a hummingbird with a flower from Give a Hoot.   Lining up the stencil, I used acrylic paints to stencil on the wood, letting each stencil dry before laying down the next stencil.  I handpainted a shadow on the lettering and layered paints on the bird and flower.   It's a little rough, but I like how it turned out.  The next day I covered all sides with polyurethane to protect the plaque as it will go outside.  A hanger on the back and it's ready to go.   I think I might make a few more of these as gifts.

Take a look and see what my design team sisters have come up with this week, here's the link:  BBTB2