Thanks for looking into my first instructable, please vote for one or both contests if you like it!

Step 1: Build Your Sign

You could do just about anything with these ideas. Here is how I made my Colorado Flag sign.

Find some wood. I used an old fence picket that was tucked behind the shed. I think pallet wood could look cool too.

Cut it to the desired size and shape of your sign. For the flag it was easily spaced into three horizontal pieces.

Step 2: Assemble Sign

I put the sign together before I put the design on and painted it. I didn't want to worry about getting everything back in the correct spot. I used 1" screws through another piece of scrap wood to keep them aligned.

Step 3: Test Your Paint

I tried three different ways to paint with my colors.

The left most swatch of each color is a wash of color - paint mixed with water - it can bleed so if you want really crisp edges this wouldn't work as well

Middle swatch of each color is just strait acrylic paint - nice bold color, but you will use more paint

Right swatch of each color is called dry brushing - I haven't ever dry brushed before but I think my wood was too texture to do what I wanted

After painting each I scraped the wood to reveal the grain of the wood to further the worn look.

I sanded the very bottom edge to see what that looked like, it just took off to much of the paint.

In the end I wanted a weathered soft look to my sign so I went with a wash and cramped look.

Step 4: Put Your Pattern On

I just lightly scratched the surface of the wood with my pattern. This worked as it was simple design. For a more complicated one it might be faster another way. Then I put the washes on and let them dry over night. I had to do extra coats of the white and yellow to get the color to show as much as I wanted. I should have just made them less watery the first time around.

I almost left the sign just like this. It was a little flat looking so I scraped it using a wood scraper. This is a piece of steel used for finished wood. This really lighten up the look and brought depth to it.

If you look closely you can see some bleed of the red into the white.

Step 5: Finish and Hang

I finished it with some ultra flat spray finish from Home Depot and a wire hanger found there as well.

Thanks for reading my first instructable. Please vote for the reclaimed project and or the first time instructable.

Thanks Henry