My boyfriend's parents bought a new cabin in 2024 which they are calling their "Stuga" for the Swedish term for cabin. For Christmas that year, Will and I wanted to make them a rustic sign that they could hang up at their new place. 

This is the design I made for the sign. I used Adobe Illustrator to create the text-- I manipulated the 'S' to look different than what this font originally had. I also drew in an oar and added some trees.

These are some of the trees from the design. I had Will draw these and then I took a picture of them. I used this photo to "image trace" them in Illustrator.

For the board, I bought this pre-cut round of a tree from JoAnn for very cheap. Once I finished making the design in Illustrator, I cut it out on vinyl using my Cricut Maker.

I used transfer tape to center the design on the wood and then I flattened the vinyl to the board.

While the stencil was in place, I colored inside of it with a brown colored pencil. I colored it in all the way so that if there were any gaps in the wood burning, it would be less visible. For wood burning, I outlined each element and then did small downward strokes to fill it in.

This is what the final sign looked like. On the back of the board I added metal zigzag picture hanging strips. I also made a box that specially fit the board that would prevent it from moving around while we waited to give it away at Christmas.