Key/Whatever Holder

What do you do with a piece of old wood?  Puts some hooks on it and hang your keys and what-have-yous...

Here's what you need:
Piece of wood
T-shirt stencil 
Acrylic paint (these were the two I had on hand)
Sponge paint brush
Hooks (el cheapo at the Walmart)

I'm betting you can go to a local hardware store and get some scraps of wood for next to nothing.  Luckily, my parents gave me this old piece of wood that already had some fabulous worn paint.  To get that look, just paint (spray paint, acrylic, house paint, whatever you have on hand), let dry then sand.  If you like a cleaner, less aged look, keep natural or keep fully painted.  

Place the stencil on the wood, sticky side down, duh.  (You can hardly see it in the pic, but it's the plastic, shiny thing). I chose to center it, but with these packaged stencils (which if I remember correctly, are less than $5), you can cut and create your own design.  Another idea...get letter stencils to spell a word or your last name.

These are the two colors I have in my craft stockpile and I like the look of them mixed together.  (Side note: I have an obsession a love of all things turquoise).  Also, I guessed at how much I needed...a little goes a long way.  You can be really creative here with color!

Begin sponging the paint on the stencil.  ***Don't put too much paint on the sponge as it will bleed under***

All done.  Let paint dry before taking off stencil.

Ta-da!  Now, see the corner designs?  I traced those and hand painted with a tiny paint brush.  This is *optional* 

I LOVE sand paper...partly because I love weathered and old looking stuff and partly because it can camouflage mistakes.  So, once the paint was all dry I sanded the whole thing before my husband screwed in the hooks.  The package I bought had 4 (see first picture).  But, when Trent was screwing them in, one bent and couldn't be used AND I like 3 better anyway.

Happy crafting!