French Cheese Board

Hello again! I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. My old laptop gave up the ghost, and with everything else going on, it took me a while to replace it. But I’m back today with a fun new craft. I made this French Cheese Board for my uncle’s birthday.

I started with a piece of pine board. We’ve made many shelves and rails and things for the cottage from pine, which means I have lots of leftover scraps. This one was about 6″ by 12″.

I sanded it smooth and rounded the edges and the corners with an electric sander. I considered routing the edges but wanted it to be easy to clean, so I left them as is.

I used a couple of different stains to make a rich brown. One coat of Honey stain, followed by two coats of Ebony gave it just the right look. The first coat is really the one that counts. I thought the Ebony would darken it quite a bit, but it was a much more subtle change.

I used my Cricut Maker to create stencils. I chose a triple fleur de lis design, and the word “Fromage” in a swirly font (Harrington). I centered the fleurs at the top, but offset the word to the right (leaving space for the handle).

I used my favorite Smoked Oyster Stencil Creme to create the designs with a pouncer. I like the look of pouncing because it gives a textured design that doesn’t look like it was painted on.