Sports themed wall decor

 I have 2 University of Michigan fans in my house.  I made them each these Michigan logos to hang on their walls.

I started out by finding the logos I wanted to do and printing them off on transparency film.  I used an old-school overhead projector (borrowed from my church) to trace them on the scrap wood that I had.

 Here is what they look like after I traced them.

 I cut out the "M".  My jig saw has a light and a laser guide which was VERY helpful on the straight edges.

 Here is a close up of how I did some of the tight corners for those of you that don't work with wood very much.  Start by cutting the straight lines you can reach from the edge of your wood.  Then you have to cut at an angel and meet your pre-cut line.  So cut out a "triangle" piece like I did below.

 Then all you do is start where your triangle piece met your pre-cut line and connect to your other pre-cut line and the section will fall out.

After I finished the "M" I sanded the surface and edges smooth.  I also used the sander to "straighten" any lines that were a little off.

Next I cut a square out of scrap wood.  This is to mount the "M" on.   To paint the "M" I used my Valspar paint sample "Golden Yellow" that I ordered for free from their web page.

 And of course the background needed to be blue.  I used Navy Blue Tole paint I had in my craft stash.

 I mounted the "M" on the background with Liquid Nails, making sure to not get any near the edge so it wouldn't squish out around the edges.  After I set it I stacked 2 phone books on top of it.  (Yes, I was SHOCKED that I still had 2 phone books.  They went in the recycle bin after I was done.)

 Here is the logo painted.  I like to finish off my projects with a coat of clear spray paint.  It makes everything have a glossy coat to it.  When you use tole paint for a project, if you don't put some type of finish on top, every time you touch that area you will leave fingerprints.  Below is before the finish coat and without a flash so the colors are a little off, but you can see the "matte" look.

So here is the final projects with the finish coat on them. 

The one on the left I used a "puzzle board" for the background and the one on the right I used the same wood I cut the "M" from.  The puzzle board made a smooth surface and the other wood you can see the grains in the wood.  The puzzle board logo ended up being much lighter (weight wise) then the other one. 

The Cubs logo is not finished yet.  I thought about doing a Raiders logo, but then I got a good look at how complex the image is and decided against it. :)  My next logo will be an Utah State Aggies "A".

Every Thursday at Thrifty 101 is DIY Thrifty Thursday!  Come link up your DIY projects and be inspired.