Painted American Flag

So, I realize I missed the 4th of July boat with this one, but who says ya can't show off the American flag all year round?

To make my flag, I started with a 12" wide pine board (which is actually 11.25" and I really don't understand why they say it's 12". I'm feelin' a little jipped!). I cut the board down to 16" and painted it white. Next came the dreadful task of trying to figure out how wide each stripe should be. Let's just say that 13 does not go into 11.25 evenly! And if that wasn't bad enough, next I had to figure out the spacing of the stars. Bring out the Excedrin 'cause math is always sure to give me a headache!

First, I painted the red stripes.

Then the blue.

And then distressed.

And then stained.

What's that? You think I forgot about the stars? No way, silly head! Not after all that measuring! If you look at the photo before the distressing, you will notice little holes where the stars should be. Those are for the thumbtack stars!

Yes, I seriously used thumbtacks as stars =)

And there ya have it! How to make your own flag. But if you are totally feeling like you don't want to get a headache from all the measuring, leave it up to me and check out my Etsy listing on the sidebar. Shameless plug, I know =)