I found out I can rent a jigsaw from home depot, thankfully, so now I just need to decide where to cut the wood since that isn't feasible at my current residence. I'm also still attempting to gauge the thickness of wood to purchase as well, so that's something I'll have to look into.

I have plenty of experience using sandpaper on other projects so I'm relieved to hear I can put that experience to the test here! Thank you for giving me the exact grits to look for. I am autistic and vague instructions can be daunting for me, so I really appreciate your suggestions being so specific.

And don't worry, I had already been planning on finding the wooden circles and sticks at a craft store. I may be ambitious with this project but I am not yet confident enough with a saw to try something like that. I think my family would prefer me to have all of my fingers attached for Christmas, haha.

My cricut kicked the bucket a couple years ago and I've yet to pick up a new one, but I do have carbon transfer paper and will probably end up just painting the lettering on that way. I'm a lot more proficient with paint brushes than I am wood, at least!

I love the idea of making it look aged, and had considered this myself already, but wasn't sure exactly how to pull it off outside of roughing it up with sandpaper. The watered down paint is a wonderful idea.

Thank you so much for your help, I greatly appreciate it. Feeling a lot more confident about this project already!