I could have used any color for the stencil and for some reason I chose orange. Maybe it reminds me of my 33 Coupe, or I wanted the cat to stand out...I'm not sure.
 

The grain of that hard maple sure does look nice.
 

I'll have to do this stencil thing again some day.
 

I sure do like the contrast of these two species of wood.
 

A close-up of the step for the lid to set on.
 

I really like the 'Branding Iron' that my daughter Angela gave me for my birthday last year.
 

The inside of the lid has a nice look too. That's the good news.
 

The bad news: the area that I re-cut earlier... warped again. If you go back to the second picture on this page you can see the corners don't sit flat. I decided to leave it as is this time.
 

Other than the top warping (again), I'm pretty happy with it and hope Tracey likes it despite this problem. Merry Christmas sweetie, I'm looking forward to what you put in it!!