"Welcome" signs often charmingly grace the gate or front door of a cozy cottage, beckoning visitors to come inside. You can add even more color and whimsy both inside and outside your cottage by easily and inexpensively making clever signs yourself with a little plywood, a jigsaw, and some paint.

10 Tips:

1. Secret Garden. This is a sweet sign to put on a garden gate. Or, hand paint the words onto a cleverly cut-out sign, nail it to a stake, and insert it into a flower pot on your patio.

2. To the Beach. A piece of wood with one end cut out in the shape of a hand with the pointer finger that points and says