Wood Signs Hand Painted To Look Vintage/Weathered

I love, love, love to paint signs! I think they are a great way to show off your personality. However, I'm not about to pay what stores want for a cute sign that I know is marked WAY up! About a year ago, I decided to start painting my own to display in my home. Yes, it takes time BUT if I can save a couple bucks, or in this instance, $40...I'm going to give it a go.

I started out painting just solid colored signs and stenciling on sayings and words. After awhile, this can get pretty boring so last week I decided to experiment and I have to say...I LOVE the results. Who knew that combining two completely different colors would look so cool!

So...here is how I did it for those of you DIY'ers out there!

I started out with just a plain board. I buy them in the 12 foot lengths and cut them to size. You can get a board at your hardware store for about $3.00. Luckily, my fiance has a longbox truck so I can load it up!

After I cut them to length, I sand them down. Sometimes you get some splintered edges and it can be a paint to try and paint and then sand afterwards. After sanding, I wipe the board down with a rag to get all of the sawdust off. Then...I pick my colors!

My favorite combination of colors is brick red and pool green. I do 2 coats of brick red as the undercoat. It looks best to do the darker color as the undercoat. For this how-to I used terra cotta for the undercoat and spanish olive for the top coat.

After the undercoat has dried, you're ready for the top coat. You do NOT need to apply this like you do the undercoat. The neat thing is, you don't have to cover the entire board. The thinner the coat, the less sanding you need to do. I like to leave some streaks on the edges of the boards. And each one looks different! Have fun with it.

After the top coat has dried, I stencil on my phrase or wording. I use my Cricut for this. Most people use the letters/shapes that they cut out for their projects but I use the negative and the center of the letters to stencil. I spray a light adhesive on the back side so that it sticks to the board and paint doesn't get between the stencil and the board but it also doesn't peel the paint off of the board.

After the stenciling has dried, I sanded the entire board down. I am really into the weathered look right now so I go to town with the hand sander! But it's entirely to your preference. After sanding the board, I wipe it down again with a rag. The last step is sealing the boards. Acrylic paint scuffs easily so I find sealing them takes this risk out of the equation. I use Minwax Clear Coat Satin Sealer in an aerosol can. It's the easiest to control when deciding how thick of a coat you would like.

Taa-Daa! A super cute and inexpensive sign. Made by you which makes it 100x better! Here are some that I've done in the day or so. Enjoy and Happy Wednesday!



A New Spin On A Corkboard!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Holiday weekend. I know the weather in Minnesota was sunny and well above average for heat and humidity. After spending most of the weekend outside and no end in sight for the hot weather, I figured today would be the perfect day to do some crafting in the basement. We have an air conditioner, but it's just a window unit so the top floor is very comfortable and the main floor is less than desirable.

On today's to-do list...a new corkboard! I'm so sick of the yuck brown corkboards. I especially wanted to make a new one for my kitchen which I've recently updated. I have a stack of open backed picture frames that I've been collecting from rummage sales and Goodwill. So, I decided to put a couple to work for me.

Here's what I needed for the project:
Open back picture frame
Foam poster board
Paint and Brush
Hobby Knife
Fabric
Hot glue gun
Picture hanger, Hammer and Nails

I started by cleaning, measuring and then painting the frame. Normally I would just use some craft paint but I wanted this frame to match the cabinets in my kitchen so I dug through all of my cans of paint until I found the leftovers (I should organize all of those paint cans one of these days). It only took 2 coats and dried faster than I thought it would. I have high expectations because craft paint dries so quickly!

While the frame was drying, I made the backing. Before I painted the frame, I took measurements of the inside portion from the backside of the frame. I took those measurements and drew it out on the foam posterboard. I then took my hobby knife, scored one side, bent the foam board on the score line and cut through the other side.

Before I worked with the fabric, I did a dry run with the foam board and frame to make sure the size was accurate. I didn't want to get all done and then have problems putting it together. My motto growing up was measure once, cut twice...shhhh...don't tell my carpenter father that!

Next, I measured out a piece of fabric so there was an extra inch on each side to wrap around. Before attaching it, I ironed out the wrinkles. I have piles of fabric that sit in a container so wrinkles are a staple.

Admist doing this, I put another coat on the frame and remembered to warm up the hot glue gun. It's a good day! After the glue gun was warm, I was ready to attach the fabric to the foam board. At the corners, I cut a diagonal line so that when I fold up each of the sides, I don't have excess fabric folded over causing a bulge.

You can use tape to attach the fabric but I'm a hot glue gun kind of gal. It took awhile, but I think I've mastered it. After each side is attached (I put a line of glue down the entire side to ensure it's attached), you're ready to attach the back to the frame.

Make sure your frame is dry first or you will have a gooey mess, trust me on this one. To attach the backing I put a large dallop of hot glue in each of the four corners and then insert the backing and hold. Viola!

I had to put a picture hanger on the back of this frame as I had taken the original one off, oops. It's no big deal and they are relatively cheap ($1.05 for a package of 12 with nails at Menards).

I liked the way this one turned out so much that I make another, larger cork board for my office. I painted the frame a dark brown but used the same fabric. I love how simple and functional they are.

 

Happy Tuesday!