Wooden signs are all the rage on Pinterest, so here’s one way to make your own!w
Hi there! My name is Meg, and I blog over at C’mon Get Crafty!
I have what I call my “ooh, crafty!” disorder – I can’t focus on any one type of craft! Come by and check out my tutorials and attempts at everything from signs to cards to home decor to kid’s crafts. There’s lots to see!
Many thanks to Mandy for the guest post spot! Now, let’s get to work.
I found two of this wooden sign on clearance at the local Meijer. Who can pass that up?
Well, definitely not me! I tend to just fly by the seat of my paint-smeared pants and play with stuff, so I didn’t really have a design in mind. I actually originally started a sign for Halloween, but time got away from me, and I never finished it. I got as far as removing the metal brads and the flower, then spray painting the entire sign black.
When Halloween passed me by, I reconsidered my options. We recently moved back home to our native Chicago after five years in sunny Vegas, so a pretty sign to embrace the approaching cold seemed a fitting idea! We’ve taken so much good-natured grief from Chicagoans and Las Vegans alike for electing to return the the frozen Midwest, why not wear it proudly? LET IT SNOW.
First, gotta get rid of the black. I wanted to incorporate the cold with a nice sparkly snowflake in the top corner, so I spray painted the corner a silver metallic.
I absolutely adore using my Cricut cutting machine with vinyl, so I cut my sign elements out with a combination of cartridges from Cricut’s winter rental bundle.
After placing the snowflake on the silver portion, I slathered a large area with Creamcoat “Blue Heaven” acrylic paint for the letters.
Now here is a great example of being “flexible” with your crafts. I painted the bottom corner a glittery white with the intention of more snowflakes (see those small three in the picture above, all cut and ready?). Well, those little guys did NOT want to adhere to my wood! The likely reason is I was rushing, and not allowing sufficient drying time. (I don’t practice patience all that well.) I ended up ruining my snowflakes, so that idea was out.
Hmm, I forgot to take a picture of the green paint under the tree, but you get the idea.
Next up, cover the all the vinyl with a coat of Modge Podge. This helps to seal the letters down and avoid bleed-through when you top off the whole sign with your “background” color.
See my vinyl peeking out under my paint layer? This time, I DID allow sufficient drying time. (Lesson learned. Bad Meg.)
Okay, here comes the true test of patience.
PEELING.
A pair of tweezers can help to manipulate the removal of the vinyl.
Another key tip for removing vinyl is to pull away from the edge of paint, rather than simply straight up or back.
Even with patience, tweezers, and the pull technique, sometimes you’re still going to have issues.
My snowflake vinyl pulled up more paint than I wanted. 🙁 Similarly, my SNOW cut pulled up ALL the paint, including the blue I wanted to stay there!
My tree got a bit mangled as well.
Do not be discouraged by these little mishaps!!! None of those glowing and gorgeous pins on Pinterest got there the first try, and I bet half of them are NOT as originally intended!
KEEP CALM AND CRAFT ON.
I used a paintbrush to dab in the blue for the word snow, and a green fine point marker to clean up my tree. Whew, crisis averted!
My snowflake was a little messier to clean up, which is when I got my idea to COVER UP. (Rub some dirt on it, crafty style.)
A few $1 decorations and a dash of hot glue, and VOILA!!
I love the cool palette of the sign combined with the bright red accents.
That’s pretty much it! I can promise, most of my tutorials include the “OH NO!” moments and how I recovered from them – often with better results than I ever planned! That’s most definitely true of my Freezer Paper Stenciling endeavor! You can also see my goof in last year’s Christmas Subway Art. Oh, and be sure to check out my Dollar Store Ornament Wreath for the ultimate in “I-never-want-to-do-this-again.”
Thank you again to Mandy for the opportunity, and I would love to see you all again over at C’mon Get Crafty!
You can also find me at my social media below.
Now go get your craft on! 🙂
Thanks for checking out this post from www.SugarBeeCrafts.com – – click on over to read it in its entirety – you’ll love it!
Love these signs! I’m also painting wooden signs for a huge Christmas craft show….I just love them!
Deborah
http://www.threedawgladydesigns.blogspot.com
I’m newly addicted to the sign frenzy, but I think family and friends can expect a LOT of them this year as gifts! 🙂
Hi Megan! Your sign looks great, I am in the middle of a battle with my vinyl, paint and the wood I want to stencil on. The paint peels right off with my vinyl 🙁 I keep trying, though. What I find is sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and there is no rhyme or reason. I have found carefully sliding an exacto knife between the sticker and wood sometimes “breaks the seal’ and it will come off cleanly. Thanks for the post, I was actually relieved I am not the only one who has troubles occasionally with this. Have a great day!
Ooh, that is a good tip! I know what you mean about no rhyme or reason – what works today will botch tomorrow, it seems! I guess we just keep trying! 🙂