Signs, Signs, Everywhere a sign...{how to diy wooden signs}

This week has been crazy busy! Anyone else have that goin' on to? We've had a nasty cold bug running around our house between the kids and let's just say, I'm only alive right now because of my coffee :(

As if that's not a handful in itself, my sister in law and I have decided spur of the moment to join in a local craft show in the beginning of December. We did one a few years back and had
a TON of fun so we thought, "hey, why not!"

Trust me, she's as fun as she looks!

 Now, I'm sure you're thinking that any sane person wouldn't sign up for a craft show without having worked on their wares for the better part of a year at least...but let's preface this with, "we are not sane!"  If you've been reading up on my blog, you'd know that I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal.  It's exciting to me for some reason.

That being said, I have been frantically working for the last week to build up some stock of things to sell.  I had made quite a bit extra of some coasters and magnets left over from last time but didn't think I would ever do a craft show again, so I sold them all in my garage sale. I could slap myself for that by the way!  Not that I didn't make close to $200 at my garage sale just from those but I really would've like to have some stuff completely packaged and ready to go this time around.  I would've been one step ahead of the game for me which is a new concept!

This week has been all about my hand painted wooden signs.  I haven't really done anything like this before this week so I have had a blast trying to create different ideas.  There are so many ways to make them that I grabbed some leftover pieces of wood and eagerly tried out a few different ways.

The first thing I did was cut down my blocks of wood to random sizes and sanded them smooth.

I used old paint from random projects and painted them. On some of them, I made sure not to paint close to the edge so that there would be less to sand when I wanted to distress them.

Next, I created my font in Microsoft Word (any word or photo program would work, I have also used Picmonkey)  and printed them off.

Then I got busy with my different methods!

First method: Cut out image and trace along the edges onto your wood piece.  Once traced, use paint and  a small brush to paint over the outline.  Fill in the completed outline with paint and let dry.  When it's all dry, use a palm sander to sand over the entire surface of your painting so that some of it is sanded away.  Next, grab some stain (I used dark walnut) and brush messily over the top and wipe it off right away.  The stain rubs into the sanded areas and creates an awesome distressed look!

Second Method: I'll start by saying that this is my least favorite.  Print off your image but make sure that it is a mirrored version.  You'll see why in a minute.  Lay your paper over you wood piece and take a damp paintbrush and wipe over the letters to let the ink soak through onto the wood. Next, trace over it with the cap of a permanent marker to help transfer the ink to your board. You will be tempted to take a peek but don't!  For the sake of blogging purposes and because it was a total experiment, I peeked for you ;)  The ink will transfer onto the wood and create an outline of where to paint over.  I didn't really like this method just because I didn't think it gave me a great outline all over.  Some of my letters came through great and others, not so much...grrrr. I sanded this one down also and put a coat of stain on it.  This one is Mr. Serene's favorite sign so far but I have mixed feelings about it.  Maybe it was because of my frustration with the process.

Third method: Create you image and print it off but not in the reverse mirrored way like method 2.  Tape onto your wood and trace over each letter with a black permanent marker.  The marker will seep through to the wood and make an awesome outline to paint over.  This was my favorite way of getting my letters to look great!
I was in a sort of daze last night when I did these two so I forgot to take photos of the lettering once they were traced on but I can promise, it did a much better job than the ink transfer.
I did two signs this way and it was sooooo much easier than the ink transfer in method 2.  I added a cute little scrapbook paper bird to the second sign with mod podge and I think it turned out adorable!
These are not distressed yet either :)

I can't wait to try out a bunch of new signs and sayings!  Plus, it gives me a reason to use the saw, which in always awesome.  I'll still be experimenting with other ways to make the lettering too! Next time, I'm going to try some transfer paper. I just don't own any yet so that wasn't an option.

Which sign is your favorite? 

Thanks for hanging with me today! Stay tuned for more craft show shenanigans coming your way! And if your not a follower of this blog, you should be!  I love new friends :) Also, follow along with me on Facebook to get sneak peeks of my upcoming crafting adventures and just all around fun stuff!