Pedastal Sign Tutorial

Do you remember this picture from my last post?

 Well, I have to tell you about my "Family" sign!  A few months ago I went to this little boutique and fell in love with this sign.  So I bought it!  But I am a thrifty girl, and am ashamed to say that I paid $60 for it! WHOA! BREATHE! OK!  When I got it home I quickly found a spot for it.  But then I started thinking.......I am so silly!  I know I can find a way to make that, for WAY cheaper!

So I did! 

In this post I am going to attempt to give you a little tutorial on how I made "similar" signs. 

 In fact, I made one for each of the wonderful Mothers I have in my life! hint hint

Here goes:

First of all, gather your materials.  I went to Home Depot and Hobby Lobby.  At Home Depot, go to the lumber section and find the right width board that you want.  They usually come really long so I have them cut it to length.  You can do this at home too, but I like to leave the mess at Home Depot.

Then at Hobby Lobby I found the wood plaque that will be the base.  I also found a pack of scrap wood that came in multiple sizes.

 Also at Hobby Lobby, I grabbed some of these unfinished wood pieces.  The bigger ones were called candlesticks, and they have many different varieties

Glue your pieces to the height and design that you like using wood glue

Then glue that to your base

Add your bottom accent wood piece

Then the board, followed by the other accent piece, and then the top piece

Here are two of mine after being glued together.  

When the pieces are completely dry, paint with whatever color you like!

Now for this next part, you can basically choose your method.  I, however, am not a huge fan of vinyl. I don't like that I can't rough it up, and I don't like to pay for it.

So I use the pretty much FREE method.  This is what I did:

I went into Word on my computer, found the font I wanted, and adjusted it to the correct size for my board.  I think the font size was 250.  

In order to use this method, you need your word to be printed backwards.  I use a Mac, so I'll try to explain how its done.

  

1. Go to Print

2.When the box comes up you should see a box that says "Copies & Pages" with a drop down arrow

3.  In the drop down menu, click "Layout"

4.  Click the box that says "Flip Horizontally"

5. Now print, and it should print backwards for you

 When you have your word ready, you'll need to get a cheap brush, a cup of water, and a sharpie

Lay your paper on the board where you want it to be, lettering towards the board.  Then using your brush, wipe water onto the paper.  Not too much, but enough that you can start to see the lettering through the paper

 Then take the tip of your Sharpie and rub the lettering (just like you do with vinyl)

When you remove the paper, it should look something like this:

Its usually very faint

Then I go back with a Sharpie and fill in the lettering.

(I have also used a pencil to trace it, then used paint if you want to do that instead)

Here's the Blessing sign.  I used a finer tipped sharpie for this one

It should look something like this:  And if you look closely, it is FAR from perfect, so don't worry if yours isn't either!

 Next, take some sandpaper and lightly sand over the lettering.  This hides the imperfections and makes it look more rustic

After you're done distressing the letters, I take some distressing Ink and apply it to the edges

It should look about like this:

Then using my finger, I smudge more ink around the corners, and wherever I want more "distressing"

And there it is!  I like to use polycrylic to seal it, but its not necessary

Cute, right?!

Ok, so this project cost me about $12

And you can really get creative with this project too! So give it a try!

 Here are some others that I've made:

Oh, and there will be no Thrifty Thursday this week!  We are surprising our kids with a trip to Disneyland tomorrow!

Linking Here:

Its Overflowing: Share your Creativity

Six Sisters Stuff: Strut your Stuff

Keeping it Simple: Motivate me Monday

Craft-O-Maniac: Monday

Lil Luna: Link Party

Funky Junk Interiors: Party Junk

iheart Naptime: Sundae Scoop, Artsy Chicks Rule

Two Girls and a Party, Huckleberry Love, Rain on a Tin Roof, Love Grows Wild, Embracing Change