Tuesday, July 1, 2014

{DIY Vintage Quote Sign}

Hey, y'all!  I know my post today is a little later than normal, but I wasn't able to get the pictures I needed for my post yesterday because it was cloudy and raining off and on during the day.  But I snapped a few this morning and finished my post in time for lunch!  I want to share my awesome new piece of art that I made with you.  (If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen sneak peeks.)
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
This is my new vintage sign.  ;)  I made it myself, and while it takes a while to make, it's a pretty easy process that most anyone can do with a little bit of patience.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I started the whole process with this board I bought from Lowe's for around $7.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I knew from the beginning that I wanted this sign to look vintage, and I knew that part of that was having layers of paint.  The first layer of paint was a bunch of different shades of turquoise/aqua.  I just squirted a lot of the paint in different places on the board and spread it all out with a brush.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I squirted more paint where I needed it, and finished blending it all.  When the paint dried, I covered the entire board with two coats of white paint.  While that dried, I worked on my quote.
Design your own graphic with PicMonkey to create a vintage-looking sign. pitterandglink.com
This quote comes from "Desert Song" by Hillsong.  It really stuck with me when I first saw it, and I knew I had to have it somewhere in my house.  I used PicMonkey and fonts that I downloaded for free to create a graphic the size of my board.  (I also used a couple of free graphics from Happily Ever After.  I used one of her Free Hand Drawn Embellishment Graphics and one of her Free Vintage Borders.)  I then used Word to print it out.  It almost took me just as long to figure out how to print the large graphic as it did to make the sign!  Ugh.  there are lots of tutorials online to show you how to do tiled printing.  None of the ones I found used the versions of Photoshop or PowerPoint that I have.  I finally ended up just cropping the image and printing it out on individual sheets manually.  I would have to do an entire different tutorial to explain how I did it.  If you'd like one, just let me know, and I'll work on it.  :)
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I pieced the sheets together and scribbled on the back of the words so that I could trace them onto the board.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I taped the graphic down and traced it with a ballpoint pen.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
You can see in the pic above how the trace graphic turned out.  Then I meticulously painted in the letters.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
After the sign dried, I sanded it.  This is definitely the scariest part of the project.  You're essentially messing up all the work that you just did, but even though it's a little scary, it's totally worth it.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
See what I mean?  The sanding is part of what makes the sign look vintage, and it allows the bottom layer of paint and even some of the wood to peek through the white paint.
Use stain to age a freshly painted sign and give it a vintage look.  pitterandglink.com
Then to enhance the vintage look even more, I used a rag to wipe stain all over the sign.  I used the tiniest bit--just enough to age the sign even more.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I then sanded off some of the stained places a little just to make sure that the letters popped.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I waxed the entire sign.  The last step was that I ripped down some screen porch molding to create a wooden "frame" to go around the sign.  I stained the pieces of molding and glued and nailed them around the sign to give it a more finished look.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I LOVE my new vintage sign.
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
What I like most about it is that it really looks vintage!
Create a vintage-looking sign from a plain wooden board pitterandglink.com #DIYart #walldecor
I'm more than likely going to hang it above my mantel, but I just leaned it agains the mantel for now. I attempted to decorate a bit around it for these pictures.  I have so much trouble with "staging" tables and mantels and such.  I think it's because I'm so indecisive.  Or maybe it's just because I know how I want it to look, but can't quite get that look?  I don't know.  I hope that it'll look better when I finally hang the sign though.  So what would your vintage sign say if you made one?
Need more inspiration for decorating your walls?  Check out all my art posts {HERE}.
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9 comments:

  1. This is such a neat project! I will have to think of a saying ....

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  2. How brave to scuff up all your beautiful neat work. Totally worth it though, it looks great.

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  3. What a gorgeous sign! I can tell it took a lot of time, but it was so worth it. :-)

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  4. You did such an incredible job, your sign is awesome. I have to save this post so I can attempt to do even a credible job on a sign. Not really sure what I'd put as a quote. Your quote is wonderful and meaningful. I am terrible about making things as I never think they're good enuf and get proof when nobody wants to buy what I make.
    It's hard where we live, people want things for nothing and have no interest in things to decorate their homes they've never seen before. They'll ask me what would I do with that and why.
    I'm my own worst critic also. Just need to find my niche, hope I do before I'm too darned old to make things anymore. I'll be 74 later this month.
    When we lived in MT we made different style benches/stools. They seemed to sell pretty well there. We also made little signs and I'd put cloth strip on wire hanger that had to do with sign, kind of country look. When I tried to sell some of little signs here people said they didn't want things like that on their walls, would look dumb. So I'm at an impasse as to what to make that would sell. I made some patriotic fabric banners for July 4th. didn't sell either, people weren't even interested in looking at them so I must be doing something wrong.
    I have a board ready to make a sign so think I'll do it for myself. We painted our living room recently so needed to make several pieces of new art since it was all different than it had been, enjoyed that so much. A guy came to fix our fridge and he commented on how peaceful the room was and the art on walls. He loved the colors. Painted light gray on walls, used a darker gray for some accessories and couple shades of aqua. IT is so soft and serene looking,makes room look bigger also.
    Anyway I love your sign, it is perfect, the distressing you did makes it look very vintage. Great job. Happy 4th.


    Have always loved what you make since I found your blog over year ago.

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  5. Your sign is gorgeous! It must have taken you a lot of time and it shows....perfect lettering! Sharing!

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  6. This is beautiful! I just love the vintage look, it really looks old. Lots of work, but so worth it. Thank you for sharing at the Pinterest Link up, I will be featuring your project tomorrow.

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  7. You are AWESOME to do crafts and then put the entire instructions online. I can't wait to do a sign. Thanks so much you rock~!

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  8. I love your sign!!!Thanks so much for showing how you made it! Did you flip the quote to a mirror image before you printing?

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