DIY Wooden Signs

I have been wanting to make fun wooden signs for my house.  I see so many that I want to do, and then don't do it.  Well, I finally got around to making-and finishing a project.  It has only taken me 6 months to do this since getting the wood.

My friend and I drove all around Sonoma county looking for old fence boards that we could have.  I finally found one house with a ton of broken up fences next to their house.  I asked the family for some of the wood.  This was their firewood, so the husband didn't really want to give it to me.  I asked for just a few pieces of fence and promised to make her a sign out of part of it.  She graciously gave me four parts of the fence.  (Don't worry, they still had lots for their fireplace)  This is the sign I made for her.  Hope she enjoys it.

After the wood sat all summer, I finally got around to making something out of it.  

I took some of the boards from the fence and cut them to make a cute sign.  I used screws to put together the wood.Then (weeks later while the girls were taking a bath) I printed out the words for my sign.  It took a few attempts since I don't have a word program to make it easy for me.

Then I cut out the words and made sure they looked good on the sign.

Then take a piece of chalk, turn over each of the words and rub the chalk

 over the back of the paper.  

Place the paper with chalk on the back of it right where you want it.  

Tape it to the place you want your word.

Then take something sharp like a pen or a screw driver.  Trace the letters for the entire word you are working on.  The older and more weathered the wood, the better the chalk will transfer to the wood.  If your wood is new and therefore, not porous, it will not transfer easily. 

 It is still possible, just harder to do.  

When you take off the paper, you should have neat letters all ready to paint in.

Carefully paint in the lines to make your sign.  

The smaller the brush, the easier it is to make it nice and neat.

Since I'm a busy mom, I only have a bit of time here and there to work on my projects. 

 I was able to do the first two words in the afternoon in about half an hour.  The last one I painted the next day in about 20 minutes.

All chalked in and ready to paint the final word.

I love how it turned out!! 

This was another sign I made.  It only took 4 days and about an hour total. 

 (I have kids and not a lot of time for making cute stuff)  I love how it turned out.

One of my friends also made a sign.  

She white washed the wood and then used black paint for her letters.

  It turned out really well.