Please welcome my friend Barbara from Chase the Star as she shares with you how she made her DIY State Sign.
DIY WOOD SIGNS
Hello everyone! I’m Barbara from Chase the Star, and I’m delighted to be a guest at Today’s Creative Blog. Like you, I’m a big fan of Kim and her wonderful blog! At Chase the Star I mainly write about my adventures in DIY, home decor, and my attempts at crafting.
Just this weekend my husband and I worked on a mini-makeover in our kitchen/dining great room. We added board and batten, changed the wall color, updated a few pieces of furniture, and more. I’m still working on the finishing touches, like the space above the over-the-range mounted microwave. It’s 7″ wide and since part of the ‘makeover’ was to add height to the space, and draw the eyes up, I knew I needed to fill that spot somehow.
I love to use my creativity to make something that has special meaning. For this awkward wall, I thought I’d make a sign with the name of our state, ‘California’ on it. If I made the letters tall enough, I thought, it would be centered on the wall, and as a bonus could be a great conversation starter, and a ‘state’ment piece 🙂
Make your own DIY STATE SIGN:
Materials:
Wood
Spray paint in two different colors
Vinyl letters {stickers can work}
Level
Pencil
I started by cutting a spare piece of wood I had in my garage down to 44″, and sanding it lightly.
{You can buy an inexpensive pre-sanded strip of wood at any home improvement store}
Next, I added a coat of gloss white spray paint to one side of the wood piece.
While that dried, I worked on my lettering.
The piece is 5.5″ wide so using my Cricut machine and some left over scrap vinyl, I cut the letters out for my sign.
Each letter is 4.5″ tall–yes this will be a BOLD statement!
Then, using a level, I carefully spaced out the letters to spell out ‘California’, marked the perfect spot with a pencil. Carefully peeling the backing, I gently placed the vinyl on to the wood, smoothing each letter out to make sure there are so gaps or air bubbles.
I sprayed the entire piece in a rich chocolate brown paint, and let it dry for about 30 minutes.
Lastly, I carefully removed the vinyl letters to reveal the white underneath. I thought about distressing the piece but I just love how sharp the white looks against the chocolate, and decided to leave it as is.
If you are making your own sign, I suggest you add a sealer to protect it.
Note: You can add any type of picture hanger to the back, I used an inexpensive saw tooth hanger that I already had!
This sign took all of 2 hours to make including drying time! Your state may not have as many letters as mine {although it may be even longer…’Pennsylvania’ anyone?}, so you may be able to get it done in even less time!
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