DIY "Antique" Sign

If anyone asks, I bought this sign at a quaint, little, small town antique store ;) But you and I know the truth...I made it!


I was inspired by Miss Mustard Seed's Fresh Berries sign...

...but I don't have a projector so I had to come up with my own way to make my sign.

I started with this plaque (?) from Goodwill. I liked it because it was 3 dimensional and had nice beveled edges. But you could really use any scrap piece of wood, door, etc...

Next I printed my words on the computer and did a dry run fitting to make sure I liked the scale and placement.


Since the wood on my plaque is actually a veneer, I primed and then painted my sign with an Oops paint in a gray/blue color. (I forgot to take a picture of this step, but you get the idea.)

Next comes the very complicated technique that will allow you to transfer any font on to your sign. Tracing. Yes, that's right, the secret to this sign is something we all learned how to do in elementary school. Trace the backside of your letters using a pencil.

Very complicated, I know! (I also taped my sign together after I did my dry run so it would stay the way I wanted it, but you don't necessarily have to do this.)

Now flip your sign right side up, tape it on your wood/plaque/door, whatever, and start "rubbing" over all of the letters using a pencil.

This is not an exact science, you just want to make sure you rub over every letter.


Now when you remove your paper, your wood should look something like this...

Now it's time to paint your letters. You could use a paintbrush, but I actually used a paint pen because I had better control that way.

Pretty cool, huh? This is a very easy project, but I will say that my wrist was a little sore after the tracing. But totally worth it!

Now obviously, I didn't want to leave my sign like this. It might work for some projects, but I wanted an "antique" sign.

So I sanded, painted, distressed and antiqued the sign until I was happy with the outcome. I didn't want to sand down to the wood since it was just veneer, but if you have a nice piece of would, that would be a great way to distress it. I had to rely on paint and stain for most of my distressing. I diluted some white, green and brown acrylic paint with water and just started painting over my sign until I had the look I wanted.



And finally, I rubbed on some walnut wood stain with a dry cloth and then rubbed it off to seal it and give it that nice "aged" look.

I love how it turned out and it was super easy and cheap! You could use this technique to make any sign on any piece of wood. The possibilities are endless! What will your sign say???

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