Easy DIY Word Sign

Easy DIY Word Sign

I live in South Dakota and this winter has been a long one! I. am. over. it. However, despite my hate for the season currently I do still love having winter decor around my house. I have been eyeing several winter “word signs” but really didn’t want to spend the money on another sign. I decided to try to make one myself. I don’t have a vinyl cutter so I decided to try making this sign with just a few items I had around the house. 

Here are the supplies I needed:

To start I needed a nice piece of wood. I had a chunk of old butcher block left over from my desktop that I thought would be perfect. Really any scrap wood will do. I decided to white wash it with Minwax White Wash Wood Stain. The application was easy and it created a nice off white canvas to paint my letters on.

Once the sign was dry I typed up my saying on the computer and had it tiled when I printed it out. Usually you can find those tile settings within your printer dialog box. Cut out each page so you can line the letters up easily. 

Layout all your letters and tape them together on the wood you are wanting to paint. 

Tape the top of the entire “tiled sheets” exactly where you want to have your letters placed. Also, get out your Carbon Transfer Tracing Paper.

Flip up your typed up sheets and place your Carbon Transfer Tracing Paper under it. 

Place the typed sheet back over the Carbon Transfer Tracing Paper and use a pencil to lightly trace over the outline of each letter. You do not need to push very hard as the carbon will transfer quite easily. The darker you push the more paint you will need to use to cover up those lines. 

When you are done tracing all of the letters, remove the typed paper and Carbon Transfer Tracing Paper. Grab your acrylic paint and start filling in the letters. My paint honestly was a little old so I feel like if I would have had some newer paint it would have looked smoother. Looking around on Amazon I with I had this set here, it has good reviews a nice amount of colors. Also, on my next sign I am going to try paint markers

Painting these letters is actually the part I love the most. I made it through three episodes of Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, so the time was really enjoyed! When the sign is done you should have something like this: 

I love the way it turned out! Really I started this project fall of 2017 and made the other side have a fall theme saying.

So one side is winter and the other side is fall. Either way makes for great decor for half of the year here in South Dakota!

With my luck, now that this sign is finally finished Spring most likely will start tomorrow! One can hope right?!?!