Stencilled & Distressed Sign Tutorial

I’m back with the details on how I made my newest sign which is also the star of my revamped spring mantel.

After the daffodil incident, I decided that things needed to be shuffled around on the mantel. I wanted to add a sign or printable, but was coming up empty in the inspiration department.

Hours of Pinterest searching later, it suddenly dawned on me that I could have the best of both worlds – a sign that was both Spring-y and meaningful. Our street name is Glenrose and we moved here in 2008!  FYI, I went with the ‘Glenrose Seed Company’ because it is too early for roses but not too early for planting seeds.

I designed the stencil for my sign in Silhouette Studio and cut it out using contact paper. After removing the unnecessary pieces, I applied a strip of clear contact paper on top of the stencil to transfer the placement of my letters and the rose.

Then, I got hung up again on the technique to use for painting my sign. I consulted my D.I.Y. Wall Art board and found this great tutorial from Funky Junk Interiors. 26 000+ pins can’t be wrong!

Using acrylic paint (black, white, turquoise and green) and a Dollar Store paintbrush, this is what I did to make my “old” sign from a new piece of pine board.

{Disclaimer: I did this project in my basement so the progress photos are far from stellar}

After I weeded my stencil, I was left with this.

You could see that my white paint bled under the stencil in places. That, and it just looked too new.

No worries!

With a little TLC from my orbital sander and 220 grit sandpaper, my ‘new’ sign got a lot older.

After distressing, the turquoise and green that I used for my base coat peek through, imperfections from my stencilling are gone and the sign looks like it has been hanging outside for a few years.

If you are going to make your own sign, my two tips would be:

• Use a bristled brush, not a foam brush. Brush marks and uneven coverage are good.
• Paint the letters of your sign the same way that you would print them so that the brush strokes change directions.

Next time, I would like to try this with black text and a white background!

Do you have something that is meaningful to your family that you could incorporate into a sign?

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. Check out two other ways to make an ‘old’ sign here and here.

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Thank you to all the hosts!