Golden Wedding Anniversary Sign

Last month my parents received an invitation for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

The invitation specified: no gifts, just well wishes. Being crafty, I suggested that I make a family name sign to commemorate the occasion knowing that the materials would cost about the same as a card.

Here is what I came up with:

The lettering is done in gold (my Mom’s great idea – apple doesn’t fall far from the tree) and provides the perfect contrast against the black paint.

I started with a pine board from Home Depot that I cut to size.

I painted the board (the second time . . . keep reading) with two layers of white (in case I decided to distress it later on) and then two layers of black Martha Stewart acrylic paint (my favourite brand for coverage and quality).

I designed the sign and then cut a contact paper stencil using my Silhouette.

I added a box around my text so that the cut stencil matched the dimensions of my pine board to make the spacing and alignment easier.

I used my new Scotch Blue Delicate Surfaces tape to transfer the stencil to my board. So easy and inexpensive compared to transfer tape!

Using a Martha Stewart stencil brush I pounced on gold acrylic paint and learned that it is important to read the drying instructions when you are using metallic paint! It said to wait 1 hour between coats.

I first tried this with a different brand and stencilled too much too soon. It peeled off in pieces (like gold leaf, I assume) when I removed the contact paper. I had to start all over again.

Lesson learned!

I touched up the gold paint that bled under the stencil with a fine-tipped brush. I used the positive space of the stencil to cover the necessary letters and numbers and then painted around the edges.

After showing a photo of the painted and stencilled board to my parents via email, my Dad suggested that I add something to the corners. I searched the Silhouette store and couldn’t find anything I liked so I went with the next best thing, stripes!

I used this trick from KariAnne of Thistlewood Farm (see step #4) to create easy no-measure stripes using pin striping painter’s tape (since we already established that I don’t like to measure stripes here) and then stencilled them with one coat of gold paint.

I left the top and bottom edges of the board black but painted the sides with gold to make the gold of the stripes wrap around the board.

Isn’t this a great personalized gift for a milestone anniversary?  Silver, gold, platinum . . .

P.S. You can see the rest of my front porch here.  I’m looking forward to switching it up for fall!

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