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Weathered wooden sign DIY

February 5, 2012Other

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Hope everyone is preparing to partake in excessive amounts of unhealthy food and drink. We’re cooking up our famous cajun lime shrimp tacos and red velvet cake martinis—that means it’s going to be a good night.

But first, I’m here to share a quick tutorial on how I made my Tea Time sign:

Believe it or not, no fancy machines or tools were used, and the whole thing cost me $0. Here is what you will need:

A 1×5″ board, cut to 18″ long
A basic inkjet printer and paper
Sandpaper & paint (flat works best)

That’s it!

When looking for kitchen sign inspiration online, I found this tutorial (one of the few that didn’t require a silhouette machine). I loved the way hers turned out:

So I followed her technique for my own.

I had a random leftover piece of wood from some project sitting in the garage collecting dust, and I thought it would make a perfect plaque for a new kitchen sign.

Next came time for the fun part: designing it.

I chose the words “Tea Time”, and drew a little teacup for added interest.

In order to transfer the words onto the wood properly, I had to flip my graphic. Because it was too large to fit on one sheet of 8.5×11″ paper, I split them up into three sections and divided them with a cut line so I could realign them correctly on the wood.

Here they are printed out:

Next it was time to prep the wood. This is also a fun part. I wanted a distressed look, so I took a hammer and screwdriver and roughed it up a bit. Then I grabbed some white paint and dry brushed a few coats on.

Once dry, I lightly brushed a coat of light turquoise paint, and sanded everything down. There is no real technique to this… you just distress, paint and sand until you achieve the look you want.

Finally, it was time to apply the letters.

I laid my peices face down on the wood and secured them into place with tape.

Next, I took a brush, dipped it into water, and lightly coated the surface. In order to get the ink to transfer, I used a sharpie cap (any smooth hard surface will do) and burnished over the letters until every spot was covered. I don’t have an in progress shot of this, but here is one from the tutorial I followed:

I ran into a few hiccups along the way… my paper had torn in a few spots and it didn’t look like the ink was transferring well in others. This may be due to very thin paper? Not really sure. Here’s how it looked once the paper was removed:

The darker areas are where the actual paper fibers had been transferred and stuck on… again, it must have been super thin the paper I was using. But I wasn’t too worried—texture just makes it even more aged looking, right?

I lightly went over the letters with a coloring pencil to fill it in some, did a final sanding, and it was done and ready to be hung!

 

Oh, and see that flower bucket?

It used to be this:

I picked it up at Goodwill for 99 cents. Sanded the candy cane striped paint, gave
it a coat of white, a coat of turquoise (same shades from the tea time sign), and gave it a final sanding to let bits of metal show through. I like how they kind of coordinate.

If you’d like to make your own tea time sign, I’ve saved the template for you here (just click Download on the top left menu). It’s already sized for your 1×5″ board (which techically measures 3/4″ x 4.5″) and ready to print. The only requirement is that you must show me your completed project pictures!

Alright… we’ve got some cajun shrimps waiting to be fried up… be back soon with my DIY Chalkboard tutorial!

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Comments

  1. LifestyleBohemia says

    February 5, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    This is a fantastic DIY! I'd love to try this and make a sign for my office. Maybe add a touch of gold shimmering paint. My wheels are turning!
    Thanks for sharing!
    xx
    Joanna

  2. JCHokie says

    February 5, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    I love the sign and your open shelves, so cute!

  3. Kim says

    February 6, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    If you use oil of wintergreen instead of water, and a bone folder instead of a sharpie, you'll get great results! 🙂

  4. Jenna Sue says

    February 6, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Thanks for the tip, Kim!

  5. The DIY Show Off says

    February 7, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Your kitchen is beautiful and I love the sign! Great tutorial and so pretty!

  6. AngusAttis says

    February 8, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    Happened by your blog by accident, and I must say that I love it. I really like this sign and already know the piece of wood I have in my garage to try it out. Thanks!

  7. AngesAttis says

    February 8, 2012 at 7:47 pm

    Happened by your blog by accident, and I must say that I love it. I really like this sign and already know the piece of wood I have in my garage to try it out. Thanks!

  8. JENN says

    February 10, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    Beautiful! I wanted to use the template to make this sign for over the tea table at my daughter's senior tea in May, but it won't download. Any tips for me? It says that it was sent as an email and won't load?

  9. Jenna Sue says

    February 10, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Jenn… that is odd… it should just take you to my Picasa web albums page with a preview, and then you woud click Download at the top, and save it to your desktop. I'm not sure what else could be going on!

  10. {northern cottage} says

    February 10, 2012 at 4:08 pm

    lovely! i'm so glad to have found your blog – really beautiful shots & projects. this one MADE me go make some tea & toast! thanks! xo would love to have you pop over for a visit anytime!

    http://www.NorthernCottage.net

  11. Brandi LeAnn says

    February 23, 2012 at 4:16 pm

    Hi! I am wondering where you purchased those fantastic shelves…please tell!

  12. Jenna Sue says

    February 23, 2012 at 4:27 pm

    Our carpenter built them for us! They had to be custom to fit in the corner up against the microwave.

  13. Ruth says

    February 28, 2012 at 9:55 am

    I just stumbled on your blog! You're amazing! I love the tutorials on your blog and I'm going to try follow your tutorial for a sign in m laundry! Thanks!

  14. signs plaques says

    April 11, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    You can design your own custom signs in the form of proverbs, quote or song, which can be created into an astounding wood sign through skilled professionals. This is one of the important features of custom handmade wood signs.

  15. Inspire Me Heather says

    May 16, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    I love your little sign, it's beautiful! I have this linked to my wooden signs post too today, well done!

  16. {northern cottage} says

    May 16, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    i pinned this when you first posted it and STILL love it now! tea time indeed! xo

    http://www.NorthernCottage.net

  17. BetterBargainz says

    October 18, 2012 at 3:02 am

    Great information on making a weathered sign. There are a lot of techniques to make great signs, I prefer a wood stain to the sign to give it that rustic feel.

  18. Significat says

    November 3, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    What a cool idea. I sell new, laser engraved wood plaques, but I definitely will consider trying this for an alternative. I love the distressed / vintage look you have here. Thanks for the tutorial!

  19. Pablo VonTrapp says

    November 14, 2012 at 1:18 am

    Oh my goodness! My partner and i were looking for signs victoria bc all last week, while we were on vacation. We didn't even think about making our own. What a great blog!!

  20. jasika jakson says

    January 24, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    Wow! This is amazing. What a beautiful conversation piece. Nice job!

    Kanawa Signs

  21. Wooden Garages says

    May 22, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    Love this, really great work!

  22. Carrie says

    June 24, 2013 at 12:35 am

    Beautiful! Do you happen to have a link to a tutorial for the shelves? Or a source? Thanks so much!

  23. Jenna Sue says

    June 24, 2013 at 1:22 am

    We actually hired a carpenter to make them… I wanted to DIY but had no idea how to make them so getting a pro was our best option!

  24. Sarah Oneill says

    July 29, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    H I love this,, so just by printing off your letters using normal paper once wet you just scraped over to transfer the ink? Or did you use the pen to go over the lettering ?
    Thanks so much
    Sarah

  25. Jenna Sue says

    July 29, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    By using just the cap to apply pressure, most of the ink transferred over (you can see how it turned out in the photo after I removed the paper). I went over some areas with a colored pencil to fill it in a bit more though. Hope this helps!

  26. Vintage Sign says

    August 12, 2013 at 5:14 am

    Wow!Nice blog.I like your wooden signs.Great work.

  27. Anonymous says

    May 19, 2014 at 6:38 am

    What kind of paint did you use. I love this!!

  28. Jenna Sue says

    May 19, 2014 at 6:49 pm

    Just plain latex paint! White and a light aqua—not sure of the exact colors though, sorry!

  29. Sara Welsh says

    October 2, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    I love the 'Tea Time' sign! This is such a cute idea to have a weathered wood sign. Boutiques should use these kinds of signs of there buildings!

    Sara Welsh | https://www.1signfactory.com/buildingsigns.nxg

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