Signs For Our Times

I love signs! I love old signs and old looking signs! When my friend Natalie at The Vintage Sparrow taught me how to make signs she opened up a whole new world to me. I have so many plans to make signs and all the wood in my garage to prove it.

This is the first sign that Natalie made with me. I love it and it has hung in my kitchen ever since.

With this sign I framed it out by nailing on some furring strips. Both were stenciled with 6" stencils.

Here is a sign that I made out of some barn wood that was perfect the way it was. I just free handed the letters to look more rustic. After a light sanding it needed nothing else. If you can find some wood that is perfectly distressed it makes your job a lot easier.

And this sign is my newest sign that I thought would be a perfect Valentine's Day decoration.

Now I will tell you that you can do the simple thing and use vinyl letters to make signs. And I will tell you why I personally do not like vinyl letters on my projects. DISTRESS. I need to have my signs look old and beat up. Then need to look like they have been through the elements and back to life. Vinyl is too clean and new looking. So if you like clean and sleek then you will love vinyl. To each his own right? So for the purposes of the Shabby Thing paint on your letters. You do not need to be artistic. If you can find the stencil you like you can just stencil on the letters (Very EASY) If you don't have the stencils you can trace on letters of you liking with carbon paper. Then you just need to stay in the lines! You can do it! And you will love it too!

Click Here to view/print out instructions to make your own sign.

Find your inspiration. If you see a sign you would love to replicate take a picture of it and just do it!

I have even used a cabinet door for a sign too. Those are great because they have a built in frame!

(both this sign and the roses sign were painted by tracing the letters on)

Now remember the sky is the limit with signs. Let your imagination run with this.

You can check out Al's Building Supply and Materials for some salvaged cabinet doors for cheap!

Here is a recent sign I made from some wood found at Al's

that was already painted with the great blue color with the red color showing through the chipping paint. All I needed to do was paint on the letters. It is a perfect easy sign that only cost me $1 and one hour of my time!