Evie Rose Bloom: Making and Antiquing a Sign

I had this board that I had done another experament on once before with printing pictures onto plain paper, then putting the paper on the board with Mod Podge and rolling away the actual paper, with the picture then transferred onto the wood... A really cool idea, but I look like a ghost in the picture... At least I gave it a try and we know that project works!

So, here is the reverse side of the board and a new project in hand.

I have recently seen all kinds of making and antiquing sign techniques on Pinterest that I have decided to try several of them to see which way works best... I must say, I am very pleased with my results on this one!!

First, paint your board (I used acrylic craft paint and only did one coat of each). Then, place your letter cutouts (that dear friends helped you make with their Cricut machines) as evenly as possible on the board and trace them (I used a gray coloring pencil, so it would show up, but not too much, on my background).

Next, paint your letters within the lines (bet you never would have guessed that! ;)

Oh, and what better thing to do than to watch The Great British Baking Show while doing it!?!

Once you are all done and the paint has dried, go back with the background paint and touch up any uneven areas. (The smudge at the bottom of the "R" is from Evelyn's finger painting :).

See! Nice, clean lines!

Then, as I like to use an electric sander, you can even use sand paper if you don't have one on hand, to distress the sign. I also had this antique can of pecan stain I used, by simply adding a small amount to a piece of an old t-shirt to rub gently and randomly across my sign to give it even more of that antique-y look which I love.