My latest project has been sign making.

I’ve been inspired by all the rustic chic weddings I’ve seen all over the internet, and decided that I wanted to make my own signs for everything. You know, little wooden signs to hang on the back of our chairs that say “bride” and “groom” or “mr” and “mrs” or “i do” and “me too”. Just something cute. And then a sign that points the way to the alcohol (as if it would be hard to find) and a sign pointing to the food (ditto). Sounded like a good idea at the time, and now I’m just determined not to let this defeat me.

So, sign making.

I happened to find some 1 x 6 boards out in the storage shed. They were dirty and a bit weathered, which made them perfect for the rustic look I’m going for. I used Ana White’s numbered wall cubby plan as a rough guide to diy wood distressing and spray painted the board black, then painted flat wall paint on top of it.

Please forgive the ugly color. I was using what I had on hand, and what I had on hand happened to be rejects from the local Ace Hardware ($2/quart!) I brushed the green over the black pretty quickly and more than a bit sloppily. It doesn’t need to look glossy and perfect, and visible brush strokes are good.

And no, I didn’t just free-hand the lettering. I used a tutorial I found over at That’s My Letter for adding painted text to something. The gist of it is that you just print out whatever you want to go on the piece, in the size you want it to appear, and then lay it on top and trace it. You have to trace hard enough for the imprint to show in the wood so it’s visible when you start to paint. Then get a small paintbrush and fill in your imprints.

As you can see, mine didn’t turn out quite as well as Jaime’s at That’s My Letter. My imprints weren’t quite deep enough in some spots so I had to eyeball it, and I just tend to be messy anyway. I do not have a steady hand. Also, I’d had too much caffeine yesterday. Later today I’m going to finish up by sanding the edges, which will strip some of the paint off, making the sign look good and weathered.

Lessons learned from this:

* Use a less decorative font. The curlicues and flourishes look pretty, but they’re a serious pain to trace. Painting them wasn’t so hard, but having to trace all of that was more than I can handle if I want to make multiple signs for the wedding.

* Find a better paintbrush for the lettering (the one I used was so soft that smudges were inevitable) or find a more novice-friendly way to make neat letters. I apparently can’t color within the lines.

Next up:

* Figure out how to use the Dremel to make decorative edges.