Leaning rustic front porch 'oh hello' sign + FREE SVG

Leaning rustic front porch 'oh hello' sign + FREE SVG

Make your own unique rustic farmhouse leaning porch sign… bonus I’m giving you the same SVG I used for this tutorial for you to use for free!

DIY rustic leaning porch sign

The other day I shared with you how I turned a rusty old metal locker / cabinet into a storage for our muddy shoes on our sunporch. I had picked up that rusted gem at a local antique store for just $20! I had no idea when I bought that chipped old farmhouse looking piece that it would actually serve our home double duty!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what the metal cabinet looked like when I picked it up from the antique store.

And here’s what I repurposed it into. So perfect for our family’s muddy shoes on the sunporch!

Since one of the pins on the door was gone I removed the door from the cabinet all together. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the door but I knew if I put it on a shelf in the garage it would sit there for a long time because honestly I’d forget it was there. So I did some head scratching and thought I could turn it into a super cute painted sign. And so I did!

How to paint your own farmhouse style welcome sign for your front porch

Here’s what I used

• rusty metal cabinet door

• 12”x12” cardstock

• Cricut machine

• green Cricut mat

• Cricut Design Space

• black outdoor paint (here’s a paint similar to the one I used)

• paint brush

• paint tray

• sharpie

• masking tape

• heat gun

1. CUT OUT LETTERS

You can grab the same oh hello SVG that I used in my free resource library. That’s where I keep all of my printables, cut files, and more for my readers to use free of charge <3!

I opted to use a cardstock stencil on this metal porch sign. I was afraid if I used a sticky back stencil (like used on this other leaning porch sign) would remove a lot of the paint and rust that was already on the metal door.

I uploaded the SVG into Cricut Design Space then sized it so that it would fit on the 12”x59” door. I sized mine so that it was about 10”x50” or so then I had to break up the oh hello SVG so that I could cut it out. This is easy, just take a square and slice the letters out so now you have individual sections instead of one single image, I hope that makes sense. Here’s what my SVG looked like after I sliced it and deleted the duplicate slices (I changed the colors so you could see them better).

To cut them out I used 12”x12” cardstock. If my cut image was larger than 12” I just butted two pieces together and taped the seam. Click Click here to see how I do this on another projectto see how I do this on another project.

2. ARRANGE LETTERS & TRACE

After my letters were cut out I decided which end I wanted to be the top…then I did opposite of that lol I placed my door on one side of my table then went to the other side to arrange my letters, total facepalm moment. But that’s ok it turned out SO CUTE even with that mess up. I left more blank space toward the bottom of the sign so that I would have room to place a plant at the base if I wanted without hiding the first letter. Here’s a great still shot from my video lol!!

I started tracing with a pen but that just wasn’t cutting it so then I found the nearest sharpie and used that. It was brown but the black paint covered it perfectly!

3. PAINT

I had a bottle of old outdoor paint, like 3 years old, and used that to paint my sign. I used a small round tipped brush to outline the letters but also fill them in as I went along.

4. DRY

Like with most of the DIYs I do for around my house I needed this one to be quick and easy. I’m a busy momma to four girls and we had a movie to catch at the theatre so I used my heat gun to speed up the dry time.

5. 2ND COAT OF PAINT

I thought maybe one coat of paint would do it but it wasn’t quiet enough coverage so I painted a second coat. This went much faster than the first coat. Then I used my heat gun to dry it again.

I’m super impatient so I put my sign out as soon as that second coat was dry.

I just LOVE how this old porch sign turned out! I still can’t believe it turned out so stinking good! I had no plans for that door when I bought that cabinet but I’m so glad I made use of it instead of it just sitting on a shelf collecting even more dust in the garage.

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

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DIY hello sunshine stained wood sign + FREE SVG

DIY STENCILED HELLO SUNSHINE SIGN

Make this simple and chic hello sunshine sign to display with your warm weathered décor. I used my old school Cricut Explore to make this wood sign but you can use any vinyl cutting machine you have. Be sure to grab the FREE SVG in my free resource library to make this exact design (find the link below;) )

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you need

• prestained wood base (I made a square from a 1x8)

• white acrylic paint

• paint brushes

• paint tray

• matte finish mod podge

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• weeding tool (I picked mine up from the dollar tree)

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut Design Space

• green Cricut cutting mat

• FREE hello sunshine SVG

Want to learn more techniques for painting wood signs? CLICK HERE to check out my list of DIY sign painting tutorials for the most crisp clean lines for your lettered painted signs.

The type of stenciling I used for this wood HELLO SUNSHINE sign is called REVERSE STENCILING. I also used this stenciling technique on this BLESS OUR NEST wood sign. I love this technique when I’m only using two colors, the base color and the letter color. It gives super crisp lines and is really quick to do.

1.CUT THE STENCIL

Upload the HELLO SUNSHINE SVG into Cricut Design Space (or the program you are using with your fancy cutting machine). Then add a square to the canvas. Size the square so it’s about the same size as the wood base you are using. I sized mine to 7.25” then resized the HELLO SUMMER SVG till I was happy with the size of that. This process isn’t a must, you can just cut the SVG out without a square around it BUT adding this square does make centering your design much easier when you go to stencil the design.

Once you happy with the size select both the SVG and the square and center them. After they are centered and still both selected use the Cricut SLICE feature to slice the SVG out of the square.

Now you should have 3 images. You will only need the square that has the circle cut out of it so delete the two other circle images.

This is what your canvas should look like when you are ready to hit MAKE IT in Cricut Design Space.

I used ORAMASK STENCIM FILM and the Cricut GREEN cutting mat. I set my machine dial to cut vinyl.

2. APPLY THE STENCIL

When weeding this design you want to weed out the CIRCLE and the MIDDLE PIECES from the letters.

Use transfer tape to easily transfer the image onto your wood base. I’ve used LOTS of different transfer tapes and this brand is one of my favorites.

PRO TIP: you can reuse your transfer tape over and over again. As long as it is still tacky and fits the design you want to transfer you can use it. I often use my transfer tape 3-4 times before getting a new piece.

Align your stencil then press down using your hand and a vinyl squeegee. Working from the middle and then out press out the air bubbles.

Now, roll your transfer tape off your design. Be sure to go slow, especially with this design as it has delicate lines that can rip easily.

3. SEAL THE STENCIL

This step isn’t an absolute must but you’ve already worked this hard why ruin it with paint bleed? I always hate myself when I skip this step so just save yourself from a kick in the butt later and seal your stencil before you paint ;)!

Paint a SUPER THIN layer of matte finish mod podge all over your design. Essentially what you are doing is filling in all of those tiny little air bubbles that you can’t see that are between your stencil and your wood base with a clear layer. This keeps your paint from filling in those air bubbles, aka: paint bleed.

Be sure you are painting the thinnest of thin layers when doing this step. If it’s too thick your paint will peel up with your stencil when you remove it…again speaking from LOTS of sign making experience lol! Then let that dry completely before moving on to the next step.

4. PAINT YOUR DESIGN

After your mod podge seal has dried you can paint your design. The lighter the color the more layers you will likely need to cover your design completely. For your first layer of paint you want to paint it on thin enough so that you see the wood grain through the paint. I used white acrylic paint for this project and painted 3 coats total.

After you apply the first layer wait for it to dry completely before moving on to the second coat. If you need a third layer of paint repeat the drying process again then paint the third layer.

5. PEEL UP YOUR STENCIL

After your happy with the paint coverage it’s time to peel up the oramask stencil film. I personally peel my stencils up while my paint is still wet but some prefer to peel after their paint has dried, both ways work. Grab one corner of the stencil and peel it off toward the opposite corner.

Then using your weeding tool CAREFULLY peel up the lettering inside of the circle. I ended up grabbing a sewing pin for this as my weeding tool was a little too large for the job.

Let your sign sit and dry completely before displaying in your home with the rest of your summer decorations.

I just love how this little sign turned out! It’s so simple and it can be displayed with both spring and summer décor. I extra love double duty decorations!

If you have any questions about this DIY craft tutorial or any others on my blog please reach out.

Check out more sign painting tutorials below. Happy Crafting!!

Dollar Tree mini St. Patrick's Day sign makeover + FREE SVG

I’ve been working on this little cozy space my girls have claimed in our new home, well it’s actually 100+ year old home but it’s new to us. It’s their play/reading area/hangout zone but I really wanted this space to look like it had more purpose than that. I wanted to create a space that screamed (in a super sweet polite kind of way ;)) “you are loved, you are beautiful, and your heart is amazing, daughter” kind of vibe.

While I’m creating this darling daughter you are loved space I want to share with you not just how I DIY-ed it all but I also want to share with you the same exact cut files and printables I used so you can use them too if you want. You can find all of my freebies in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Total transparency here… AFTER I wrote this post (meaning I had already finished the sign, took all the pictures, uploaded everything, pushed publish on the post and posted it to social media) I realized a big UH OH moment! I had added the word to too many times to the “it’s ok to have a bad day” quote. HUGE facepalm to myself. But I have since fixed my error, and honestly though how fitting of a mistake for this project. It really is ok to have a bad day ;)!

Since I’m a frugal kind of momma I extra love how affordable this sign was to make. While I love using my power tools I didn’t use any to make this sign. I actually bought an already made sign from the Dollar Tree and gave that a little makeover. I spent less than $2 to make this small free standing sign using my Cricut and I want to show you how you can make your own without power tools too.

DIY FREE STANDING SIGN + FREE SVG

See the picture below…I wasn’t going to completely retake every single photo so you see my mistake, it’s ok to to have a bad day lol!!

Here’s what I used

• Dollar Tree free standing sign

• sanding sponge

• white acrylic paint

• paint brush

• paint tray

• black matte finish vinyl (I used StarCraft bc it’s what I had on hand but I would recommend Oracal 651 instead)

• clear transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• it’s ok to have a bad day FREE SVG

• Cricut cutting machine

• green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• drop cloth to protect your surface

1. CUT & WEED THE DECAL

I used my Cricut to cut out my vinyl decal. I used StarCraft vinyl in matte black but honestly it’s not my favorite. I highly recommend ORACAL 651 (or 631 if you have it since this project is for indoor use). I bought the StarCraft thinking I would love it as much as 651 but sadly I don’t.

Grab the SVG for FREE here.

2. SAND

A drop cloth is a must for this if you don’t want glitter everywhere. I usually always lay down a drop cloth when I crafting. It doesn’t make for a super gorgeous backdrop for my tutorials BUT it keeps my surface clean AND I can throw it in the washer when I’m done.

I used a sanding sponge to remove all of the glitter from the Dollar Tree sign first. This surprisingly comes off easily. Then I wiped it down with a paper towel to get all to the sanded stuff off of my sign.

This is what my sign looked like once I sanded it down. I could have sanded more but this much was good enough:)! You mainly want to get all of the glitter off because paint won’t cover over glitter smoothly.

3. PAINT

Then I painted my little sign. This took quite a few coats, 3 actually. I did thin layers so that they would dry smooth and fast. Acrylic paint is what I used but if you want better coverage with less coats chalk paint is a great option too. Be sure to let your paint dry fully between coats.

Here’s what my sign base looked like after the first coat of white acrylic paint.

And this is what it looked like after I painted the 3rd coat of white acrylic paint.

4. APPLY THE DECAL

I let my sign base dry overnight before applying my vinyl decal. You just want to be sure your sign is completely dry, vinyl will NOT stick to wet paint. It will peel up and the paint will be stuck to the backside of the vinyl and it will be a mess to fix…trust me I’ve been there and it’s not fun.

I used my favorite clear transfer tape to apply my decal on to my dollar store base.

After I was happy with the placement I pressed it down using my trusty blue vinyl squeegee then slowly rolled the transfer tape off of my decal. Be sure when you do this to go VERY SLOW. It’s really easy to go too fast and rip your vinyl. A vinyl squeegee isn’t a must but it does make the job easier. If you don’t have one you an use a library or rewards card.

Then found the perfect spot for it on this industrial ladder tiered shelf I scored off of Amazon. BTW this one is SUPER easy to put together if you’re looking for an easy to assemble tiered shelf. I have bought some DIY shelfs before that were total nightmares…this one was a dream to assemble!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY craft tutorial. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below. Happy Crafting!

Check out more Cricut craft projects below

Extracting a zipped file & uploading an SVG into Cricut Design Space

HOW EXTRACT FILES & UPLOAD SVG’s TO CRICUT DESIGN SPACE

Need to unzip a folder to extract a SVG file to upload into Cricut Design Space? Whether you bought a cut file from Etsy (or any other SVG cut file site), a friend sent it to you, or you downloaded it for free from a crafty website like this one extracting the files from a zipped folder is all the same.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you need to extract & upload a SVG into Cricut Design Space

Materials:

• Computer

• zipped folder with SVG inside

• Cricut Design Space

Watch the video below or keep scrolling to see the written tutorial…the audio isn’t the best BUT I do walk you through every step on my desk on how to extract zipped files and then upload them into Cricut Design Space. Idk what was up with my audio recording that day but it just wasn’t working quite right…such is life though lol.

Cricut newbie? If you’re new Cricut be sure to check out these 10 must have supplies & accessories to get started on your Cricut journey.

1. FIND THE FOLDER

First you need to locate your file. I like to save my files to my desktop because they are easy to find there but if you can’t find yours check your recent downloads, it should be there.

2. OPEN THE ZIPPED FOLDER

Click open the zipped folder then click open the folder that is inside the zipped folder.

3. EXTRACT THE FILE

This sounds fancy but really you are just moving the file you need out of the folder. This is usually a SVG file. The easiest way to do this is to click on the file, hold down you clicker on your mouse, and drag it out of the folder and onto your desktop. It’s that easy!

4. UPLOAD TO CRICUT DESIGN SPACE

Once the file is out of the folder you can upload it into Cricut Design Space. Open your Cricut Design Space app on your desktop. Click upload on the far left at the bottom (that’s where it’s located at the time I’m writing this tutorial).

Click upload image.

You can drag and drop your file where it says browse OR you can click browse to find the file on your computer.

If you have a message pop up that says items are not supported in Cricut Design Space just click continue.

Click save to save the SVG in your Cricut Design Space uploads.

Click your files you want to add to your canvas. Then click insert images.

Cricut will automatically group images in an SVG file. Be sure to click ungroup if you don’t want all the pieces grouped together.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful for extracting and uploading SVG cut files. If you have any questions please ask in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Check out more Cricut projects below.

Humorous wood sign for mom - mom's shit list sign + FREE SVG

Humorous wood sign for mom - mom's shit list sign + FREE SVG

Learn how to stencil and make a humorous sign for you or another fellow mom with a sense of humor. BONUS grab the FREE SVG for this MOM’S SHIT LIST SIGN in my resource library (find the link below).

Oh boy does this sign ring so much truth. I’m a Christian lady BUT also cuss a little.. well, sometimes a lot or at least more than I should. And I think that’s ok.

My friend asked me to make this funny sign and of course I said a big YES! Probably because I can relate so much to it but also, because I really wanted to share the SVG with all of my fellow SVG loving crafters that read my blog.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

A couple months back I also made another humorous sign for her: life is short lick the spoon (which I also shared the SVG for in my library for you to use for free). She always has great ideas on what she wants me to make her:)!!

Ok so here’s what you need to make your own Mom’s shit list wood sign.

BONUS: you can get this EXACT file I made for FREE in my password protected resource library. Just click on the button below and it will take you there. These files are for free PERSONAL use only.

HOW TO MAKE A HUMOROUS STENCILED WOOD SIGN FOR MOM

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

• wood base (mine measured 11”x20” made from a 1x12)

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• sewing pin

• gray and white acrylic paint

• paint brush for the base

• paint brush for stenciling

• paint tray

• drop cloth to protect your surface (not a must but it’s a great reusable option to protect your table top)

• Cricut cutting machine

• 24” green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• paint stands (these aren’t a must but they are SUPER helpful)

If you’re new to the world of fancy cutting machines aka vinyl cutters aka a Cricut or Silhouette be sure to check out my post on 10 must have supplies & accessories to get you started when you’re new to using a Cricut. Also if you plan on using a LOT of stencil film and you want to save some money $$ be sure to read this post on where to buy ORAMASK 813 stencil material in bulk to save you TONS of money.

STENCILING ON WOOD- THE NO PAINT BLEED METHOD

1. CUT & SAND THE BASE

The first thing I did was cut and sand my wooden base. I used a 1x12 to make my sign out of. If you are new to the lumber world a 1x12 doesn’t actually measure 12” wide, it’s more like 11.25” or in my case it was 11”. I cut my wood to 20” then sanded it semi smooth with 120 grit sandpaper using my Ryobi cordless sander. I LOVE this little light weight sander and the fact that it’s not corded so I can move around with it without tripping on cords or trying to find a plugin close by.

2. PAINT THE BASE

For this sign my friend requested a gray painted background with white lettering. I painted a really THIN coat of gray acrylic paint on my base. I used these awesome paint stands to keep my board up and off of my work surface. I can’t believe I’ve been painting wood signs for YEARS and didn’t have these until recently! They are something that I didn’t even know I needed till I used them.

Once the first layer of paint was dry I went back a painted a second THIN layer of paint. Usually you just need two coats, or sometimes even just one if you’re using black. But if you aren’t happy with the coverage you can go back after the second coat is dry and paint a third coat of thin paint on there.

I let my base dry for 24 hours. Not because it needed to dry that long but because I’m a momma to four girls, am a mompreneur {a momma with a business ;) }, and trying my best to school my girls at home right now (thanks to you know what). Sometimes we are just walking hot messes around here lol!

3. CUT & WEED THE STENCIL

I used my trusty Cricut to cut my stencil on ORAMASK 813 STENCILM FILM. I have been using a Cricut for a loooooong long time, back when they had key pads and you didn’t use a computer and Design Space to do all the amazing things they can do now. Since my design was large I used a 24” GREEN cutting mat to cut my stencil on. You can use my same MOM’S SHIT LIST SVG here in my free resource library. It’s password protected so you’ll need to fill out the boxes to get the password. Once you are on the resource library page scroll down till you see the photo of the Mom’s shit list sign design. Click on it and the SVG will pop up in another window, you can save it to your computer from there then upload it into whatever program you are using to cut your design.

3. APPLY THE STENCIL

I applied my stencil to my wood base using clear transfer tape. I LOVE and swear by this clear transfer tape. I have used MANY different types trying to find the right one for me and this one was it.

Using a vinyl squeegee I pressed out any air bubbles then slowly rolled the transfer tape off of my design. Rolling vs pulling the transfer tape off is KEY. If you pull it up and off of your stencil your stencil will likely come up and off of your wood base too. Take your time on this step, if you don’t I promise you will kick yourself and possibly a lot of curse words will come out lol! Just speaking from experience here.

After the transfer tape is off I carefully press out all of the air bubbles again using my vinyl squeegee.

4. SEAL THE STENCIL

Sealing the stencil is KEY to no paint bleed. If you take just one thing away from this tutorial let THIS TIP be IT! I have built a business on painting wooden signs and this is by far the most important step I take to having crisp clean no paint bleed lines.

How do you seal a stencil? It’s simple, use a light hand (I’m talking SUPER LIGHT) and paint your stencil using the same color that you painted your background. Let it dry. What this does is it fills in all of those tiny little bitty air holes that you can’t see. It may look like there aren’t any air holes but trust me they are there. Your paint will find them and you’ll spend hours trying to fix the mess…again, speaking from experience.

Let that dry completely.

5. PAINT THE DESIGN

After the sealing is dry I painted my design color. My friend requested white lettering so I used white acrylic paint for the job. I painted a SUPER THIN layer of white paint using a stiff-ish paint brush. You want to be able to see the base color through your paint. You can use those stenciling brushes but I have found a paint brush like this works much better than any stenciling brush I have ever used.

Once the first layer of paint was dry I went back over my design and paint a second THIN layer of white paint.

Here’s what my stencil looked like when I was finished painting the second layer of paint.

6. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

Everyone does this step differently. Some wait till their paint is dry and others peel while their paint is still wet. I have found that peeling up my stencil while my paint is still wet works best for me. But if you find that doesn’t work for you change it up:). I encourage my readers to do like I did and do trial and error if something doesn’t work change it up until you get the perfect way it works for you.

I use an xacto knife to help get up all the bigger pieces of stencil film that didn’t come off initially.

Then I go in with a sewing pin, I know super fancy tools lol, and pick out all of the little middle pieces. This works better than the xacto knife in these areas because an xacto knife tends to gauge the wood and scratch the paint since it’s usually a tight area to work in.

7. FIX ERRORS

Since I don’t sand my boards down to complete smoothness I will get tiny amounts of paint bleed where there are divots in the wood. You can certainly sand those out but I personally keep those spots because I feel like it adds a lot more character to the piece. Those spots are minimal and totally fixable.

If there’s a lot of paint I will use my xacto knife to lightly scrape off excess paint. Then I go in with a fine tipped paint brush and paint over the area with the background color. Let dry. That’s it! It’s super easy to fix those small areas of paint bleed mistakes.

If you want to take a deep dive into the sign painting world and know EVERYTHING I know about making wood signs you need my LETTERED SIGN PAINTER’S COURSE. I teach you all I know. All the mistakes, trials and errors, and SUCCESS I’ve had with sign making has led me to create a course for people just like you who need to know how to paint signs but need to know EXACTLY what to do to get there. Where to buy all their materials, what paints to use, what brushes to use, how to make stencils, how to do it all in the sign painting world.

I will go in depth on all of the topics and so much more.

I know my friend is loving her new sign. I think she said she was gifting it to her daughter, what a fun gift!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. Be sure to check out more of my DIY sign painting tutorials.

Happy Crafting!

DIY hot mess method for a wood sign

MAKE YOUR OWN HOT MESS STENCILED SIGN

Have you seen the HOT MESS paint method? It’s not a look everyone loves but there are a lot of people out there who are in total love with this colorful way of stenciling.

A couple years ago my cousin got married and I was asked to make her a special personalized gift for her wedding shower. I had never done the hot mess canvas method before so this was totally new to me. But it worked great and I want to share with you how I stenciled her wood sign using that technique.

I made this before I was a serious craft blogger so I don’t have step by step pictures but I will explain how to do the whole hot mess process below.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

—-> New to Cricut? Read my post on the top 10 accessories and supplies you need to get started using your vinyl cutting machine<—-

If you want to save money on ORAMASK STENCIL FILM for you Cricut or other vinyl cutting machine be sure to check out this post on where I buy my stencil film in bulk. It saves me TONS of money on my hand painted wood signs.

DIY HOT MESS SIGN PAINT METHOD

Here’s what you’ll need

• precut and sanded board (I used a 1x12 pine cut to 20”)

• acrylic paints

• chalk paint for background paint color (I used white)

• paint trays

• sponge brushes or multiple paint brushes

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• sewing pin or xacto knife

• vinyl squeegee

• Cricut cutting machine

• green Cricut mat

• Cricut Design Space

• drop cloth to protect your work area

• FREE SVG -DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE

• patience ;)

1. PAINT

The first thing you want to do is paint your base (whether that be a canvas or a piece of wood like I’m using) all different colors. You can get as creative as you want with this. My cousin is really into The Wizard of Oz so I used all the colors of the rainbow for her hot mess wood sign.

Usually I like to use reusable brushes but for this I used sponge brushes because I had so many different colors to paint.

I randomly painted different colors of acrylic paint until my wood was completely covered in colorful brush strokes. The lighter colors I had to apply a couple of coats for them to be seen. Then I let it dry.

2. APPLY THE STENCIL

I used my Cricut cutting machine to cut out my stencil. This is a REVERSE STENCIL METHOD so I weeded out the background and left the letters. CLICK HERE to learn more about REVERSE STENCILING on wood signs.
How to apply the stencil: Place your transfer tape sticky side down onto your stencil. Rub out any air bubbles with your vinyl squeegee. Remove the paper backing. Then place your stencil onto your canvas/wood base. Rub again with your vinyl squeegee. Remove your transfer tape.

3. SEAL YOUR STENCIL

After I pushed out any air bubbles I sealed my stencil with matte finish mod podge. This is key to having zero paint bleed. I let that dry.

4. PAINT

After my matte finish mod podge was dry I painted over the entire sign with white chalk paint.

You can use acrylic paint for this but in my opinion chalk paint is better for this particular project because it has great coverage.

I painted one really thing layer, you can still see the stencil and colors through my paint and that is exactly what you want for the first layer. Then I let that dry completely.

Be sure you aren’t applying your chalk paint too thick. If chalk paint is applied in too thick of layers it will crack as it dries. For some projects that will look good but not typically on a painted wood sign like this hot mess method.

After the chalk paint dried I painted a second thin layer on top of that. Then I used an xacto knife to peel up my stencil.

This isn’t a project I would typically hang in my own home but I do love how colorful it is! And how it looks kinda polished but also a hot mess at the same time which is a great description of my life with four daughters.

I hope you enjoyed this sign painting tutorial. If you have any questions please ask them in the comments below.

Want to know all of my sign painting secrets? Get them here —-> SIGN PAINTING E-COURSE <——

DIY sold by realtor sign + FREE SVG

DIY SOLD BY REALTOR SIGN + FREE SVG

Learn how to make your own sold by realtor sign + grab my FREE to use SVG in my resource library

Create a personalized SOLD BY (insert name here) sign for your realtor. Or if you’re a realtor create one for yourself.

These are wonderful and unique additions to the house selling world. You can gift them to your favorite realtor use them for a photo prop, or hang them in your office to give it a personalized and cozy touch.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

A realtor friend of mine reached out to me and asked me to make her a personalized SOLD BY MELISSA sign and of course I said yes! Her mom is also a realtor and the person who sold us our beautiful old home. I made her this gorgeous thank you gift, a ROUND LAST NAME SIGN, she made the whole home buying process seamless for us.

I was excited when her realtor daughter messaged me asking for a personalized realtor sign for herself. And excited to share the SVG I used with you to use for free. You can find the SVG in my free resource library. This is where I keep all of my free printables, cut files, and more.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SOLD BY REALTOR SIGN

What you’ll need

• Cricut cutting machine

• 24” green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• FREE TO USE sold by SVG

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• sewing pin or xacto knife

• white & red acrylic paint

• matte finish mod podge

• paint brush

• 8”x21” pine board

• stain (I used the color KONA)

• stain rags

1. CUT & STAIN THE WOOD BASE

The first thing I did was cut and stain my wooden base. I made my SOLD BY realtor sign from a 1x8 (which actually measures 7.5” not 8” if you are new to using lumber to make things). I cut it to measure 21”. I thought was a good size for photo opps.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO STAIN A PIECE OF WOOD

Then I stained it in KONA using my lint free rags. Even though it was a 1 hour dry stain I let my sign dry for 24 hours and used these super helpful paint stand gems I found on Amazon.

2. CUT & APPLY THE STENCIL

After the stain was COMPLETELY DRY I cut out my stencil and applied it to my wood base.

PRO TIP: stencil material will not adhere to a wet surface. It doesn’t matter if it is slightly wet or super wet, it’s not going to stick down. Think of it like a sticker, essentially that is what a stencil is except you remove it.

I applied my clear transfer tape to the front of my stencil then removed the paper backing from the backside of the stencil.

Then I placed the stencil stick side down onto my wood base. Once I was happy with the placement of the stencil I used my vinyl squeegee to press out any air bubbles.

I removed the clear transfer tape from my stencil, leaving the stencil adhered to my wood base. When you do this it’s best to start from one corner of the sign then roll it toward the opposite corner SLOWLY. Don’t go too fast, this can cause a fat mistake and leave you cursing your sign and possibly ruining your entire day lol! Seriously, this has happened to me LOTS of times and after that my day just went downhill from there.

3. REMOVE AIR BUBBLES & SEAL THE STENCIL

I used my vinyl squeegee to help press out any noticeable air bubbles.

Then I sealed my stencil with matte finish mod podge

I painted on a SUPER THIN layer of the matte finish mod podge. This fills in all of the tiny little air bubbles that you can’t really tell that are there BUT once you peel your stencil up you see where they were because your paint has bled into all of those little spots.

This is what my stencil looked like once I was done applying the mod podge.

4. PAINT THE STENCIL

After the mod podge was dry I painted my stencil. I chose white for the lettering and the house image and red for the heart.

I painted a SUPER THIN coat of white paint on the entire stencil, even the heart that I will paint red later.

You want to see the wood grain through your paint.

It didn’t take long for that to dry then I painted second coat of white and painted the heart red.

5. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

I will almost always peel my stencil up while the paint is still wet. Some people wait for their paint to dry but I’ve found my projects turn out better when I peel the stencil up with wet paint.

Start from one corner and peel toward the opposite corner.

Then I used a sewing pin to peel up all the little middle pieces.

6. LET DRY

After I removed my stencil I let it dry completely and then sealed it with some clear matte finish spray.

I hope you enjoyed this sign painting tutorial. If you did be sure to sign up for my SIGN PAINTING COURSE teaching you EVERYTHING I know about sign making without the headache and stress it can be when you are first learning how to paint wood signs.

Simple Halloween décor using a witch hat

Easy Witch Hat Halloween Decoration

There are some really super cute Halloween decorations out there. I love simple AND frugal! I’m not one to spend a lot on décor so I really loved this easy and cheap project!

If you want even more fun HALLOWEEN DECOR IDEAS be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for more DIY’s for the fall season.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you’ll need

• witch hat

• something to measure with

• vase - I got mine from the Dollar Tree

• glue gun

• glue stick

• Cricut (I used my trusty old Explore cutting machine)

• Cricut Design Space

• green cutting mat

• black cardstock

• grab the Cricut file here to make it even easier

The first thing I did was measure the opening of the witch hat.

Using Cricut Design Space I made a 9” circle and cut it out on black cardstock using my Cricut Explore.

Next I used my glue gun and added hot glue to the top of the vase.

Then I quickly placed my cardstock circle cut out on top. Be sure to do this step quickly because hot glue can dry fairly fast.

Then I placed it on my hutch and added my witch hat.

I love it! It was so super easy and adds so much height to my Halloween display.

I hope you enjoyed this super simple Halloween craft. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Check out more of my fun Halloween & fall crafts below

Life is short lick the spoon wood sign + FREE SVG

Life is short lick the spoon wood sign + FREE SVG

Use this free life is short lick the spoon FREE SVG to make your own decal or painted wood sign.

DIY HUMOROUS KITCHEN SIGN

I’m sure you’ve seen all those gorgeous gallery walls on Pinterest. You know the ones that have all the perfectly placed together farmhouse pieces. If you still aren’t sure what I’m talking about here are some awesome kitchen gallery walls on Pinterest.

Anyway, my friend is making one in her home…in her beautiful home that really probably was a true farmhouse in its day… and she asked me to make her a final piece to finish it up.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

She sent me a pic of a sign that said “life is short don’t lick the spoon” and asked if I could make one like it. Of course I said yes!

I used the photo she sent me as inspiration and created my own SVG for the painted wood sign. You can get the same SVG I used here in my free resource library.

DIY - LIFE IS SHORT LICK THE SPOON aqua stained wood kitchen sign

Here’s what you need

• wood base, I used a 1x10 pine board I got from my local hardware/lumber store

• stain - I used this aqua color from Rust-Oleum

• chalk paint - I used the color Sheepskin

• lint free rags

• dabber

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• Cricut cutting machine (I used an Explore)

• green cutting mat

• design space

• life is short lick the spoon SVG -or- get it FREE in my resource library

• miter saw

• sander

• 120 grit sand paper

1.CUT THE WOOD & STAIN

I used a 1x10 and used my Ryobi miter saw to cut it square. If you aren’t familiar with lumber it actually doesn’t measure 1”x10” it’s more like .75”x9.25”. So, I cut my piece to measure 9.25”x9.25”. Then gave it a light sanding using 120 grit sand paper.

My friend asked for AQUA STAIN which is a gorgeous color! I had it on hand so I stained it up then let it dry. After it was completely dry I took my Ryobi sander and sanded around the edges and corners then lightly over the front. This gives it a more rustic farmhouse look.

2.CUT OUT & WEED THE STENCIL

While your wood base is drying cut your stencil out. I used my older model Cricut Explore and it still works like a champ! If you don’t have a fancy cutting machine I highly recommend getting one, even if you can’t afford the Maker (there’s no shame in that I still don’t even have the Maker lol!). Be sure to read 10 must have supplies and accessories to get started using a Cricut. 

I use Oramask stencil film for most all of my stenciled projects. If you plan to make LOTS of painted wood signs check out this post I wrote on where I buy my stencil film in bulk to save a ton of money.

3. APPLY THE STENCIL

Apply your clear transfer tape onto the front of your stencil. Remove the paper backing from your stencil. Place your stencil sticky side down onto your wood base.

Rub your stencil with your vinyl squeegee and slowly roll your transfer tape off of your stencil. FUN FACT: you CAN reuse your transfer tape over and over again.

Go over the stencil with your finger or your vinyl squeegee to make sure there aren’t any air bubbles. If there are smooth them out.

Click here to see how I made this gorgeous baby stat sign using plywood

4. PAINT THE STENCIL

I used chalk paint to paint my stencil. If you want to use the same color it’s called SHEEPSKIN.

A dabber like this one is great for stenciling. For the best results and virtually no paint bleed lightly dip your dabber into your chalk paint then dab off the excess, you want very little paint left on the round sponge dabber. Using a pouncing motion paint the exposed areas of the stencil.

Let dry, then repeat till you are satisfied with the coverage. Typically 2 coats is the perfect amount needed.

5. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

I will usually always peel my stencil up while the stencil paint is still wet. While this is my preferred method this may not work for everyone, and that’s totally ok.

Start by peeling up one corner of the stencil and peel it off toward the opposite corner.

Use a sewing pin or xacto knife to peel up all the middle areas.

Let your painted areas dry then you are ready to display in your home.

I hope you enjoyed this sign painting tutorial. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Check out more DIY SIGN PAINTING TUTORIALS

Rustic It's Halloween Witches framed leaning porch sign + FREE SVG

Rustic It's Halloween Witches framed leaning porch sign + FREE SVG

Make your own vertical rustic farmhouse leaning porch sign for Halloween. Bonus: grab the It’s Halloween Witches FREE SVG in my free to use resource library

It’s Halloween Witches! YES! I can’t believe how amazing this painted sign turned out. It has all the gorgeous elements of farmhouse basics but a not so common (on a porch sign) Halloween saying…which makes me extra love it! I could have went with a basic cutesy saying like “boo” or “trick or treat” but I wanted my porch sign to have just a bit of sass to it! And it totally does and fits my family SO well. We are a bit sarcastic and sassy lol!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

And I kept the back of it blank, well I went ahead and painted it white, so I could make it a reversible fall leaning sign later on. I’m all about getting double use out of my décor. I’m a momma of 4, double sided or dual purpose décor is wonderful in my world. Less to store and less to change out when the seasons change.

I have actually had this piece of 1x10 pine hanging around forever! I stained it when I stained this round wood base for this last name sign a couple years ago and am just now getting around to creating on them. Life of a mom and entrepreneur! Here’s what it looked like before I smothered it in creativity. Just a blank stained piece of wood. You can’t see it in this pic but it had a ton of scratches and some gouges on it from being moved around so much in my craft room over the last couple of years.

If you don’t already have a Cricut I HIGHLY recommend getting one. I still create on my old Cricut Explore and create some pretty awesome projects to share with the world ;) Cricut newbie? Read this post on 10 supplies and accessories you need to get started with your cutting machine.

Side note… If you need the checkered rug that’s on my porch get this one. I looked for hours trying to find the exact one and this one is perfect. I don’t have OCD but I really specifically wanted one that had the same stripe on the top and bottom so that it looked even and this one was the only one I came across that that did in the size that I needed it.

How to make a rustic farmhouse leaning Halloween porch sign you will love

Here’s what you’ll need

• pine board, I used a stained 1x10x52 -sign

• 1x2x52 {x2} 1x2x10.75 {x2} -frame

• It’s Halloween Witches SVG , free in my resource library

• white paint, I used leftover wall paint from when we made this faux plank wall

• black and orange acrylic paint

• paint brush

• paint stands (trust me this will make painting a large board SO much easier!)

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• xacto knife or sewing pin for picking the stencil

• vinyl squeegee

• stain- I used the color Kona

• stain rags

• gloves

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut 24” green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• Ryobi miter saw

• Ryobi sander

• 120 grit orbit sandpaper

• Ryobi brad nailer

• lint free cloth

1.PAINT THE BASE

I chose to use a board that was already stained. This is not a must but I do like that the stain peaks through the sanded bits of my sign. I painted my wood sign with two coats of white wall paint. You can use acrylic paint too. I didn’t have white acrylic to use so I used the wall paint instead and it works just as great.

After my first coat was dry I applied a second coat of white paint then let that completely dry.

2. APPLY THE STENCIL

I cut my stencils out on my Cricut then weeded the letters out with a sewing pin. If you want to know how to make a reverse stencil sign be sure to check out this laundry sign tutorial.

Because this sign was so large I had to break it up into three separate pieces in Design Space.

I added masking tape to the sides and the seams where the stencils touch just in case I got paint a little too far outside of the stencil I wouldn’t have a big mess to clean up.

3.PAINT THE STENCIL

I used acrylic paint to paint the lettering of my stencil. The first thing I did was seal my stencil so that I would get minimal to no paint bleed. This isn’t a must but it does help to get super crisp lines.

I just painted of paint on the lettering. I painted IT’S and WITCHES with black acrylic paint and HALLOWEEN with orange acrylic paint.

4. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

I always peel up my stencils while my paint is wet. I started with the small lettering first then worked my way down the wood sign.

I used a sewing pin to lift out all the little middle pieces

If you love this tutorial be sure to check out how to make these super cute Halloween wood tags

5.CUT & STAIN THE FRAME

After my sign was dry I measured a 1x2 and cut pieces for my frame. Here’s what it looked like once I got my pieces cut and stained.

I had 2 pieces that were cut at 52” and 2 pieces that were cut at 10.75”.

Before I attached my framed pieces to my Halloween sign I distressed the 1x2’s with my sander and 120 grit sandpaper

7. ATTACH THE FRAME

I attached the two long side pieces first. I used a little bit of wood glue then used my Ryobi brad nailer to attach them to the sign.

Don’t worry if you miss cut your wood frame pieces. I do this ALL the time. Just use your miter saw to square it up after you get them attached.

Here’s what my sign looked like once I got the side frame pieces attached. I framed the sign so that the sign would be in the middle of the framed pieces instead of flush with the back. You can also see where I used my miter saw to cut off the uneven parts.

I did the same thing for the top and bottom pieces. Added the wood glue, my husband says to apply it in a squiggle line, idk if this is really how you’re supposed to do it or if he’s just messing with me lol but whatever it is this seems to work.

8.SEAL THE FINISHED SIGN

If you want to protect your sign from the elements I recommend sealing it with an outdoor sealant like this one. I did not do this step because I plan to paint a fall themed stencil on the other side of this Halloween porch sign. But after I finish the other side I’ll seal it with the outdoor spray.

Then you’re all done. I hope you enjoyed this DIY craft tutorial :)! If you have any questions please ask them in the comments below.

Happy crafting!

DIY painted & distressed laundry room sign + FREE SVG

DIY painted & distressed laundry room sign + FREE SVG

Make your own stenciled and distressed laundry room sign. BONUS: grab the FREE to use SVG in my free resource library.

Easy stenciled wood sign for your laundry room

Want to make a simple yet large sign for your laundry room? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve been making this exact LAUNDRY sign in my shop for a couple of years now and really wanted to share with you how I make it because it’s super easy and simple. Not a whole lot of fuss goes into making this larger than mat wooden sign using your Cricut.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

By the way…how cute is my little model?! This is the youngest of my four daughters and she always wants to help me work. She doesn’t care what it is she just wants in on all the fun and exciting things of momma’s business. She was absolutely thrilled when I asked her to hold the sign so I could snap a pic.

Look at that big cheesy smile! Melts my momma heart! Barefoot, girly dress with a unicorn hoodie over it and let’s not forget the wild hair. Oh the life!

If you want to DIY a wood sign but don’t have all the tools be sure to check out my DIY CRAFT KITS.

HOW TO STENCIL A SIGN FOR YOUR LAUNDRY ROOM

Here’s what you’ll need

• wood board, I used pine 1x8 measuring 40”x7.25'“x.75” (those are the exact measurements)

• white paint

• gray paint, I used pewter gray

• paint brush

• oramask stencil film

• vinyl squeegee

• transfer tape

• Cricut cutting machine, I use an Explore for all of my projects I haven’t upgraded to the maker yet

• green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• LAUNDRY SVG (get it free in my free resource library)

• xacto knife

• paint stands (to keep your board up off the table)

• drop cloth (to keep your surface area clean)

• Ryobi sander

• sandpaper

• Ryobi miter saw
  

If you’re new to the Cricut world be sure to check out my Cricut newbie post.

PAINTED LAUNDRY SIGN TUTORIAL

1.CUT OUT THE STENCIL

I cut my stencil out using Oramask 813 stencil film. This is my go to for most all of the stenciled wood signs I make. If you plan to make a lot of wooden signs you’ll want to read my post on how to save money on stencil film.

Because I did a reverse stencil method, not a traditional traditional stencil methodmethod, I added lines onto my stencil to make it super easy to align on my wood base. Then I set my stencils aside till I needed them.

I used and xacto knife to weed the stencils. Be sure to leave the letters and remove the background of the stencil. Since this is a reverse stencil it will look different than a typical stencil does.

2.PAINT THE LETTER COLOR

Typically I would use acrylic paints for this but I was all out of white acrylic paint. Instead I used a white wall paint that is actually better than acrylic to use for this sign.

I painted the sides with one coat of paint and I painted two coats on the front of the sign. Letting it dry completely between coats.

3. APPLY THE STENCIL

I applied transfer tape to one stencil then reused that same transfer tape for the next stencil. Did you know you can reuse transfer tape till it doesn’t work anymore? You sure can!

After I rubbed the stencil with my vinyl squeegee I flipped my stencil over and removed the paper backing.

Then I flipped the stencil over so that the sticky side was down and I placed the stencil where I wanted it on my wood base. This is where the lines on the stencil come in handy. This allows me to center the lettering without any stress. I made my stencil to the exact size of my wood board, with the extra lines, so that when I went to apply the stencil I wouldn’t have to worry about letters being uneven.

Then I pressed it down with my vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then removed the transfer tape. PRO TIP: rolling the transfer tape off of the stencil works best and it won’t lift your design up and off of the wood.

I did the same process for the other part of my stencil. Then I removed the lines on the tops and bottoms because I didn’t need them anymore and didn’t want them to be apart of my design.

3. SEAL THE STENCIL

The key to no paint bleed is to seal the stencil before you paint it. Essentially what you are doing is filling in any tiny air bubbles that paint could get under with the same color as your lettering. So in my case I sealed my stencil with white paint. It just takes a TINY bit of paint, you want to paint into the direction of your stencil. I let this dry completely.

4. PAINT THE SIGN

After the sealing was dry I painted my sign gray. I also paint the back because I think this gives pieces a more finished look but it’s all personal preference. I did two layers of gray paint. I let the first one dry totally before applying the second coat on top of it.

5. PEEL THE STENCIL

While my paint was still wet I peeled the stencil up. Some people choose to do this after their paint is dry and that is totally ok, this is just my personal preference after making thousands of handmade signs over the last few years. Using an xacto knife or a sewing pin works great for this step.

After I got all the stencil pieces removed from the wood base I let it dry.

6. DISTRESSING

This is totally optional. If you don’t want to distress your sign you can choose not to and be done. But if you do want to distress your painted wood sign I recommend using a sander for this step. Mainly because I really don’t like sanding anything with a piece of sandpaper. It’s so much easier to do this with a sander. Focus on the edges and anywhere that would naturally be worn. I also lightly go across the front of my pieces with my sander.

The last thing I do is to wipe it with a lint free cloth to get all the dust off from sanding. Super simple and easy! I told ya, it’s pretty much no fuss.

If you have any questions about this tutorial let me know in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Classic farmhouse tiered tray signs

Tiered tray sign bundle for your CLASSIC looking farmhouse decor

I am loving this tiered tray decor that’s all the rage right now. There are so many different seasons, holidays, and themes you can do. Or you can keep it super classy and simple with the classic black and white farmhouse colors. There is so much you can do with these simple color scheme. You can keep it black and white or add a couple rustic pieces that will give it a pop of color here and there. I love how versatile it is!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

If you LOVE this crafty post be sure to check out how I made a mini house family number sign. Instead of using vinyl like I did on these rustic farmhouse mini signs I painted it instead.

If you’re in to the rustic farmhouse style how can you not love a mini wooden tag that has farm animals on it?! This one is probably my favorite of all the bundled pieces. I absolutely LOVE chickens! Well of course cows and pigs too but chickens are really my favorite farm animal! Every time I see one, whether that be a real life chicken or a picture of one, I smile! They are just too cute!

TIERED TRAY RUSTIC SIGNS

For this tiered tray bundle I incorporated different sizes and shapes to these farmhouse pieces mix it up a bit. I typically create identical bases for my handmade sign pieces, like these hilarious rustic looking cactus signs. Another example are these Easter mini wood tags. They come in a set of 3 but they are all the same sized wood base. While they are super cute I am really loving the mix and match look of the different sized and styled bases of these classic farmhouse tiered tray signs.

Here are the sign bases I used:

• MINI ROLLING PIN

• MINI WOOD HOUSE

• MINI WOOD TAG

• MINI WOOD SIGN

Since they are all different sizes and shapes they truly work perfectly for the tiered tray signs.

Unlike most of my signs I actually chose to use vinyl on them instead of painting the entire design. I have been one BUSY momma this year so I’ve been adding more simple designs and styles to my shop line up. I guess I always thought using vinyl was “cheating” in the sign making game but I have no regrets using the vinyl on these designs. They are quick to make, priced at a more affordable price point, and I can get them out to my customers even faster because it takes SO much LESS time to create.

While stenciling designs will always be my preferred method for making signs I do love how these vinyled signs turned out. So much that I have plans to add even more in my shop!

You can grab the FARM FRESH design in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Want your own set but don’t want to make them? You can purchase your handmade signs from my shop, click here —-> CLASSIC FARMHOUSE STYLE TIERED TRAY SIGNS

If you are a DIY-er and want to make your own rustic farmhouse style tiered tray signs here’s what I recommend you use.

• matte finish black vinyl

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• white paint

• mini rolling pins

• paint brush

• xacto knife

• sandpaper

• Cricut

• Cricut Design Space

• green Cricut cutting mat

• HOME SWEET HOME SVG

• FARM ANIMAL SVG

• OUR NEST SVG

• FARM FRESH SVG

New to Cricut? Check out these 10 must haves to get you started on your crafty journey

I don’t have a full on tutorial on how I made these signs they were really pretty simple to make since there wasn’t any stenciling involved. Stenciling is a WAY more involved process. But this process is super easy.

Here’s how I made my rustic tiered tray signs

1. Paint each wood base white. Let dry. Paint a second coat. Let dry.

2. Once dry distress the edges. Wipe with a dry lint free cloth.

3. Cut out your designs using your Cricut, or other cutting machine.

4. Weed your designs using your xacto knife.

5. Apply your transfer tape and remove paper backing from your designs.

6. Place your designs on your wood bases. Rub with your vinyl squeegee and remove your transfer tape.

7. Add any twine accents.

8. Place on your tiered tray and enjoy!

It’s really that simple! No messing with paint bleed. No fuss with drying time between stenciling paint coats. No stress about paint peel up. I really enjoyed how quick and easy these DIY mini wood signs were!

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments section below.

Happy Crafting!

See how I make my mini wood tags. Don’t have the power tools to create the tags from scratch? Grab the unfinished wood tags here.

DIY How to make a RUSTIC UNICORN sign + FREE SVG

Unicorns…my third daughter is OBSESSED with these magical creators and has been for years. She was the inspiration behind these rustic looking glittery unicorn themed mason jars that we found on Pinterest and HAD to make our own. Everything is unicorn theme from her bedroom décor to her birthday party themes to her clothing. So, this year for her birthday of course she asked for…you guessed it UNICORN themed presents!

With all the craziness going on the world in the year of 2020 she couldn’t have a traditional birthday party. BOO! Instead she had a small but SUPER FUN day at home filled with a unicorn shaped cake made by her older sisters and LOTS of fun outdoor activities.

While she did get a few store bought gifts I thought it would be so fun to make her a rustic looking unicorn sign to hang in her unicorn themed side of the bedroom. She already has this gorgeous unicorn themed bedspread and SO many other purple glittery unicorn knick knacks I thought this sign would tie in perfectly with all of it.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

And she LOVED it! I was so happy because sometimes you make or buy something for your kid and you don’t always get the reaction you were hoping for. You know the one where they give you a huge smile and a thank you but you can tell deep down that it really wasn’t what they were expecting. Thank goodness my sweet girl BEAMED with unicorn excitement when she got her handmade rustic always believe in magical things sign from her momma! YAY a mom WIN!!

If you want to make this exact unicorn SVG you can get it for FREE here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY. If you’re new to the blog my resource library is where I share all of my freebies. It’s all in one place so you can access it super easy. Just click here to get my password. If you already have the password click here and it will take you to my secure page.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own rustic unicorn sign

• always believe in magical things FREE SVG

• Cricut cutting machine, the MAKER or EXPLORE

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut cutting mat

• Oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• premade pallet sign - DIY tutorial to build a pallet sign

• acrylic paints

• assorted flowers

• paint brushes

• stenciling sponge

• cone form

• floral wire

• hot glue gun

• gorilla hot glue sticks

• nail polish I used a glittery gold

• tulle

HOW TO MAKE A RUSTIC PALLET STYLE UNICORN SIGN

For this tutorial I’m starting with a pre built, stained, and painted pallet style sign. If you’ve never built a pallet style sign before not worries they are actually really easy to make. You can read my post on how to built your own pallet style sign here. I also used a weathered gray stain on this wood unicorn sign along with white paint for the background colors.

1. CUT OUT YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

The first thing I did was cut out my stencil on ORAMASK STENCIL FILM. If you plan to cut out a ton of stencils and want to buy stencil film even cheaper you must read my oramask stencil film post on how I dramatically my out of pocket on this material for my small business. I used my Cricut to cut out my stencil and weeded my unicorn themed stencil with a super sharp exacto knife.

If you’re new to the Cricut world here are 10 must have to get you started on you Cricut journey.

2. APPLY YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

Using transfer tape apply your unicorn stencil to your wood base. When removing the transfer tape it’s easiest to roll the transfer tape off your of stencil film. Use your vinyl squeegee to get your stencil good and adhered to the base of your unicorn sign.

3. PAINT YOUR STENCIL

To prevent tons of paint bleed you can seal your unicorn stencil first with the same color paint that you used for your background color. In my case I used white paint because my background is white. The wood I used to make my daughter’s rustic unicorn sign was EXTRA RUSTIC. Meaning it had lots of imperfections. The wood was very uneven, rounded on the edges, and had small and large gouges all over. I knew even with sealing my stencil I would still have paint bleed unless I took extra time to paint the sign very slowing. I’m a momma of 4, I don’t have time to be that perfect lol so my sign had more than usual paint bleed. When painting your stencil you can use a cosmetic sponge or a paint brush. If using a cosmetic sponge you want to make an up and down dabbing motion to paint the stencil. Do very THIN even coats and layer up to 3 THIN layers but no more than that. I promise the coverage will be darker once the stencil is removed.

4. REMOVE YOUR STENCIL

An xacto knife works great for removing stencils. Just be sure is super sharp. If you don’t have an xacto knife you can also use a sewing pin. You want to gently lift the stencil film up and off your wood base without causing damage.

5. DISTRESS YOUR UNICORN SIGN

I used a sanding sponge to lightly sand over my lettering on my unicorn pallet sign once my paint was dry. Just to give it a little more rustic look. I didn’t want my sign to be all gorgeously distressed and the lettering be crisp.

6. PAINT ON UNICORN EARS

I almost forgot to do this part…insert facepalm!… I freehanded the ears with a pencil then painted them in with light pink paint. I added a little detail with a little bit of gray paint while the pink paint was still wet just so they didn’t look so flat. Then I distressed them with the sponge sander.

7. MAKE THE HORN

I used a foam cone for this and cut it down to the size I needed. I used craft paint for this instead of spray painting it (check out my tips for spray painting Styrofoam here). Let dry. Once dry wrap it in tulle, I did this several times to get a good coverage.

8. ADD ACCENTS TO THE HORN

I only needed a small piece of wire for this project so I used what I had on hand. I only had silver or green floral wire so I painted a piece of the silver wire with glittery nail polish and let it dry. Then I wrapped it around the horn and secured the ends inside of the foam. This really made a big difference in how the unicorn horn looked overall. Without this piece of glittery wire I don’t think it would have turned out as cute.

9. GLUE ON FLORAL UNICORN CROWN

I picked up my floral accents from Walmart. It’s spring/summer so they had a great selection of florals that had a magical unicorn vibe. I used gorilla hot glue in my glue gun to attach them to my wood base. I highly suggest doing a dry run with the floral crown before you actually glue them down. You want to make sure you are going to like the placement before you commit to the glue. Don’t be afraid to cut down your florals. Sometimes you just need a small piece of baby’s breath instead of a whole piece of it.

Some of the florals I used on this unicorn crown were leftover from these DIY corsages I made from my youngest three daughters for the daddy daughter dance. I love that I could also incorporate them into this piece. They were such beautiful florals and my store was completely out of them so I couldn’t get any more for this sign.

Now you’re ready to give this gorgeously rustic unicorn sign to your sweetest unicorn obsessed little girl to hang in her room. I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Reusable oil spray bottles + FREE SVG file

The days of buying cooking oil spray bottles are over. I don’t know about you but I really dislike buying Pam at the grocery store, actually it’s never name brand because I’m super frugal and have a big family to feed lol! Buying that spray always feels like such a fat waste of money and in our house cooking oil spray doesn’t last very long anyway so we are always running out at the worst time. Yes, using a paper towel with oil on it will get the job done but sometimes it would just be one less thing to stress about when you go to pull it out of the cabinet only to find one of the oldest of the four daughters put it back in there with barely a squirt left in it.

So I got on Amazon and found some heavy duty looking spray bottles that looked perfect to hold our veggie and olive oils.

Even though you can totally tell which one is which I thought it would still be a good idea to label them. I figured it would at least save me from having the same conversation a couple times a week as to what one is olive oil and what one is vegetable oil.

I really like the skinny type fonts but since the labels are going on oil bottles I thought a thicker font would work much better. If a little oil gets under the vinyl decals of a thin font they will come off super easy. If you want to use the same SVG I used you can get it here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Watch my video on my YouTube channel or keep scrolling for the written/photo tutorial

DIY LABELED OIL BOTTLES FOR THE KITCHEN

Here’s what I used

• Cricut cutting machine (I have an older explore and it works perfectly for projects like this)

• Cricut cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• 651 black vinyl

• transfer tape

• xacto knife

• lint free cloth

• isopropyl alcohol

• vinyl squeegee

• food grade glass spray bottles (I used 2)

• olive & veggie svg file

1. Cut out your vinyl decal. I used my Cricut Explore set on the vinyl cut setting and the green cutting mat. I used Oracal 651, permanent outdoor grade vinyl, in black matte finish. I measured out the length of the spray bottles I was applying it to and made it a little shorter in length. I keep most all of my scraps of vinyl in a plastic tote just for projects like this. You never know when you’ll need a small piece of vinyl lol!

2. I like using an xacto knife to weed my vinyl projects. You can use a fancy vinyl picker like this one but I think these are a little more difficult to hold than a simple xacto knife. Be sure when you weed your design you are weeding out the background, not the letter themselves.

3. I completely forgot to wash the bottles before applying the decals but I was sure to wash them before I added the oil to them ;). You want to wipe down the area of the bottle you are applying the decal to with isopropyl alcohol. This will remove any dirt or oil and allow for the best adhesion of the vinyl.

4. Apply transfer tape to the front of your decal. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then peel the paper backing off of your vinyl decal.

5. Place your vinyl decal where you would like it to go on your glass spray bottle. I like to hover it over where I’m thinking about placing it first. Once you place vinyl down, especially small decals like these, it’s really difficult to get them to come up without ruining them.

6. When you have your decal where you want it to go place it down gently starting from the middle and work your way out. This will help to keep the air bubbles to a minimum. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles you see then peel the transfer tape off of your vinyl decal.

7. Fill your bottles with oil and enjoy!

I know we are going to get A LOT of use out of these reusable oil spray bottles!

If you have any questions please ask away:)!